My hopes were high for my bold prediction last week before kick off, but quickly the prediction was wrong. This time, my prediction has four quarters to stay alive.
On Christmas afternoon, the Detroit Lions travel on the road to take on the Minnesota Vikings in a complete 180 from last season’s ending. While the Vikings are eliminated from playoff contention, the Lions still have a shot, although it’s a long one. With the Lions still needing to win out, and playing before they know their fate for Week 18, they’ll do all they can to keep the hopes alive for a postseason berth. One big reason why they cannot only win this game, but achieve my bold prediction, is how horrible the Vikings’ offensive line has been this season. With the Vikings banged up and trying to play spoiler for the Lions, they’ll fight hard, but I think Detroit’s defense will show up big on Thursday afternoon.
Bold prediction of the week: Detroit records 5+ sacks
Despite being a top-10 team in sacks this season (41), the Lions’ pass rush still doesn’t seem complete. Edge defender Aidan Hutchinson has 11.5 sacks on the year, still being one of the top pass rushers in the NFL, but he still doesn’t look like he’s up to his standard level this year. Al-Quadin Muhammad is having a career-year with nine sacks, putting half of the sack total on those two players. The interior pass rush hasn’t been what many expected, forcing the linebackers to have to do more of the cleaning up, as four linebackers are have a combined 11.5 sacks.
The pass rush hasn’t been much of a threat up the middle, despite having some strong dudes there like Alim McNeill and Tyleik Williams. Injuries have also been a factor once again as Detroit has been without McNeill for the first six games of the season and Marcus Davenport has missed nine games. You also can’t forget the team losing defensive lineman Levi Onwuzurike before the season started, as well as EDGE Josh Paschal who had a setback in his possible return, and rookie Ahmed Hassanein was released and re-signed after getting hurt in the preseason.
With the team lacking depth and talent, it’s been on a few star players to make as many plays as they can, and we’ve seen what that’s turned into. Even when facing a lower-leveled offensive line, it hasn’t been good enough for them to strike. This week, though, I think they come up big time.
The Lions defense has three games this year with five or more sacks: Week 3 against the Baltimore Ravens, Week 9 against the Vikings, and Week 14 against the Dallas Cowboys. Who does Detroit play this week again?
The Vikings offensive line has been more of a mess than Detroit’s this year. They’ve gone through countless injuries, leading them to have over 15 different combinations in games this year, practically changing every week. When you don’t have consistency on the offensive line, that’ll lead to a whirlwind of trouble for your offense. Guys don’t develop chemistry with the person next to or between them.
Minnesota will be without starting left tackle Christian Darrisaw this week as the team moved him to IR, ending his season. Starting center Ryan Kelly is in concussion protocol, and on a short week that’s going to be difficult to quickly go through. He was listed as a non-participant for Monday and Tuesday practices for the Vikings, so he’s a long-shot to play. Starting right tackle Brian O’Neill also missed practice on Monday with a heel injury, but was limited on Tuesday. Still,the Vikings could very well be without three starting offensive lineman.
Not to make matters worse, but starting tight end T.J. Hockenson has missed the first two practices of the week with a shoulder injury, and starting quarterback J.J. McCarthy has already been declared out with a throwing-hand fracture. The Vikings possibly being down three offensive line starters, their best tight end to help block or at least chip, and starting their third-string (rooke) quarterback is a recipe for disaster.
I believe Detroit’s pass rush will outdo what they did back in Week 9. Back then, the Vikings were only without Kelly, but now they’ll be without Darrisaw and possibly O’Neill. The talent drop off they have behind those guys is noticeable and with Max Brosmer instead of McCarthy, things will only get worse. If the Lions pass rush can’t come home and get multiple sacks facing a banged up and inferior offensive line, then not only do the Lions need more pass rush help in 2026, they might need to make it their top priority come April’s draft.
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