(Minneapolis) Helped by two rushing touchdowns from Jahmyr Gibbs and another from Amon-Ra St. Brown which allowed them to take the lead, the Detroit Lions earned their first section title in 30 years when they defeated the crippled Minnesota Vikings by a score of 30-24 on Sunday afternoon.
Ifeatu Melifonwu intercepted a pass from Nick Mullens – his team’s fourth interception of the game – at the Lions’ five-yard line with 49 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
Mullens made an imprecise pass to Justin Jefferson, who was left completely exposed, three plays after Jefferson made a spectacular leaping catch in the air, despite the presence of two rivals, for a first down on a third down and 27 yards to go.
For the Lions, quarterback Jared Goff accumulated 257 passing yards without committing a single turnover. Running back David Montgomery added a touchdown for the Lions (11-4), who delivered another solid performance on offense.
The Lions are guaranteed to play a playoff game for the first time in 22 years at Ford Field, where a banner commemorating their NL championship will fly.
The last banner was raised to underline their title of the Central section of the National Association, in 1993.
In the loss, Mullens threw two touchdown passes, a 26-yard touchdown pass to Jefferson with 29 seconds left in the first half, and a six-yard touchdown pass to KJ Osborn that gave the Vikings a lead a 21-17 lead early in the third quarter.
But like the previous week in an overtime loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, turnovers had a big influence in the final outcome of the game.