The Minnesota Vikings welcomed the Detroit Lions to Minneapolis in their first division game of season. The Detroit Lions came into Sunday’s game with an 0-4 record while the Vikings were sitting at 1-3 over four weeks. After the offense was more explosive in the first three games it has struggled to finish drives over the last two. Struggling against a very good Cleveland Browns defense is respectable to a point but managing only 19 points to an 0-4 Lions team at home is something that needs to be at least talked about.

By no means did Kirk Cousins have a horrible game but the inability to finish on drives and also stay on the field by converting a 3rd down were the same issues that were exposed in the Browns game. The running game was good with Alexander Mattison rushing for over 100 yards again and Justin Jefferson had a fantastic game with seven receptions to go along with 124 yards but Alexander Mattison can’t be the second best receiver for the entire game.

Adam Thielen only had two catches and he also had a drop which is especially rare. The only time Cousins was completing the pass was if Jefferson or Mattison were getting the ball, all other players combined had 11 receptions for the entire game for an overall yardage of 111 yards. Justin Jefferson alone had 124 yards and Jefferson and Mattison combined for 14 receptions and 164 yards. That will not benefit the Vikings in the long run and it barely worked in this game.

The Minnesota Vikings defense, however continues to be excellent. They have given up a total of 41 points through three weeks. That is an average of 13.67 points a game which is incredible. They also forced two turnovers with a fantastic one-handed catch by Eric Kendricks and recovering a fumble by Jared Goff.

The offensive struggles led to the close game at the end. Alexander Mattison was lucky the offense was able to get in field goal range before the clock ran out or his late fourth quarter fumble would have been the dagger that the Detroit Lions were looking for to complete the comeback. Greg Joseph had another idea as his leg gave Minnesota their second win of the year as time expired.

The Minnesota Vikings travel to Carolina to face a tough Panthers team who is coming off two straight losses.