Jahmyr Gibbs had 170 yards from scrimmage and four touchdowns and the host Detroit Lions pulled away for a 31-9 win over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday night to secure the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs for the first time in franchise history.
Jared Goff completed 27 of 33 passes for 231 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions for Detroit (15-2). Gibbs rushed for 139 yards and three touchdowns and caught five passes for 31 yards and one score.
Sam Darnold completed 18 of 41 passes for 166 yards for Minnesota (14-3), which was held without a touchdown. The Vikings’ nine-game winning streak ended.
The Lions clinched the NFC North title for the second year in a row. They will have a bye next week and have secured home-field advantage throughout the conference playoffs.
The Vikings will enter the postseason as a wild-card team and the No. 5 seed in the NFC. They will travel to Inglewood, Calif., to face the fourth-seeded Los Angeles Rams on Jan. 13.
Gibbs gave the Lions the upper hand with three straight touchdowns in the second half.
Detroit was clinging to a 10-9 lead when Gibbs caught a 10-yard touchdown pass from Goff with 2:30 remaining in the third quarter. His score, which came on fourth-and-2, gave the Lions a 17-9 lead.
Gibbs added a 13-yard rushing touchdown to increase Detroit’s lead to 24-9 with 13:06 remaining in the fourth.
The second-year running back out of Alabama was not finished. He powered across the goal line for a 4-yard touchdown to make it 31-9 with 5:14 to go.
Gibbs joined Barry Sanders as the only running backs in team history to score four touchdowns in a game. He also recorded the franchise record for most rushing and receiving touchdowns in a single season (20), surpassing the previous mark of 17 touchdowns set by Sanders during the 1991 campaign and matched by Jamaal Williams in 2022.
Detroit opened the scoring with 1:43 remaining in the first quarter. Gibbs cut to his left and sprinted for a 25-yard touchdown.
The Vikings pulled within 7-6 after back-to-back field goals by Will Reichard.
Jake Bates hit a 48-yard field goal to give Detroit a 10-6 advantage at the break.
Reichard made his third field goal of the game to cut the Vikings’ deficit to 10-9 with 9:55 left in the third quarter.
