Last Updated on September 22, 2010 10:39 pm by Anthony Rome
Lions vs. Vikings Preview
Minneapolis, MN – A home matchup with the Detroit Lions on Sunday would appear to be just what the Minnesota Vikings need to avoid an 0-3 start.
The Vikings, though, will face a Lions team that’s showing signs of improvement two years after its 0-16 finish.
Minnesota will try to post its 13th victory in a row at the Metrodome over Detroit, but it enters this contest seemingly out of sorts on offense after finishing one win away from the Super Bowl last season.
Oddsmakers from online sports book SBGGLOBAL.com have made the Vikings 11-point spread favorites for Sunday’s game against the Lions. Current NFL Public Betting Information shows that 56% of more than the 8,007 bets for this game have been placed on the Lions +11.
The Vikings have scored one touchdown in each of their first two games and didn’t record their first points in last week’s 14-10 loss to Miami until Adrian Peterson’s 1-yard run late in the third quarter.
Peterson was also stopped on fourth down on the 1-yard line with 2:16 remaining with his team trailing by four, and Brett Favre threw three interceptions for the first time in 18 games with Minnesota, which fell to 8-1 at home with him under center.
“It’s a 14-game season now and we’re sitting at the bottom of it,” Favre said. “What we do with it from here remains to be seen. It won’t be any easier.”
Injuries to Favre’s top two receivers from last season haven’t helped. Sidney Rice, who had team bests of 83 receptions and 1,312 yards, is expected to miss the first half of the season while recovering from hip surgery.
Percy Harvin has battled migraines and a strained right hip that he aggravated last week. Before they signed Hank Baskett on Wednesday, the Vikings’ only healthy receivers were Bernard Berrian, Greg Lewis and Greg Camarillo, who have combined to catch seven passes for 85 yards.
Last season, Rice and Harvin accounted for 143 of the team’s 377 receptions and nearly half of its 4,403 yards. Chester Taylor also caught another 44 passes out of the backfield, but he signed with NFC North rival Chicago in the offseason.
“We can’t make excuses,” Favre said. “There will be what-ifs or shoulda, coulda, wouldas. That’s part of it. You go down swinging and you win swinging. If we don’t make it, we don’t make it.”
Favre is 275 yards shy of 70,000 in his career and two TDs away from 500 as he tries to help Minnesota avoid its worst start since going 0-4 in 2002. The Vikings have won five straight and 19 of the last 21 meetings with the Lions.
Detroit, however, has been competitive in its first two games this season despite losing both. The Lions nearly snapped their lengthy road losing streak in their opener against Chicago, but wide receiver Calvin Johnson’s apparent go-ahead touchdown catch was ruled incomplete in a controversial 19-14 loss, their 21st in a row away from home.
Detroit set an NFL record with 24 consecutive road losses from 2001-03.
After falling behind 18 points in the fourth quarter last week at home, the Lions scored a pair of touchdowns in the final 4:13 against Philadelphia before falling 35-32.
“I’m proud to stand among the players,” coach Jim Schwartz said. “This is a tough team, a team that’s resilient, that fights through a lot of situations.”
Jahvid Best showcased the potential that made him one of Detroit’s two first-round picks in April, catching nine passes for 154 yards and a TD and rushing for another 78 on 17 carries with two scores.
Shaun Hill passed for a career-best 335 yards with two TDs and two interceptions while starting in place of Matthew Stafford, who is also not expected to play this week due to a shoulder injury.
Hill, who played one game as a rookie in Minnesota in 2005, lost both of his previous matchups with his former team while with San Francisco, including 27-24 in the Metrodome last season.
Favre has won seven consecutive matchups with the Lions and has eight touchdowns and no interceptions in his past four meetings.
Detroit previously beat Minnesota at the Metrodome on Dec. 14, 1997, when Herman Moore caught a 1-yard touchdown pass with three seconds left for a 14-13 victory.
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