Kyler Murray knows exactly what the Vikings are walking into on Sunday, and he didn’t dress it up.
“It’s going to be a dogfight,” Murray said Thursday as Minnesota gets ready for a trip to Detroit. “We’re expecting that.
Hostile environment. Really good players.
Really good defense. Obviously, we’re prepared for it.
We’ve had a good week of practice, obviously we’ve got to finish it out. But I’m excited for the opportunity that we have on Sunday to go in there against a great team.”
That’s the shape of this matchup: the NFL’s last unbeaten team against one of its most explosive offenses, with first place in the NFC North hanging over the whole thing. Minnesota is 6-0 and has built its perfect start on defense and special teams, while Detroit at 4-2 is scoring 30.7 points per game and looks every bit like the kind of team that can turn a game into a track meet at Ford Field.
The contrast is stark. The Vikings are allowing a league-low 12.3 points per game, but their offense has been stuck in a much narrower lane.
Minnesota has scored only four touchdowns over its last five games and is averaging just 1 1/2 offensive touchdowns per game, which ranks second-lowest in the league. Murray said he isn’t losing faith.
“We’ve just got to end the drive with touchdowns instead of kicking field goals,” Murray said.
That’s been the issue lately, and it’s hard to ignore with Detroit on deck. The Lions are rolling with Jared Goff playing as well as any quarterback in the league, plus Jahmyr Gibbs, Amon-Ra St.
Brown, Jameson Williams, Sam LaPorta and an offensive line that keeps everything moving. Goff has not been intercepted on 223 passes, and his 14 touchdown passes without a pick tie Russell Wilson’s 2019 start for the most touchdown passes without an interception through the first six games of a season.
He also leads the NFL in passer rating at 12.5, passing yards per game at 298 and passing first downs per game at 14.67.
Goff said he welcomes the chance to line up against the league’s only unbeaten team.
“You want to play the best, you want to beat the best,” Goff said. “You want to have these opportunities to show what you’re made of.
“I think they’re the best in the league right now on paper and certainly present a ton of challenges and it’ll be fun to try to solve those challenges.”
Detroit coach Dan Campbell sounded just as fired up about the setting, especially with the divisional stakes involved after last week’s win over Green Bay.
“If you can’t get fired up for this and for the competition of it and in the division, I mean, I don’t know what you can get excited for,” Campbell said. “This is as good as it gets.”
The numbers around the matchup only add to the intrigue. The last time the NFL had a Week 8-or-later game featuring one team allowing 13 or fewer points per game and another scoring 30-plus was in 2019, when Baltimore’s offense beat New England’s defense and handed the Patriots their first loss of the season.
Minnesota has already shown it can win this way. The Vikings have beaten opponents with defense, special teams and timely stops, and their seven interceptions and plus-7 turnover margin are among the league’s best. They’ve also won four straight NFC North games and nine of their last 12 in the division, with a chance on Sunday to move to 7-0 for the first time since 2000.
Detroit, though, brings a very different test. The Lions have won two straight for the first time this season, and their offense has been among the most efficient in the league. In the first six games, Gibbs is the only NFL player to top 40 rushing first downs and 10-plus receiving first downs, while Detroit’s defense has started to settle in, allowing an average of 19 points during the winning streak.
There’s also a recent history here that both sides know well. Under Brian Flores in his first two seasons as Minnesota’s defensive coordinator, the Vikings went 0-4 against Detroit while the Lions averaged 30.5 points per game. Last year, Minnesota took two wins and held Detroit to 17 points per game, forcing six turnovers in the last meeting.
Sunday’s game at Ford Field kicks off at 12 p.m., with the Lions listed as 3-point favorites. The Vikings are 4-2 against the spread, while Detroit is 1-4-1. Minnesota beat Indianapolis 16-10 last week, and the Lions edged Green Bay 20-17.
The stakes are obvious. The matchup is about whether Minnesota’s defense can keep Detroit from getting comfortable, and whether the Vikings’ offense can finally turn enough drives into touchdowns to keep pace.
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