The Detroit Lions, 0-10-1 entering Sunday’s action, emerged victorious on a stunning walk-off victory over the Minnesota Vikings.
The Detroit Lions are winless no more. Dan Campbell’s crew has been knocking at the door of a dub for a few weeks now, and they’ve gotten really close, but haven’t been able to close the deal.
Now, they finally have.
It was an impressive test of fortitude for the Detroit Lions in this win, as they led almost the entire game before a bizarre sequence of events late in the fourth quarter.
Jared Goff leads Detroit Lions to walk-off victory at home
GOFF TO ST. BROWN AND THE LIONS WIN AT THE BUZZER! #OnePride #MINvsDET pic.twitter.com/duobP8B2ZK
— NFL (@NFL) December 5, 2021
Late in the fourth quarter, on their own side of the field, Dan Campbell and the Lions decided to go for it on fourth down and Jared Goff was promptly strip-sacked.
The Vikings trailed by only two points at the time, so while you could definitely empathize with Campbell’s desire to go out there and will a victory into existence, it was a hilariously bad decision.
Ultimately, though, the Detroit Lions found a way.
After the Vikings punched it in, the Lions had no timeouts. Trailing by four points, they needed a touchdown or bust. One chunk at a time, Goff was able to engineer an impressive drive.
Before the final play of the game, the Vikings took a timeout to make sure they had the right personnel on the field and that gave the Lions the chance to draw up the perfect play. And they did.
Goff fired a pass quickly to rookie Amon-Ra St. Brown for a touchdown and the entire stadium went absolutely nuts.
This is a team that is rebuilding, there’s no question about it. Every Lions fan knows it. The team itself understands that. Still, no one wanted to go through another winless season. Every fan base needs to know there is hope beyond the initial “ugly” of a rebuilding process.
These Lions have played hard under Dan Campbell, and in recent weeks, you could tell they’ve been fighting hard to get him his first win as their head coach.
All of the large iced coffees with shots of espresso, all of the knee-biting analogies, and all of the fun press conference quotes led to a pretty great moment in Detroit on Sunday.
Don’t worry, Lions fans — this win doesn’t even take your team out of the top slot in the 2022 NFL Draft.
The Lions haven’t had a lot to be excited about this season, but for the time being, they get a quality win at home in a very exciting fashion to be excited about.