Danielle Hunter returned a Matthew Stafford fumble 32 yards for a touchdown and the Minnesota Vikings defense sacked Stafford 10 times in a 24-9 home victory over the Detroit Lions on Sunday.
Kirk Cousins completed 18 of 22 passes for 164 yards and a touchdown for the Vikings (5-3-1). Latavius Murray had a rushing touchdown while gaining 31 yards on 10 carries. Dalvin Cook, who missed the previous four games with a hamstring injury, gained 89 yards on 10 carries.
Adam Thielen caught Cousins' touchdown pass but was limited to 22 yards on four receptions. Minnesota's other usual starter at wide receiver, Stefon Diggs, missed the game with a rib injury.
Hunter recorded nine total tackles, including six solos, and had 3.5 sacks. Tom Johnson supplied 2.5 sacks while Eric Kendricks was also credited with nine tackles.
Stafford completed 25 of 36 passes for 199 yards as the Lions dropped to 3-5.
The Vikings outgained the Lions 283-209 and held Detroit to 66 rushing yards. Kerryon Johnson was Detroit's top ballcarrier with 37 yards on 12 carries.
Marvin Jones caught six passes for 66 yards and Theo Riddick caught seven passes for 36 yards.
The Vikings led 17-6 at halftime.
Minnesota drove 65 yards in nine plays on its first possession, capped by Murray's 1-yard run. Cousins connected with rookie Chad Beebe for 13 yards on a fourth-and-2 from Detroit's 37 to extend the drive.
Matt Prater's 35-yard field goal early in the second quarter pulled the Lions within 7-3.
Following a Darius Slay interception, Prater connected on another 35-yarder.
The Vikings answered with a touchdown set up by Cook's 70-yard scamper.
Cousins finished it off with a 2-yard scoring toss to Thielen, who matched an NFL record by reaching 100 yards receiving in each of the first eight games prior to his low output against the Vikings.
Dan Bailey's 39-yard field goal with eight seconds left in the half gave Minnesota an 11-point advantage.
Hunter scored with 6:57 remaining when Stafford tried to get the ball to rookie Johnson.
Prater tacked on a 37-yard field goal with 1:13 left for the game's final points.
--Field Level Media
Detroit | Minnesota | |
Kerryon Johnson | Player | Dalvin Cook |
12 | Attempts | 10 |
37 | Yards | 89 |
3.1 | Avg Yards | 8.9 |
0 | Touchdowns | 0 |
6 | Long | 70 |
Detroit | Minnesota | |
Marvin Jones Jr. | Player | Laquon Treadwell |
6 | Receptions | 2 |
66 | Yards | 37 |
11.0 | Avg Yards | 18.5 |
0 | Touchdowns | 0 |
18 | Long | 22 |
Yards | Scoring | Defense | ||||||
Team | Tot | Rus | Pas | TD | FG | INT | Sck | FF |
Detroit | 209 | 66 | 143 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1.0 | 0 |
Minnesota | 283 | 128 | 155 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 10.0 | 0 |