DETROIT – Pat Shurmur walked across the Ford Field visitors' locker room doing something we haven't seen a Vikings offensive coordinator do following recent Lions games.
He was smiling.
"That was fun," he said after a 30-23 victory that represents the most points scored against Detroit in eight meetings in the Mike Zimmer era.
Shurmur's joy started with the Vikings' first possession of Thursday's game. When the Vikings converted three consecutive third downs on a 14-play, 80-yard touchdown drive, you knew they finally had the firepower offensively to keep Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford from winning another low-scoring battle with late-game heroics.
"If we're on the field," right guard Joe Berger said, "then Stafford's not on the field. That's the goal."
Simple logic. But oh so hard to execute. The Vikings had lost three straight to Detroit while converting only five of their last 20 third downs.
The last third down they had in this building resulted in a Sam Bradford interception that handed the Lions a last-second field goal and a 16-13 Vikings loss on Thanksgiving Day a year ago.
"We did not play good situational football against the Lions the last three times we played them," Shurmur said. "We were [2-for-10] on third downs here last year. And our red-zone play wasn't good."