The Minnesota Vikings swept the season series against the Detroit Lions on Christmas Day. The Vikings knocked their divisional rival out of playoff contention, but also clinched the playoffs for the Packers at the same time. The Week 18 matchup between Green Bay and Minnesota will be meaningless for playoff positioning. The Lions offense was stifled all day by the relentless Vikings defense. Max Brosmer and the offense weren’t able to get much going, but did just enough to get the team over the finish line. Will Reichard was perfect on the day, as we all have come to expect.
Harrison Smith
Harrison Smith is having fun playing right now. You can see the joy in his face. It sure does seem like Sunday will be his last game. He had another vintage performance on Thursday. He snatched an interception, a sack, 3 TFLs and 3 passes defensed.
Byron Murphy Jr
Murphy hasn’t had the best season, but it was a good Christmas for him. Murphy was able to grab an interception and fumble recovery (Gibbs).
Andrew Van Ginkel
Van Ginkel had a pair of fumble recoveries, with the 2nd on a very impressive play to get the ball away from Goff as he tried to jump on a bad snap. Van Ginkel fought through injuries for most of the season, but has returned to form as of late.
Will Reichard
Just another day at the office. Reichard was 3/3 on FGs and 2/2 on XPs. With the 2 50+ yard FGs on Christmas, Reichard broke the team record for most FGs of 50+ yards on the season. Best kicker in the game right now.
Brian Flores
The Vikings knew they would need an impeccable defensive effort to win this game. Flores’ defense stepped up big time. 6 turnovers and only 231 yards allowed. Just an epic performance from a team that was eliminated from the playoffs weeks ago. It’s going to be hard to keep Flores around this offseason.
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