Getty Chase Daniel gets hit by Harrison Smith in a Lions loss.
The Detroit Lions have finally and mercifully come to the end of their 2020 season, and at this point, more folks simply can’t wait to get to the offseason.
There’s still one more game to be played, though, and the Lions will host the Minnesota Vikings in the season finale from Ford Field on Sunday afternoon. After the beat down the Vikings put on the Lions earlier this season at home and considering Detroit’s struggles lately, it’s no shock to see the team a major underdog for this final contest.
This week, the Lions are once again touchdown underdogs to the Vikings. The early line from Vegas Insider favors the Vikings by a touchdown for the matchup.
The Lions should be healthier this week in terms of the COVID-19 situation that kept a good chunk of their coaching staff away from the team a week ago, but in the minds of many, that’s not likely to benefit them this week whatsoever.
Lions Blown Out By Vikings in November
A lot has changed with the teams since the last time they met, Detroit has fired both their coach and general manager and seems to be struggling even worse on the field with injuries and other variables considered. The Vikings, meanwhile, have also had an up and down season since the big win over Detroit and have fallen out of the playoff picture with a couple of tough losses. This weekend’s game is all about maintaining some momentum for the future as well as draft positioning from both sides.
The first matchup, the Lions had no answers for Dalvin Cook, who got loose in a big way for 206 yards and 2 touchdowns. He was easily the standout player in the win for Minnesota, and Irv Smith caught 2 of Kirk Cousins’ 3 touchdown passes on the day. It was a fairly easy 34-20 blowout for the Vikings on this day, and Detroit had a sloppy 3 turnovers on the afternoon to aid in their frustrating defeat.
Lions-Vikings Series History
Last season, the Vikings swept the Lions quite easily. Detroit made the game close at home in October, but lost later in the year in Minnesota in a game where Matthew Stafford didn’t play. Detroit had an advantage against the Vikings head to head prior to Matt Patricia’s arrival, but in the last few years, that has vanished. The Vikings have won 5 in a row in the series since 2017, and have swept the last few seasons convincingly. Prior to that, the Lions had won 3 in a row, so it’s been a series of streaks lately.
Despite the frustration of losing, at this point, Detroit’s season has already been lost, so it would likely be more advantageous for the Lions to lose out and be swept by Minnesota to boost their draft stock and bolster them more significantly into the top 10 for next year’s draft. The Vikings have had the upper hand in the series lately, and that only seems more likely to continue into this final game of the 2020 season.
READ NEXT: The Latest About Matthew Stafford’s Injury Status