During his weekly press conference, a reporter asked Brian Flores about the Detroit Lions’ aggressive offense. They’re the biggest challenge the Minnesota Vikings will face to date. The Lions didn’t just hang 47 points on Mike Zimmer’s defense last week; they played with their food, lining up offensive linemen at wide receiver and laughing at a fuming Jerry Jones in the owner’s suite.
Considering they racked up 42 points in their previous game against the Seattle Seahawks, Ben Johnson’s offense had the “WHO GONNA STOP EM???” feeling that dominates social media.
But when asked about it, Flores had the perfect response.
“I mean, I try to fight fire with fire,” Flores said with a grin. “That's just me. Some other people are different.”
With that, the picture for Sunday’s NFC North showdown was set. Flores at one 20-yard line, Johnson on the other. Both are equipped with flamethrowers, each trying to show who has the mid-season dominance in the NFL’s toughest division.
But before we dub Sunday’s game
It begs an old question: Should the Vikings fight fire with fire? Or should they take a long-term view for a team with Super Bowl aspirations?
The discussion starts with what Sunday’s game means to the Vikings. A 5-0 start has created breathing room in the NFC North; Minnesota opens with a one-game lead over the 4-1 Lions.
A loss to the Lions would sting in the short term. Detroit would earn the tiebreaker and first place in the division. Still, the Vikings could have plenty of time to make that up in a stretch that includes the 1-4 Rams, the 3-3 Indianapolis Colts, the 1-5 Jacksonville Jaguars, and the 1-4 Tennessee Titans.
For those keeping score at home, that’s a combined 6-16 record for Minnesota’s next four opponents, which should clear the runway for this team to take off regardless of what happens Sunday.
That should influence what the Vikings decide to do with Hockenson and Jones. Hockenson has been out since Kerby Joseph hit him low and tore his ACL during a Christmas Eve game at U.S. Bank Stadium. Hockenson didn’t undergo surgery until January because of swelling in the knee. However, by all accounts, his rehab from the injury has gone according to plan. Still, even Hockenson expressed caution about his availability for Sunday.
“It’s like anything, you need reps,” Hockenson told reporters on Thursday. “I’ve ran the last five months on air [against nobody]. … Now it’s just going out and not worrying about all that stuff and just winning on routes and playing as well as I can out there. Kind of just forgetting about footwork and not thinking about where your feet go, and just going out there and playing football again.”
Justin Jefferson also seemed to let the strategy slip by suggesting Hockenson would not play against the Lions.
“I was wanting him to come back this week,” Jefferson said. “But, sadly, he has to get that preparation of being in front of people and running routes on people. But we’ll have him soon, so I’m definitely looking forward to it.”
Meanwhile, Jones appears to be more optimistic about his availability. Jones missed Wednesday’s practice with a hamstring injury but was limited in practice on Thursday. While he’s likely to get a questionable tag, Jones’ injury history, including six missed games due to a hamstring injury last season, has to bring a level of concern.
It’s the kind of thinking that O’Connell used through his first two seasons with the Vikings. With more veterans on the roster, O’Connell deployed a strategy that was in stark contrast to the way Mike Zimmer ran practice. The technique paid off with a 13-win season in 2022. However, it didn’t have the same effect last year when the Vikings limped to a 7-10 record.
That caused O’Connell to adopt a more aggressive approach heading into this season. Practices were tougher, and they've only given off days to key veterans like Harrison Smith and Stephon Gilmore. The Vikings were a physical, nasty team that beat up opponents on the way to winning their first five games.
It’s the perfect approach for a team like the Lions, whose coach once vowed to eat his opponent’s kneecaps. With a victory, the Vikings can put the division in a stranglehold.
Should the Vikings win on Sunday, they’ll have a two-game lead over the Lions, which will become a three-game lead when considering the tiebreaker. Although Minnesota has another matchup with the Lions in Week 18, Detroit still has to play some of the teams the Vikings have already beaten, including the Houston Texans, the San Francisco 49ers, and two games against the Green Bay Packers.
A three-game lead could also put the Vikings in control of home-field advantage. If they continue to win the rest of the season, their trip to Detroit could be meaningless. That would allow Minnesota to rest some of its players before entering the playoffs.
But that’s considering everything goes well, which rarely happens in the NFL. While it's tempting to go all-out against the Lions, there’s also value in some discretion, which could help the Vikings later in the year.
Think you could write a story like this? Hockey Wilderness wants you to develop your voice, find an audience, and we'll pay you to do it. Just fill out this form.
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.