Minnesota Vikings 27, Detroit Lions 9: Photos from Ford Field

Dave Birkett | Detroit Free Press

Free Press sports writer Dave Birkett grades the Detroit Lions' 27-9 loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday at Ford Field:

Quarterback

It doesn’t make much sense to pay a quarterback $27 million to dink and dunk his way downfield, but that’s what the Lions are doing with Matthew Stafford. Stafford averaged just 3.6 yards per pass attempt, which isn’t even a good running play. He missed a throw to Kenny Golladay in the end zone when the Lions settled for one of their first-half field goals and was little wild on some of his shorter throws to running back LeGarrette Blount. Stafford doesn’t have much of a receiving corps to work with, but with just 116 yards passing, it’s not like he played winning football.

Grade: D-plus

Running backs

Zach Zenner should be getting the vast majority of the Lions’ carries, and for some reason that’s not happening. Zenner had eight carries for 45 yards Sunday, while the Lions’ other backs, Blount and Theo Riddick, combined for 13 carries for 27 yards. Zenner ran for 5 yards on the second play of the game, when he cut back on Sheldon Richardson after the big defensive tackle ran by center Graham Glasgow, then broke a 29-yard gain behind good blocking up front. Zenner did allow one of the Vikings’ two sacks on Stafford when he missed a block on Eric Wilson.

Grade: D

Kirthmon F. Dozier, Detroit Free Press

Wide receivers/tight ends

Golladay followed up one of the best games of his career last week against the Bills with an uninspiring performance Sunday. He caught just six of the 15 passes thrown his way for 58 yards, had a costly drop on third-and-7 on the Lions’ first drive of the second half and was called for two penalties. The Lions didn’t take many chances deep, but they weren’t exactly winning against Minnesota’s cornerbacks, either. TJ Jones did have a season-high six catches for 42 yards, but Levine Toilolo allowed a sack and Andy Jones had just one catch while playing as the Lions’ No. 2 receiver.

Grade: F

Offensive line

The Lions allowed just three sacks after giving up 10 to the Vikings in the first meeting, but that was largely a product of getting the ball out of Stafford’s hands quick and putting him in plenty of rolling-pocket situations. Kenny Wiggins was too slow kicking out to block a screen pass that went for a loss and knocked the Lions out of field-goal range on their opening drive, while Danielle Hunter beat Rick Wagner to stop Riddick for no gain on another third-down play. Jaleel Johnson beat Frank Ragnow to throw Zenner for a 1-yard loss in the second quarter, and Ragnow missed another block on Harrison Smith. Take out Matt Cassel’s late scramble and the Lions averaged just 3.2 yards per carry.

Grade: C-minus

Defensive line

The Lions dominated the Vikings up front for the first 26 minutes, but they couldn't stop Dalvin Cook in second half (when he ran for 58 yards on 10 carries). Damon Harrison is remarkably agile for being 355 pounds. On one inside handoff to receiver Adam Thielen just before halftime, Harrison recognized the misdirection and got enough of Thielen to trip him up after a 3-yard gain. Ricky Jean Francois (four tackles) did a good job fighting off a block at the line of scrimmage to stop a Cook draw on third-and-6 on the Vikings’ second series. He also drew two holding penalties. Romeo Okwara had a drive-killing sack in the first half, but the Lions didn’t do a great job rushing the passer overall.

Grade: B-minus

Kirthmon F. Dozier, Detroit Free Press

Linebackers

Cook broke an 18-yard run on the opening drive of the third quarter when Jarrad Davis appeared to overrun the play and Devon Kennard couldn't fight off a block to make a tackle. Davis had five tackles, but he couldn’t hall Cook down on a third-and-2 play early in the first quarter that resulted in a first down. There appeared to be some confusion between Christian Jones and Quandre Diggs on the first play of the fourth quarter, when Kyle Rudolph got free for a 17-yard gain on second-and-19. The Lions had no answer for Rudolph, who had nine catches for 122 yards.

Grade: C-plus

Defensive backs

The Lions were in control of the game until the secondary melted down late in the first half. Adam Thielen found an open space between Darius Slay and DeShawn Shead for a 40-yard gain on third-and-17 to set up the Vikings’ first touchdown. Slay hurt his shoulder when he tackled Thielen, and that injury had a ripple effect on the rest of the secondary. Two plays later, Stefon Diggs beat Slay’s replacement, Marcus Cooper, for an easy touchdown. Nevin Lawson played well. He had four tackles, the first sack of his career and was strong in run support, but he also drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for kicking a Vikings offensive lineman. Shead had a rough day. He missed a tackle on Rudolph just before halftime, when the tight end was able to gain extra yards and set up the Vikings’ Hail Mary play. He also let Rudolph box him out for the Hail Mary catch.

Grade: F

Special teams

The Lions had some good moments on special teams as Matt Prater made field goals of 47, 35 and 48 yards and Sam Martin landed four of his six punts inside the 20-yard line with no touchbacks. Andy Jones made a great play on Martin’s first punt to down the kick inside the 2. But Jamal Agnew was a little rusty in his first game back from a knee injury, letting one punt hit that he should have fielded, the Lions were called for a false-start penalty when they tried to draw the Vikings offsides on a second-quarter field-goal try, and in the most costly play, Tracy Walker was flagged for kick-catch interference, a 15-yard penalty that helped set up the Hail Mary.

Grade: B-minus

Coaching

Well-coached teams don’t melt down like the Lions did late in the first half, then roll over and play dead in the third quarter. Jean Francois said the Lions work on their Hail Mary defense twice a week typically, yet they still couldn’t execute it Sunday. I give Jim Bob Cooter credit for trying different things with the Lions’ patchwork personnel. He schemed open one decent-sized pass play when he used three tight ends, with two split wide to the right, to confuse the Vikings. But the Lions played things way to close to the vest in a game that was there for the taking. They now have six double-digit losses on the season, four of them at home, which is another concern in a league built for parity.

Grade: D