Vikings-Lions preview: J.J. McCarthy tries to stop losing streak to Detroit in a place he knows well

J.J. McCarthy is back at quarterback for the Vikings (3-4), who will try to end a two-game losing streak as the 22-year-old returns from his high ankle sprain. The Vikings enter the game as bigger underdogs than they have been at any time since Kirk Cousins missed their Week 17 game in Green Bay because of COVID-19 in 2021. They need a win to avoid the longest losing streak against the Lions (5-2) in franchise history, and to keep the NFC North from slipping out of reach.

McCarthy returns to the state where he won in college: After missing five games due to the high ankle sprain he suffered in Week 2, McCarthy will make the third start of his NFL career. It will happen in a market that knows him well, after he went 27-1 as a starter at Michigan and finished his college career with a national championship. Aidan Hutchinson, McCarthy’s former teammate with the Wolverines, will be one of the Vikings’ biggest problems as they try to protect their young starter. McCarthy was sacked nine times in the Vikings’ first two games.

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Hutchinson leads Lions pass rush: The last time the Vikings saw Detroit, they didn’t have to worry about Hutchinson, the No. 2 pick in the 2022 draft who was an early candidate for NFL Defensive Player of the Year honors before he suffered a nasty broken leg injury last October. Hutchinson has six sacks in seven games this year, giving him 13½ in his past 12 games, and leads the league with four forced fumbles. He will play primarily on the right side of the Lions line, meaning he will match up with Brian O’Neill if the right tackle is healthy enough to return. O’Neill, who’s dealing with a sprained right medial collateral ligament that led to soreness in his left knee as he compensated for the injury against the Eagles on Oct. 19, could get some help with Hutchinson. That could fall to former Lions tight end T.J. Hockenson, with Josh Oliver and C.J. Ham out.

Branch returns from suspension: Lions safety Brian Branch was suspended for one game after his postgame fight with Chiefs receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster on Oct. 12. He’s back for the Vikings game, and has interceptions in two of his last three games against Minnesota. The Lions used him in the slot against the Vikings in January, and put him at free safety in their win over Minnesota last October; Branch certainly figures to be part of the Lions’ plan for Justin Jefferson on Sunday.

Gibbs the next challenge for Vikings run D: The Vikings, who rank 24th in the NFL against the run this season and gave up 207 yards against the Chargers last week, now face a Lions team that has run more frequently than all but one team in the NFL and has gained more than all but seven. Jahmyr Gibbs, the third-year back the Vikings liked in the 2023 draft before Detroit took him 12th overall, leads the way for the Lions. He had 218 yards from scrimmage against Tampa Bay on Oct. 20 and has averaged 5.1 yards per carry this season, with the speed to beat defenders on the edge and the shiftiness to pick up extra yards inside. David Montgomery, in his seventh NFL season, has averaged 4.6 yards per carry as Gibbs’ downhill counterpart.

Goff at his best so far: Lions quarterback Jared Goff has found more success in recent matchups with Brian Flores than he’d had early in his 10-year career, and he has put together one of his best seasons so far. He has completed 74.9% of his passes, thriving on routes over the middle off play action while finding Amon-Ra St. Brown for a league-high seven touchdowns. Goff has been sacked 13 times and struggled under pressure (as he has at times in his career) while playing behind an offensive line that misses veteran center Frank Ragnow of Chanhassen, who retired at age 29. With Andrew Van Ginkel expected to be back, the Vikings will likely try to get after Goff and throw off his timing.

Lions

The Vikings have lost five in a row to the Lions for the first time since they lost their first five matchups with Detroit as an expansion team. They are facing a tall task in this one, with McCarthy trying to steady himself against a formidable Lions pass rush and the Detroit running game creating a mismatch against a Vikings defense that hasn’t stopped the run much this season. To win this one on the road, the Vikings need a solid four quarters from McCarthy for the first time in his career, and a stellar performance from a defense that hasn’t matched its 2024 ability to stop the run and sow chaos with its pressure packages. That’s a lot to ask. Lions 30, Vikings 23