Vikings Have Enough Offense

MINNEAPOLIS —  The Minnesota Vikings were back to their old ways Sunday--building a big lead behind a powerful offense and almost blowing it with a wilting defense.

The Detroit Lions didn’t go down easily as the Vikings watched a 25-point lead nearly evaporate in the second half, but hung on for a 31-26 victory.

“It could have gone either way,” Viking Coach Dennis Green said. “We are going to have to play much better next week against Green Bay. There’s no doubt about that.”

Daunte Culpepper ran seven times for 83 yards and two touchdowns, and threw for another.

“We’ve got to just keep plugging at it,” Culpepper said. “We’re not far. I thought we ran the ball very well today against their front four.”

The Vikings (2-3), in surpassing 30 points for the first time in 10 regular-season games, avoided falling into last place in the NFC Central. Culpepper completed 20 of 28 passes for 244 yards, with a touchdown and an interception.

But Minnesota went scoreless for the last 25:25.

“We just didn’t move the ball in the second half,” Culpepper said. “We didn’t match their intensity.”

The Lions--0-4 for the first time since 1989--had scored only one touchdown in their first three games but had 20 points in the second half.

Charlie Batch, starting for the first time since Week 1, finally looked comfortable in the Lions’ new West Coast offense. He was 31 for 41 for a career-high 345 yards, with three touchdowns and no interceptions. James Stewart rushed 16 times for 108 yards and caught a scoring pass from Batch in the third quarter--the Lions’ first touchdown in seven quarters.

“We finally took the monkey off our backs,” Batch said.

But a loss is a loss.

“There are a lot of positives--but there are no moral victories,” first-year Coach Marty Mornhinweg said. “The scoreboard is the only thing that counts.”

Detroit committed eight penalties for 90 yards. A Lion offside penalty on a first-quarter Viking punt gave Minnesota’s Jim Kleinsasser a chance to gain two yards on fourth-and-one. The Vikings later scored on Travis Prentice’s one-yard plunge.

The Vikings were far from perfect against a Detroit defensive backfield that wound up with barely enough healthy players.

Randy Moss, who had six catches for 78 yards, dropped a touchdown pass in the second quarter and let Todd Lyght wrestle the ball from him at the Detroit seven for an interception in the fourth.

Cris Carter caught eight passes for 111 yards, including a 47-yard touchdown that put the Vikings up, 31-6, in the third quarter.

But Detroit didn’t fold as it did last week in a 35-0 loss to St. Louis.

Stewart caught a 15-yard touchdown pass from Batch in the third to cut Minnesota’s lead to 31-13. After a Viking punt, Detroit marched 59 yards in six plays to make it 31-19 on a 16-yard touchdown pass from Batch to Crowell.

After Lyght’s interception, the Lions went 93 yards in 12 plays. On fourth down at the Viking 21, Johnnie Morton made a diving catch in the back end of the end zone. Officials ruled it incomplete, but Detroit challenged and the call was reversed to make it 31-26.