So close but yet so far. That’s the Detroit Lions story from the Week 3 loss to the Minnesota Vikings.
Dan Campbell’s Lions fell in the NFC North showdown, 28-24. A chance to run into first place in the division instead ran into poor late execution and bad decisions by the visitors from the Motor City.
Buy Lions WireDetroit led most of the game and carried a 24-14 lead into the fourth quarter. But a brutal outing from cornerbacks Amani Oruwariye and Mike Hughes helped the Vikings close the gap, as did some lousy execution and questionable choices on third and fourth downs by the Lions offense.
The game got away from Detroit late when Lions kicker Austin Seibert missed his second field goal of the game, with 1:14 remaining and the Lions up by three points. It was a controversial choice by Campbell and it backfired with the miss. Seibert’s 54-yard attempt wasn’t close to going through the uprights.
Minnesota quickly marched down the field and scored the go-ahead touchdown when Kirk Cousins found a wide open K.J. Osborn form 28 yards out. The Vikings didn’t need any timeouts to score in under 30 seconds.
Detroit drove into Vikings territory on the ensuing last-gasp drive, but Jared Goff’s desperation heave was intercepted and Minnesota escaped with the win.
The Lions lived dangerously all afternoon. Detroit was a brutal 3-for-16 on third down conversions, which forced the two missed Seibert field goals. It also led to Campbell going for it six times on fourth downs. Four of those were successful. The decision not to try for a seventh time is perhaps the biggest failure from the game.
The Lions fall to 1-2 while the Vikings improve to 2-1. Detroit hosts Seattle in Week 4.
