The Minnesota Vikings' offence couldn't rally
for a touchdown, so the defence did it for them. Twice.
Detroit squandered a 17-3 lead in the fourth quarter and the
Vikings defence scored two touchdowns on turnovers by Jon Kitna in
the final period for a 26-17 victory Sunday.
Ben Leber returned Kitna's fumble one yard for a touchdown to cut
Detroit's lead to 17-16 and Ryan Longwell made a 20-yard field goal
to give the Vikings a 19-16 lead with three minutes to play.
Kitna, trying to bring Detroit back, was flushed out of the
pocket and corralled by Ray Edwards before desperately throwing the
ball in a receiver's direction. The pass landed right in E.J.
Henderson's hands, and the linebacker raced 45 yards to seal the
win.
It was a stunning, but not surprising, turnaround that kept the
Lions (0-5) winless and continued their misery against the Vikings.
They have lost nine straight to Minnesota, dating back to 2001.
Detroit hired coach Rod Marinelli and jettisoned first-round bust
Joey Harrington for the steady veteran Kitna in the off-season,
hoping the changes would finally turn around a team that has the
worst record in the NFL (21-64) since 2001. But the Lions just keep
finding ways to give away games, and this one was ripe for the
taking.
In a first half filled with penalties, dropped passes and
turnovers, the Lions took a 10-3 lead on the strength of Kitna's
eight-yard TD run.
Minnesota's second turnover of the game, a fumble by Travis
Taylor close to midfield, set up Kitna's 12-yard touchdown pass to
Dan Campbell that gave the Lions a 17-3 lead midway through the
third quarter.
With the Lions defence dominating a struggling Vikings offence,
the game looked well in hand.
Coming into the game, the Vikings (3-2) had scored just three
offensive touchdowns all season, and they didn't look much better
against the Lions.
Brad Johnson completed his first eight passes of the game, but
most were dinks and dunks in the West Coast offence that got the
Vikings nowhere. He was booed heavily through the first three
quarters and looked every bit his 38 years of age while one-hopping
passes to open receivers.
As they have all season, the Vikings leaned heavily on running
back Chester Taylor and a stingy defence to keep things close.
Taylor rushed for 123 yards in another workhorse effort and the
Vikings' defence sacked Kitna five times, intercepted him three
others and also forced the fumble that got things going in the
fourth. The Vikings finally got in the end zone at the start of the
fourth quarter after a 68-yard drive that was aided by a
roughing-the-passer call on Shaun Rogers.
Johnson, 26-of-34 for 201 yards, hit Travis Taylor on a
three-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 17-10.
After a block-in-the-back penalty on Donte Curry nullified Eddie
Drummond's kick return for a touchdown, the Lions put the Vikings
right back in the game. On second-and-6 from the Detroit 14, Pat
Williams burst through the line untouched and engulfed Kitna,
forcing a fumble that Leber scooped up at the goal line for a
touchdown.
Jared DeVries blocked Ryan Longwell's extra point to hold the
Lions' lead at 17-16, but it was all downhill from there for
Detroit.
