What happened: Another fourth-quarter comeback, why not?
That's just what these Detroit Lions do, and this time, they took the whole nation along for the ride.
Make it seven fourth-quarter comebacks now for the Lions and quarterback Matthew Stafford this season.
Stafford guided Detroit from their 1-yard line down into Vikings territory late in the fourth quarter, and Matt Prater tied the game at 13-13 with a 48-yard field goal with 1:45 left on clock.
Detroit's flair for the dramatics didn't stop there.
Lions cornerback Darius Slay came off his man and stepped in front of a Sam Bradford pass at the Lions 33-yard line with just 38 seconds left in the game to set up the game-winning 40-yard Prater field goal as time expired, giving the Lions a 16-13 win.
The victory puts the Lions in sole command of the NFC North at 7-4.
The Vikings drop to 6-5, with the Lions owning the tiebreaker against them due to their sweep of the series.
QB Comparison: Stafford was 23-of-40 passing for 232 yards with a touchdown to Anquan Boldin and no interceptions. He finished with a passer rating of 82.5.
Bradford completed 31 of his 37 passes for 224 yards with no touchdowns and a costly interception. His passer rating was 80.6.
Key stat: Prater is now 25-for-25 on game-tying/go-ahead field goal attempts in the fourth quarter or in overtime in his career.
Top 50: Stafford moved past Hall of Fame quarterback Len Dawson and journeyman Rich Gannon to move into 50th place on the all-time passing yards list.
Stafford entered Thursday with 28,627 yards and needed 117 yards to pass both Dawson and Gannon to make the move.
Early momentum swing: Twice on their first defensive series of the game, the Lions thought they'd come up with a momentum-changing play.
The first was an apparent strip-sack by Ziggy Ansah recovered by Haloti Ngata at the Lions 30-yard line and returned to the Detroit 45. After review, it was determined the arm of Bradford was moving forward when the ball came out. Incomplete pass.
The very next play, a Bradford pass intended for Laquon Treadwell was intercepted by Glover Quin at the Lions 10-yard line and returned 71 yards to the Vikings 19-yard line, but Darius Slay, who was covering Treadwell on the play, was flagged for pass interference.
The Vikings scored on a Matt Asiata 5-yard touchdown run three plays later.
Injury report:
Lions: None reported
Vikings: Center Joe Berger left in the first half to be evaluated for a concussion and did not return. The Vikings also lost right tackle Jeremiah Sirles in the second half to a leg injury. He also didn't return.
