If you’re a Vikings fan past your teenage years, you are probably still pretty accustomed to the Detroit Lions being two free wins every season for your favorite football team. You wouldn’t be wrong to be used to that, as up until 2022, the Minnesota Vikings held an 80-39-2 record all-time against the Motor City Kitties. As we all know, it’s a new era in Detroit under the lead of head coach Dan Campbell and general manager Brad Holmes, so things have changed a bit.
Since Kevin O’Connell was hired, the Vikings have only beaten the Detroit Lions once, and it came in KOC’s first game against the team as head coach of the Minnesota Vikings in a 28-24 triumph on September 25th, 2022. From 2022 up until the present time, heading into their first matchup in 2025, the Vikings are an embarrassing 1-5 against the team that used to be the doormat of the NFC North.
The streak in Detroit dates back to Week 17 of the 2020 season, as the Vikings have lost the last four games in Michigan.
Vikings’ Matchup is Pivotal to Short and Long-Term Future
This game comes at a time when the Minnesota Vikings need to find a way to get a win. Their season feels close to being on life support, and the uncertainty amongst fans about this season and whether or not J.J. McCarthy is who he has been advertised to be has cast a dark cloud over the public image of the organization. This has made for, without a doubt, the most treacherous waters that this ship has had to navigate through in Kevin O’Connell and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s three-and-a-half years captaining the ship.
Minnesota will have to try to exorcise its blue and silver demons in Week 9, presumably with QB J.J. McCarthy, who has his own things to prove. The NFC North divisional showdown will set the tone for the rest of the season about whether or not the Vikings can contend while they continue to find out what they have in the kid.
The Vikings don’t need to win this game as long as McCarthy shows flashes for there to be confidence in the signal-calling going forward, but a loss would signal another slight loss of confidence for the O’Connell and Adofo-Mensah regime in Minneapolis.
On the flip side, while obviously less likely, a Vikings win on Sunday against the Lions could spark a real run for the team at all levels. The players aren’t looking at this as a game that they probably just won’t win. Rather, it’s a safe bet that everyone in the locker room, front office, and all other parts of the TCO Performance Center is looking at this as a great opportunity to bounce back from a rocky last couple of outings.
After all, it’s not like the Vikings are going out and losing to traveling circuses. They lost to the Eagles in an obvious bounce-back spot for the reigning Super Bowl champions, and ultimately lost because of their own unraveling in key moments, all due respect to Philadelphia’s great showing.
Yes, the Vikings obviously did get embarrassed on Thursday Night Football in Week 8 against the Los Angeles Chargers. But to feel better about it, the Chargers are a very good team, and the Vikings were being quarterbacked by a man playing through a torn labrum, dislocated shoulder, and fractured shoulder socket.
All eyes are on the Minnesota Vikings this Sunday, and they will be watching every little movement as they look to salvage what they can of an uninspiring first seven contests of their 2025 campaign. A loss would all but pretty much lock the Vikings out of the playoffs, as they would be possessing a 3-5 record at the bottom of the NFC North with a gauntlet of a schedule out in front of them.
If they win and McCarthy shows promise, however, the season may be completely back on. If it makes you feel a little better, McCarthy has never lost a game of football in the state of Michigan, and there’s no reason he wouldn’t want to keep that streak going.
