After the Vikings defense forced a three-and-out, sacking Goff on third down for emphasis, the offense needed to sustain a drive with 4:16 left. But the Vikings went three-and-out, too. On third-and-4, Darnold overthrew Justin Jefferson and they had to punt. Given more than two minutes and needing only a field goal to win, Goff delivered.

The small slice of blame comes from punt coverage, where the Lions averaged 11.5 yards per return, including a nine-yard return ahead of Detroit’s game-winning drive. In a game where every yard matters, those returns can’t happen, but they also weren’t the reason the Vikings lost.

See what the NFL world and Lions fans are saying about Detroit's last-second 31-29 win over the Minnesota Vikings to move to first place in the NFC.