By Dean Holden
Detroit Lions-Minnesota Vikings: A Test of Embattled Psyches
How is it possible for two 0-2 teams from the same division to be so very different, yet have the same basic goal when playing one another?
Before this week, I would have said it wasn’t possible. But here we are, and we may never see a pair of 0-2 teams as different as the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions.
Both teams are winless, but neither has lost by more than a possession. Minnesota’s season point differential is -9; Detroit’s is -8.
Both teams went for it on fourth-and-short last week, but neither did terribly well with it.
Detroit is missing its starting quarterback. Minnesota is starting to wish it was, too.
And then there’s Jahvid Best, who last Sunday taught everybody why the Lions traded up to get Minnesota’s pick in the first round to select him.
The matchup is chock full of links, similarities, and other intrigues.
So then why does it seem like the Lions are coming into the Metrodome with heads held high and a strong feeling of positive momentum, while the Vikings are about one more interception from a full-on scrambling panic?
Well, expectations are involved. Minnesota was one Favreian throw away from a Super Bowl last year, and since they return basically the same team this year, expectations were once again extremely high.
The missing link was, of course, Brett Favre, who turned in career bests in a number of categories last year after most assumed he would stay retired.
And despite his ever-advancing age and a gimpy ankle, Favre returned yet again this year. The result so far has been one touchdown, four interceptions, a fumble lost in his own end zone, and a QB rating of 56.1.
That puts his passer rating lower than Trent Edwards, Jason Campbell, Jake Delhomme, and (in case you were wondering) Shaun Hill.
Perhaps more concerning for the Favre and the Vikings is that the Lions are averaging more sacks per game (five) than Favre has taken so far this season (four).
And the most interesting thing about the Lions’ sack numbers is how even they are. While the team as a whole has 10, no individual player has more than two, and only one (Louis Delmas) belongs to a blitzing player. In other words, the Lions are going to bring four rushers, and pressure will be coming from everywhere.
It’s difficult to scheme for that, especially when your quarterback is a grandfather with a bad leg and zero mobility. Don’t think the threat of injury isn’t a mental issue, even for an iron man like Favre.
Speaking of mental issues, the Lions have their fair share of demons haunting them this week as well.
After a second straight failed comeback attempt under their backup quarterback, the Lions are going to be hard-pressed to keep fighting, especially in a road game against a team they haven’t beaten since 2007, at a field where they haven’t won since 1997, and against a quarterback who they haven’t beaten at home since…ever.
Considering we’re talking about the Lions here, it will be exceptionally easy for them to say, “Here we go again,” throw their hands up, and quit. A weak showing against a vulnerable Vikings squad will likely indicate just that.
Of course, the Lions won’t be the only team with psychological issues this Sunday. Where the Lions are fighting for pride, respect, and legitimacy, the Vikings are fighting to regain pride, respect, and a shot back into the playoffs.
Up to this point, the Vikings don’t have that much to worry about.
They haven’t allowed more than 14 points in a game (even against the high-powered Saints), and their losses have been to a pair of 2-0 teams.
The Vikings offense has sputtered, but they’ve been without two of their most dynamic receivers, and Favre is out-of-sync from missing training camp. Those excuses have held solid for the first two weeks, and there’s no reason why not.
They won’t this time. The Vikings offense comes up against a Lions defense that has allowed at least as many points in each of its games as the Vikings have scored all season (19).
See, it isn’t so much that the Vikings are in a full-blown panic right now. But if you think the Lions aren’t a must-win game for them, you’re fooling yourself.
It isn’t just the looming threat of going 0-3 and sliding into last in the division. It’s the fact that an already uneasy fanbase could be faced with losing a long-standing psychological edge over even the “lowly” Detroit Lions on the way to 0-3.
The Vikings losing two straight home games, the second against a team that hasn’t beaten them at home in 13 years, going 0-3 when they only lost four games all season last year, and all this into a bye week?
That’s too much to take for a Super Bowl hopeful. This is a must win for the Vikings, primarily because they believe it’s a should win. And Super Bowl teams win their “should win” games.
And that’s precisely why it also means so much to the Lions. The Lions have been a “should beat” team around the league for years, and it’s exactly that image they’re fighting this year to eliminate.
Beating the Vikings at home would snap a series of mounting losing streaks (21 games on the road, 12 games at the Metrodome, 7 games in the regular season, 17 games vs. Brett Favre in road games) and send just the right message to the rest of the NFL: “We are no longer your doormat.”
But they have to believe in themselves, first. The Lions have played two games thus far this season, and both have had moments of shining glory, and moments where everybody seems to just be shuffling around the football field. If they’re going to win this thing, they have to play 60 minutes, and that starts with them knowing they’re good enough to win.
If they figure it out by Sunday, maybe they’ll get the rest of us believing it, too.
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