DETROIT — For the second time in three weeks, the Vikings got more than 390 passing yards from quarterback Nick Mullens against the Lions. For the second time in that span, they gave up 30 points to Detroit and lost.
Their 30-20 defeat at Ford Field on Sunday meant they ended their season with a 7-10 record, having lost six of their final seven games to fall out of the NFC playoff race. They were eliminated from the wild-card hunt before the final whistle, thanks to wins from Tampa Bay and New Orleans, but even if those teams had lost, the Vikings would have been out because of their loss to Detroit.
After throwing four interceptions on Dec. 24, Mullens played turnover-free ball for nearly 57 minutes Sunday, completing 30 of 44 passes for 396 yards and two touchdowns. He hit two long scoring strikes to Jordan Addison and Justin Jefferson, who posted 192 yards in the building where he set a Vikings single-game receiving record the year before and eclipsed 1,000 yards in just 10 games this season. But Mullens threw interceptions on the Vikings’ final two drives, getting hit on his first pick to Cameron Sutton and overshooting a throw in a collapsing pocket on a throw that C.J. Gardner-Johnson picked off.
Why it happened: The depleted Vikings secondary shuttled through corners all afternoon, and Lions quarterback Jared Goff had little trouble picking on any of them. He threw for more than 100 yards in the first quarter, and on the first play after the Vikings put Akayleb Evans back in the game, Goff hit Amon-Ra St. Brown for a 70-yard score. The Lions also harassed Vikings quarterback Nick Mullens, sacking him four times and hitting him 12 times.
What it means: The Vikings would have been eliminated from the NFC wild-card race even with a victory, after Tampa Bay shut out Carolina 9-0 and the Saints pulled away from the Falcons for a blowout victory. But the defeat means the Vikings have their first 10-loss season since 2013, when they went 5-10-1 in Leslie Frazier’s final year. Quarterback instability derailed that season, as it did this one, but the Vikings head into the offseason with a long list of questions.
Play of the game: Evans appeared to be playing zone coverage on St. Brown’s touchdown, passing the wide receiver off in coverage. Joejuan Williams followed Josh Reynolds’ out route, though, leaving St. Brown free to run vertically. He hauled in Goff’s pass at the Vikings’ 40 and darted across the field the rest of the way, slipping tackle attempts from Camryn Bynum, Josh Metellus and Evans at the goal line.
Turning point: Down 13-6 in the third quarter, the Vikings aimed to tie the game on a drive that had reached Lions territory, when Mullens threw for Powell on a fourth-and-3 from the Lions’ 31. Powell tried to reach for the first down while crouching under two Lions tacklers, but came up a yard short. The Lions scored to go up 20-6 on a David Montgomery touchdown run.
Next up: The Vikings’ 2023 season is over. They will pick no lower than 12th in the draft, heading into the spring with their highest first-round pick since 2015.