Week 3 NFL Picks: Lions and Vikings

In football, just like in life, things have a way of self-correcting. An economy might lose its way before inflation, innovation and a little hard work pave the way to recovery. Football teams take salary cap hits, withstand injury and languish through bad coaching hires before a lot of things come together for a season like this. The Lions were in a decade long recession, bordering on collapse. Some might say they have already recovered and are already on the road to prosperity. That may be true, but today’s game will tell us a lot about how far down the road they’ll travel.

Starting 2-0 is a nice thing. A solid road victory against a respected team and then a blowout victory against a team already considered to be this season’s biggest disappointers. To round off a 3-0 start on the road against a division rival like the Minnesota Vikings would be huge. Sure they’ve already had a string of road wins and have gotten over that proverbial hump. But this will be different. The Lions haven’t won in Minnesota in 13 years. Furthermore, the Vikings are 0-2 with a dominant running back meaning they are desperate and hungry.

The Lions are the better team. But on any given Sunday, the best team doesn’t always win. The Vikings had a chance to win both of their games this season going into the fourth quarter. This, coupled with the fact that Donovan McNabb had his worst start to a season ever mean that the Vikings are more than capable of making this a contest. Whether McNabb is over the hill or just needs to get warmed up is yet to be determined. I will say that a lot of his mistakes this season boil down to simple adjustments: timing with receivers, putting a little less on a pass and protecting the ball.

Winning on the road in the NFL is one of the toughest things to do in sports. While the Viking running attack poses the biggest threat to the Lions, it’s the early big plays that the Lions need to watch out for. Minnesota will look to strike quickly to get the crowd in the game, establish the run and offset the effectiveness of the Lions pass rush.

At the end of the day, like the first two games and those yet to be played this season, the defensive line of Detroit will be too much for Donovan McNabb to handle.

Prediction: Lions 28 Vikings 16

Players to watch: DT Pat Williams WR Nate Burleson