Last year, it was the Lions who emerged as a surprise team to go on a late-season run and make the playoffs in the NFC.
Now, the Lions are having the successful season that many expected them to have in 2024. And it’s the Vikings who are having the surprise season.
Minnesota is 14-2 on the year, same as the Lions, entering the two teams’ winner-take-the-NFC game on Sunday night in Detroit. They haven’t lost since falling in back-to-back games to the Lions and Rams in late October as they’ve doubled their win total from last year even after losing their expected starting quarteback to injury in the preseason.
Here’s a look at the Vikings heading into Sunday’s game
Quite the stakes
Is this the biggest regular-season game in NFL history? There’s a case to be made that it is.
The 28 combined wins between the two teams is the most in a single matchup in league history. The game will mark the first time since 1993 that the No. 1 NFC has come down to the last game of the regular season. The winner will become the ninth team in league history to record 15 or more wins, while the loser will have the most wins of any Wild Card team in league history (the 1999 Tennessee Titans currently hold that record with 13 wins).
But the biggest stakes will be in playoff seeding. The winner earns the No. 1 seed in the NFC and a first-round playoff bye. The loser will be the No. 5 seed and have to go on the road in the first round.
Darnold show
Just like the Lions, the Vikings have a quarterback of their own who was a high draft pick, was cast off and is now thriving in a new home.
Sam Darnold, the former No. 3 overall pick of the New York Jets, has been one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL in recent weeks. He’s thrown just two interceptions in his last seven games and has thrown 12 touchdown passes in his last two games. He’s already over 4,000 yards for the season and has completed 68 percent of his passes.
He has some solid targets to throw to, most notably Justin Jefferson. But Darnold’s emergence, after a preseason injury to J.J. McCarthy, has been the biggest reason the Vikings have their most wins since going 15-1 in 1998.
Hockenson’s return
It’s been a while since the Lions have seen former tight end T.J. Hockenson, the former first-round pick who was traded to the Vikings in November, 2022.
Since suffering a knee injury on a hit by the Lions’ Kerby Joseph in a December, 2023 game, Hockenson has missed the last two games against his former team, including the two teams’ Week 7 matchup this year. He hasn’t played in Detroit since December, 2022, a month after the blockbuster trade.
Hockenson has yet to score a touchdown in his nine games back in 2024 but is coming off of a five-catch, 68-yard performance last week.
“Savvy, smart, understands how to get open in zone coverage,” Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn said. “We have to make sure that we eliminate that as much as possible.”
- BETTING: Check out our guide to the best Michigan sportsbooks, where our team of sports betting experts has reviewed the experience, payout speed, parlay options and quality of odds for multiple sportsbooks.