Vikings sitting atop NFC North

DETROIT—For one day at least, the Minnesota Vikings can enjoy being in sole possession of first place.
That’s major progress for a team that won only three games a season ago.

“It’s not something we want to run away from or hide from,” stressed head coach Leslie Frazier. “We want to embrace it.
The Vikings took advantage of Detroit’s awful kick coverage yesterday—scoring on both a kick-off and a punt to beat the Lions 20-13.
The win put Minnesota alone atop the North, although Chicago could join the Vikings with a victory tonight in Dallas.
Minnesota (3-1) already has matched last season’s win total.
“That’s a good mark of improvement,” said Vikings’ quarterback Christian Ponder.
“It was a team win,” he added. “Defence and special teams stepped up.”
Percy Harvin returned the opening kick-off 105 yards, and Marcus Sherels ran back the first punt of the second half 77 yards for a score.
Those were the only touchdowns for the Vikings, but the Lions didn’t manage any until late in the fourth quarter.
By then, Detroit was playing catch-up after making some dubious history.
When Sherels scored, Detroit became the first team since at least 1940 to give up a kick-off and a punt return for touchdowns in consecutive games, according to STATS LLC.
The Lions also allowed scores on a kick-off and punt in last week’s 44-41 loss in overtime at Tennessee.
“One of our major points this week was what we needed to do on kick-offs because we knew Harvin’s a threat,” said Lions’ coach Jim Schwartz.
“We didn’t get guys off blocks and we gave up a touchdown.
“The other one—honestly, I thought we were going to force a fumble on the play,” Schwartz noted.
Instead, Sherels took the punt in the middle of the field and made Kassim Osgood miss right away before wiggling through traffic and pulling away to put the Vikings up 20-6.
“We’ve just got to figure out how to start faster,” said Lions’ wide receiver Nate Burleson.
“We’re a good team, we can put points on the board, defence plays well,” he noted. “But playing from behind week in and week out, it’s tough.
“It’s the NFL,” he reasoned. “You get behind, the majority of the time you’re not going to come back.”