It was 20-3 with a little over seven minutes left in the fourth quarter.  The Lions were down...again...to the Minnesota Vikings....They'd been completely stymied by the Minnesota Defense for the entire first half...

And then they roared back with 21 unanswered points for an incredible victory....behind Rodney Peete, Barry Sanders, and Robert Clark and Willie Green (the color of money.)

The year was 1991...

Now, I'm not saying the Lions are going to go 12-4 and march on to the NFC Championship game....but do you see any similarities?

I can't say I wasn't worried when the Lions went down 20-0 to the Vikings.  I can say that I do wonder if this victory doesn't have more to do with the Vikings recent history of second half collapses than it does with the Lions playing incredibly well in the second half.

It occurs to me that the Vikings are just really, really poorly coached.  The first week of the season, the Vikings were up 17-7 at the half...and lost.  Last week they were up 17-0 at half and...guess what...lost.  So when they went up 20-0 on the Lions...yes, there was an inkling in the back of my mind that this probably wasn't going to be over.

But I also expected that the Lions would be the team that the Vikings would finally make some second half corrections against and fix their failing problems...but that didn't happen.

The Lions came out strong in the second half...first Matt Stafford hit Calvin Johnson on a 32 yd TD pass that proved that Johnson may in fact be uncoverable one on one.  One of the announcers said that "it just wasn't fair." and that to even things up, "Calvin Johnson should only be able to jump with one foot in the redzone."

Then there was field goal and another Johnson TD catch and another field goal and another and the Lions were up 23-20 deep in the fourth quarter...almost in the blink of an eye...

This was an awesome victory...and it was the kind of victory that coaches love...because there's still a ton of stuff to yell about.

First of all, what happened in the first half? They got down by 20 freakin' points!  They didn't do a very good job stopping the run, special teams was really bad and the Lions gave up FIVE sacks...this was an offensive line that hadn't given up a sack all year...and they didn't provide much of a run game all day. 

So, at least we know that Stafford can take a hit..Jared Allen recorded three sacks....what is Demarcus Ware going to next week at Dallas?

But that's next week...this week the Leo's are 3-0 and bringing back good memories of the greatest Lions season in 50 years...that team didn't even go 3-0...

2-0...and not just 2-0, but impressive national media attention getting wins. The Lions did a lot of ending streaks last year...namely losing streaks....losing in general...losing on the road...managing to win consecutive games...

Now let's end some significant streaks. How about winning in Washington, that hasn't been done since 1937. How about a victory at San Francisco, hasn't been done since 1975. How about a win at the horrid house of Lambeau...hasn't been done since 1991.

And most importantly...What about a victory at Minnesota, that hasn't been done since 1997.

Or how about just winning a road game against a divisional opponent, that hasn't been done in three years.

The Lions can do both of these this weekend as they travel to land of Mall of America to play the 0-2 and faltering Vikings. 

You have to like their chances too, but as long as everything points to another lopsided Lions victory, the Lions have shown throughout history that they'll prove you wrong...in other words...they CAN find a way to lose.

Furthermore, even though the Lions are saying all of the right things about it "only being two games", all of the national media attention has also historically been bad news for the Honolulu Blue. 

Min offense vs Det Defense

In the first half of the blowout victory over the Chiefs, Kansas City showed that they could run the ball on the edge against the Lions.  Jamaal Charles had two rushes for 27 yards...his first rush was for 25 yards and his second, on which he got hurt, was only for two yards...but it was for a first down.

Adrian Peterson is bigger, stronger and faster than what the Lions have seen so far. 

And although, the Lions have ususally done a pretty respectable job in stopping the perennial probowler, he could do some serious damage to the Lions.

On the other hand...Peterson appears to be the only worry that the Vikings really feature.  Donovan McNabb has so far shown himself to be a faint ghost of his former self...there is no longer any Sidney Rice and for some reason Percy Harvin only gets on the field about half of the time.

If the Lions can contain AP...Suh may dismember McNabb...perhaps several times on Sunday.

Advantage: Detroit

Min Defense vs Det Offense

Minneota DT Kevin Williams returns from a two game suspension...DT Pat Williams is out of football...DE Ray Edwards left via free agency....I guess what I'm trying to say is that vaunted defensive front doesn't exist anymore.  The Vikings do feature a couple of good corners though...but not enough to deal with all of Detroit's weapons...

I think this is another...

Advantage: Detroit

Prediction: Lions 28 Vikings 10

I really hate picking the Lions though...especially with their history of playing at Minnesota and their inability to get a road win in the division in THREE YEARS....but I can't help it, once again all evidence points to another nasty, long and embarrassing streak coming to an end.