Going up against their toughest challenge this season, the Lions ground game must be sound in order to give the Vikings their first loss of the season.
It’s officially that time of year, it’s NFC North divisional game time! For the first time this season, the Detroit Lions play a divisional foe and the first one up are the Minnesota Vikings. This isn’t a typical NFC North showdown because the Vikings are currently undefeated at 5-0, and the Lions are coming in 4-1 off a big beatdown win over the Dallas Cowboys. The winner of this game will have first place in the division, whether that is due to a tiebreaker, or the Vikings win and are still undefeated.
The toughest thing about this matchup though, is how will the Lions ground game work against this Vikings defense? Minnesota has the best defense in the NFL according to DVOA, and with the Lions known for running the ball, will they have success this week? Here is why I think the Lions must execute in the running game in order to win on Sunday.
Lions offensive line vs. Vikings defense
When talking about the running game, it starts with the offensive line. If the offensive line can’t do their job, no running back can survive and do well with that. Just look at what David Montgomery had when he was with the Chicago Bears versus what he has now with the Lions.
According to PFF, the Lions have the sixth best run blocking unit in the NFL with a 73.5 grade. The right side of the line with right tackle Penei Sewell, right guard Kevin Zeitler, and center Frank Ragnow are the teams top three run blockers.
How good is Minnesota’s run defense you ask? Second in the NFL with a 79.1 run defense grade. When looking at who has played the most run defense snaps, their leader is linebacker Blake Cashman, who is unlikely to play due to turf toe. While he has the most run defense snaps, there are still others who have a strong grade from PFF on run defenses like cornerback Stephon Gilmore (90.2), safety Josh Metellus (90.1), linebacker Ivan Pace Jr. (84.9), and defensive end Pat Jones II (74.9).
So far this season, the Vikings have allowed 3.6 yards per carry, second least in the NFL, and have averaged just over 67 rushing yards per game. Minnesota has only had one game where they have allowed over 100 yards and it was against the San Francisco 49ers. The Lions offensive line is going to have to be on it’s best performance to help the running backs have success this week.
David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs takeover
Now when discussing the running backs themselves, there is no better duo in the NFL than Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs. They both are in the top 20 for rushing yards in the NFL, combining for 699 yards and nine touchdowns on 141 carries, averaging 4.95 yard per carry. The next best running back duo is on the Atlanta Falcons with Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier who combine for 663 yards on 133 carries with four touchdowns and averaging 4.98 yards per carry.
While Atlanta’s duo does have a better yards per carry, they have fewer yards and not even half the amount of touchdowns the Lions duo has. What makes Montgomery and Gibbs different from the rest is how the Lions use them. Montgomery isn’t just the between-the-tackles back and Gibbs isn’t just the receiving back, they can both do everything.
What also helps them—and the offense overall—is with them both being able to do similar things, they can substitute them out in most situations and get the same result. By having that ability, it keeps both players fresh. Throughout a game, players get tired, but these two always seem ready to go and if you think slowing down or containing one of them will stop the run game, it won’t. Sometimes Detroit will ride with the hot hand, and if someone is clearly having a better day, the coaching staff isn’t afraid to lean on the one player over the other.
Dominating the ground helps the passing game
The best part about the Lions offense is that because they love to run the football so much, it helps the passing game succeed as well. You’d also be surprised to learn that so far, Detroit has only ran the ball 12 more times than passing, but just that small of a difference means a lot in how helpful it can be to throw the football. The wide receivers for Detroit aren’t just trained on how to run routes and catch passes, but they are taught how to block, and do it well. So just because the team has four wide receivers out wide and a running back in the backfield, doesn’t guarantee a pass play is coming.
What Detroit does so well compared to other teams is use play action. Play action can fool the defense into thinking it’s a run and suddenly they are back pedaling to try and get back into coverage. Against an aggressive defense like Minnesota, the Lions could end up taking advantage with play action, forcing Vikings defenders into vulnerable positions.
Detroit has to get the running game going because if they can run the football, Minnesota will have to accommodate for that. Instead of blitzing to sack the quarterback, they will be blitzing to get in the backfield so Gibbs or Montgomery can’t find a hole or bust outside for a big gain. If the run game has success and Minnesota adjusts their game plan to stop it, Detroit can turn up the play action passes to fool the defense and suddenly the run blitzes leave receivers for easy completions. If the Lions are bottled up and can’t move the ball with the running attack, that would make them one dimensional and that benefits Minnesota into keeping their undefeated season alive.
