Murphy: Vikings-Lions finally has some juice
After years of being run over by the Vikings, the Lions arrive at US Bank Stadium with major playoff implications
By Brian Murphy
If you believe Vikings-Lions is a rivalry, then, yeah, Curly got his licks in on Moe, too.
Theirs is a shared NFL history of bully and victim, perennial contender and enduring doormat. Familiar opponents with disparate resumes fulfilling twice-a-year appointments since Kennedy was inaugurated with nary a crowning moment.
There have been 123 regular-season games between Minnesota and Detroit and I dare you to find a consequential one among them. In the standings, anyway.
We’ll unpack one glitch in the matrix that occurred in 1997 – a pivotal year for both teams and the superstars who would leave indelible marks on each franchise.
But not a single playoff clash. No winner-take-all for the NFC Central/North. Five forgettable Thanksgiving Day matchups. One of these teams might as well be in the AFC South.
Yet here we are staring through bloodshot eyes at another frenzied finish to an NFL season beyond recognition with the Vikings and Lions meeting twice in the next three weeks, both fighting for relevancy for very different reasons.
There’s even a scenario that would pit the clubs against each other in the NFC wild card after the Jan. 7 season finale in Motown. Three high-stakes games in less than a month would cattle-prod an undeveloped rivalry that is ripe for some life.
Mine is a unique perspective, I suppose, growing up in suburban Detroit listening to my dad curse Fran Tarkenton running sideways through Honolulu blue and silver and the misery the Vikings inflicted on the Lions for my entire childhood – and a good chunk of adulthood.
I’ve been in Minnesota for 23 years inside and outside the velvet rope and nothing much has changed. It’s as one-sided a rivalry as you’ll find in pro sports.
The Vikings are 80-41-2 (.659) all-time against the Lions. That includes a 13-game winning streak from 1968-74. Stretch that out to 1985 and Minnesota was 27-7. Between 2000-10, the Vikings won 20 of 22 matchups.
The Lions have won two of the last three since 2021. So they’ve got that going for them, which is nice.
Detroit either will win its first division title since 1991 on the backs of the Vikings. Or the conflicting Vikings will dump a few more logs on the smoldering fires of doubt that still plague the ascending Lions and scratch their way to one of the unlikeliest playoff berths of all time.
I can think of no better way to kick off the Christmas holiday than another wholly unpredictable Sunday afternoon at U.S. Bank Stadium. No way you’re opening presents without guzzling straight from the eggnog bowl and screaming unmentionables across granny’s brow at the latest purple and gold gong show.
Something unforgettable is destined to happen between two teams in dire need of an emotional touchpoint. Because something stirred deep inside after I watched “Bye Bye Barry,” the definitive Barry Sanders documentary on Amazon Prime.
How any franchise could waste generational talents like Sanders, Calvin Johnson and Matthew Stafford and only claim one playoff victory since 1957 without being convicted of corporate malfeasance is an all-timer.
But it reminded me of a random Vikings-Lions game on Dec. 14, 1997, that was historic-adjacent. Shake the cobwebs for six degrees of separation.
After starting 8-2, the Vikings lost five straight – culminating in Week 16 at the Metrodome when they blew a fourth-quarter lead and lost to Detroit 14-13. Quarterback Scott Mitchell drove the Lions 72 yards in the final two minutes, throwing a 1-yard touchdown pass to Herman Moore with three seconds remaining for the winning score.
Coach Dennis Green’s longest losing streak up to that point was peak tumult for the polarizing head coach and his bosses. Green had just published a scorched-earth autobiography that roiled the locker room, front office and league. The team was up for sale. And the Lions loss drove fans away in droves.
In Week 17, the Vikings had to defeat the Indianapolis Colts, winners of three games that season and the Peyton Manning lottery, to clinch the postseason. They failed to sell out against the Colts, the last time a game was blacked out locally on television – one of five blackouts Minnesota had that season.
In front of a paltry crowd of 54,107 in the 62,000-seat Metrodome, the Vikings defeated the Colts. And in the wild card against the New York Giants in the rainy Meadowlands, they rallied from a nine-point deficit in the final 90 seconds for a 23-22 victory – their first playoff win in nine years.
Although routed by the San Francisco 49ers in the divisional round the following week, the Vikings nabbed wide receiver Randy Moss in the first round of the 1998 draft to Green’s eternal salvation and, well, Red McCombs and the Wilf family have never had to worry about apathetic fans or sellouts again.
Meanwhile, a week after stealing that win at the Metrodome, Sanders became only the third running back to eclipse 2,000 rushing yards in a season and led the Lions to the playoffs for the fifth time during his dominant but lonely career in Detroit.
The Lions, as always, bowed out meekly 20-10 to the Buccaneers in the other NFC wild card and have been buried in regret ever since.
In 1998, as Moss was turning the Metrodome into Mardi Gras and redefining what a game-breaking, franchise superstar, Sanders grew disillusioned with the always regressing Lions and vanished to retirement on the cusp of becoming the NFL’s all-time leading rusher.
Two forlorn franchises passing in the night.
Perhaps they’ll finally hook up for an overdue thriller.
Brian Murphy is a former Pioneer Press columnist and contributor to Purple Insider. Follow him on Twitter at @murphmedia_
The Vikings haven't swept Detroit since 2020. It took miracles to win at home in 2021 and 2022 and the Lions beat the Vikings in Detroit in 2021 and 2022 all with Kirk at QB. My point is the Lions have been formidable against the Kirk Cousins Vikings for awhile and now they are actually formidable against pretty much everyone. As a lifelong Vikings fan, I expect 2 beatdowns with Mullens at QB. With Dobbs running a non-Kirk offense, we might have a chance.