DETROIT — In recent years, the Vikings’ defense often has picked up the offense. On Sunday, Oct. 20, the offense bailed out the defense.
In a 42-30 win over Detroit at Ford Field, the Vikings rolled up 503 yards of total offense, the second most in Mike Zimmer’s six years as head coach. That made up for Minnesota giving up season-high totals in points and in yards with 433.
“The offense definitely came today,’’ said Vikings safety Anthony Harris. “They started fast and stayed consistent and kept pouring it on at a time when we kind of kept shooting ourselves in the foot.’’
It was the third straight game of 400 yards or better for the Vikings, a stretch in which they have 1,440. Kirk Cousins completed 24 of 34 passes for 337 yards, his third game in a row of 300, and threw four touchdowns.
The Vikings (5-2) won their third straight game and avoided what could have been a 0-3 start in the NFC North. They did it despite star receiver Adam Thielen being lost for the game with a hamstring injury after he caught a 25-yard touchdown pass from Cousins midway through the first quarter to tie the score 7-7.
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Others came up big after Thielen went down, including Stefon Diggs, who had seven catches for 142 yards. When the game was on the line, Diggs made the play of the game.
With the Vikings leading 35-30 and facing second-and-five at their 30 with three minutes left, it looked to be an obvious running situation. Instead, Cousins uncorked a 66-yard pass down the right side to Diggs, who took the ball to the Lions 4. Dalvin Cook, who had a game-high 142 yards rushing, then locked up the game with a 4-yard touchdown run, his second score.
“We wanted to stay aggressive,’’ Cousins said. “They were moving the ball really well, and we felt like we had to.’’
With Thielen out, the Vikings made more of an effort to get to the ball to their tight ends. Irv Smith Jr. had five catches for 60 yards and Kyle Rudolph had five for 60 yards and a touchdown. Rookie wide receiver Bisi Johnson, moving up from No. 3 receiver, had four receptions for 40 yards.
“You never want to lose a guy like Adam, but those other guys stepped up,’’ said Vikings coach Mike Zimmer.
Thielen said he would have an MRI to determine the severity of his injury but was “optimistic’’ he won’t miss a game even though the Vikings have a short week before playing Thursday against Washington at U.S. Bank Stadium. He said he “felt it” in his hamstring after catching his TD pass at the back of the end zone and before he ran into a padded temporary wall.
The Vikings didn’t miss a beat when Thielen went out, scoring on their next three possessions. The problem was stopping the Lions.
Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford completed 30 of 45 passes for 364 yards and four touchdowns. Having big days receiving were Marvin Jones, who had 10 catches for 93 yards, and Danny Amendola, who had eight for 105 yards.
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The teams mostly traded touchdowns for much of the game. Cousins’ other TD passes were 1 yard to Johnson in the second quarter to tie the score 14-14, 5 yards to fullback C.J.Ham for a 28-21 lead in the third quarter and 15 yards to Rudolph for a 35-24 lead in the fourth.
Stafford’s final touchdown pass, a 2-yarder to Jones with 3:05 left in the game, cut the deficit to 35-30.
“We had a couple of things we left out there,’’ Vikings linebacker Eric Kendricks said of the defense. “We made mistakes but the offense came through huge for us.’’
Kendricks did make the defensive play of the game. With the Lions (2-3-1) trailing 28-24 and facing fourth-and-2 with 8:58 left at the Vikings 41, he broke up short pass to running back J.D. McKissic.
Overall, though, most of Minnesota’s highlights were on offense.
“You never know what the game is going to call for,’’ Cousins said. “A couple of weeks this year we’ve run for 200 yards, so I hand the ball off and watch (the defensive players) do their thing. This game we were a little more multiple and we felt like we had to because we didn’t know what the Lions were going to do (on offense).’’
