Darnold and Vikings will look for answers instead of getting a playoff bye

DETROIT (AP) — The Minnesota Vikings will have a lot of time to think when they fly to Los Angeles later this week.

They can try to figure out how they let Sunday night’s game against the Detroit Lions slip away, along with their chances at the NFC North title and the top seed in the NFC playoffs.

Despite the lopsided 31-9 score, the Vikings outplayed the Lions for much of the night. They just couldn’t finish drives.

“We just didn’t do the things we consistently did all season,” coach Kevin O’Connell said. “It came down to being able to finish in the red zone.”

Minnesota (14-3) got into the red zone four times and came away with six points. The team ran 11 plays inside the Lions 10 and didn’t score a touchdown.

“You can’t go out there and kick field goals in the red zone against a team like (the Lions),” quarterback Sam Darnold said. “Our defense played great and kept us in the game, but we didn’t finish when we had the chance.”

Cam Akers ran the ball twice inside the 10, but Darnold was the bigger problem. He completed 1 of 9 passes for 3 yards — a completion to Aaron Jones to move the ball from the 5 to the 2. He missed Justin Jefferson four times in the end zone.

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“I’ve got to watch the tape and see what I was doing wrong,” Darnold said. “I think maybe I could have been a little more settled on some of those throws. I might have been backpedaling or moving laterally when I needed to plant.”

Things were better when the Vikings were outside Detroit’s 10, but not by a lot. Overall, Darnold only completed three of his nine passes to Jefferson, two of eight to Hockenson and one of six to Addison.

“It looked like Sam missed some throws high, and we’ll look at it this week,” O’Connell said. “Sam has made those throws all season and I’m always going to expect him to make the next one.”

Darnold was only sacked twice, but Detroit’s patchwork pass rush overwhelmed the Minnesota offensive line. The Lions hit him 10 times and forced him to rush several more passes.

Meanwhile, Minnesota’s defense did a good job of holding Detroit’s high-powered offense in check into the third quarter. The Vikings were only behind 10-9 after their field goal with 9:55 left in the quarter, and had forced Jared Goff into two interceptions.

“At that point in the game, we’re thinking we can get a stop and another nice drive,” O’Connell said. “If we do that, we’ve got the lead in the second half and we could see how that went.”

Instead the defense ran out of gas. Jahmyr Gibbs scored touchdowns on Detroit’s next three possessions, giving him four on the night.

“He’s as explosive as anyone in the National Football League,” O’Connell said. “I thought we did a pretty good job against him for the most part, but all it takes for a player like that is a little space.”

The next time Minnesota stopped the Lions came with 27 seconds to play. Darnold took a knee, ending the game and sending the Vikings to face old rival Matthew Stafford on Monday night. They are the NFL’s first 14-win wild-card team.

“Losing sucks, but it is what it is,” Darnold said. “We did a lot of great things this season and now we have an opportunity to go to the playoffs and play another really good team in Los Angeles.

“That’s the story now.”

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