Buffalo Bills running back James Cook (4) celebrates quarterback Josh Allen (17) after scoring against the Detroit Lions during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Rey Del Rio)
The Minnesota Vikings don’t suit up until tonight when they take on division foe, the Chicago Bears. But that didn’t mean Vikings fans weren’t rooting hard for someone on Sunday. That someone was the Buffalo Bills. Buffalo went on the road into Detroit yesterday to take on one of the leagues most prolific offenses. I say “one of” because after yesterday’s memorable 90-point shootout, the Bills offense might’ve dug their heals in at the top.
SKOL Purple turned Buffalo Blue yesterday as the Vikings are frantically trying to keep pace with a Lions team that has seemed invincible since their Week 2 loss to the Bucs back in mid-September. Minnesota fans have been pulling out their proverbial braids wondering, “what more do we have to do?” And it’s a valid question seeing as Sam Darnold has led the Vikings to an 11-2 record along with a +99 point-differential. For comparison, a +99 point-differential is fourth best in the league and better than 5 of the 8 division leaders. To be in the Vikings position as a team and to sit second in your division is as big of an anomaly as an ice cream truck in the Sahara desert. It simply doesn’t make sense. This is why all of Vikings country came to sit at the broken tables of Bills Mafia yesterday, as a win for the Bills meant a win for the Vikings.
I didn’t think we would see a game top what unfolded in Los Angeles last week in the Bills 44-42 cinematic loss to the Rams. It took all of a week to upstage that game. Josh Allen and the Bills came out on a mission setting the tone with three straight touchdowns on their first three drives. Dan Campbell went to his bag of tricks early trying to keep pace with what the Bills offense was doing, pulling out a double-reverse pass, then a designed-pass to a lineman that scored a touchdown. But panic seemed to set in early in the fourth quarter when Campbell inexplicably attempted an onside kick down 1o with almost a full quarter remaining. Mack Hollins would nearly take it the distance, setting up the Bills with first-and-goal inside the five. Josh Allen would find Ty Johnson for a score on the very next play. Onside kicks this year are being recovered at around a 6% rate, so I thought it was a poor message Dan Campbell was sending to his defense in that situation.
This decision would ultimately come back around to bite the Lions as they were able to make it a 6-point game in the final minute. Had Dan Campbell opted to kick it deep earlier in the fourth, his defense could have potentially gotten a stop or even forced a field goal to keep it a two-score contest, making the potential outcome look a whole lot different. Luckily for Vikings fans (and Bills fans well-being), the Bills barely recovered the Lions second attempt at the onside kick, ending the game 48-42 and bringing the Vikings back into the drivers seat for the one-seed.
While a Bills win was critical for Vikings fans, there is still work to be done if Minnesota wants the road to the Super Bowl to go through U.S Bank Stadium. The Vikings final four games are no walk in the park. Three out of the remaining four are divisional opponents, the fourth is the Seahawks who may or may not have QB Geno Smith who suffered a leg-injury in yesterday’s loss to the Packers. The Lions remaining two games before closing with Minnesota pales in comparison to what the Vikings have to deal with. Detroit has the struggling Bears and the injury-bitten 49ers in weeks 16 and 17, not exactly a gauntlet. One bright side for Minnesota with this close is that it can be beneficial to play high-quality opponents down the stretch since you will only see high-quality opponents in the postseason. And, much like other leagues, it’s not about who played the best all year, but about who is playing the best come January.
The Vikings should come out tonight and expose the Bears. The Bears are a team, and frankly an organization, in shambles with no real vision or direction of what they plan to do to win. They don’t have a coach, they don’t have an offensive line, they don’t have a coordinator to run the offense. It’s yet another year where their first-round draft pick at quarterback does not have someone competent leading him that will be around for the foreseeable future. They did it with Mitch Trubisky, they did it with Justin Fields and now it’s happening again with Caleb Williams. This is a game I expect the Vikings to come in and absolutely dominate. I expect the Vikings defensive line to register double-digit pressures and sack Williams 4 or 5 times. And on offense, who is Darnold’s flavor of the week? Will it be your weekly Justin Jefferson clinic or will it be Jordan Addison catching 8 balls for 110? This game is designed to be fun for Minnesota, this is a 30+ point opportunity that Chicago has no business being a part of.
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