The Detroit Lions started yesterday’s game against the Vikings looking as if they already consumed their Thanksgiving feast before taking the field, starting slowly again and being unable to catch up.
The Vikings took firm control of the NFC North after Case Keenum ran for a TD and threw two more at Ford Field, leading his team to a 30-23 win over the Lions. Minnesota now has a three game lead in the division with only five games remaining on the schedule.
However, head coach Jim Caldwell is refusing to throw in the towel, saying that there’s plenty of football remaining.
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“Don’t count us out just yet, all right?” Caldwell explained. “We’ve got a lot of football yet to play and you don’t know what’s going to happen. There’s other games that are being played, too. And that’s a big thing.”
Caldwell also couldn’t resist throwing a little jab at the media.
“It’ll act like, I know the media will paint it as the sky is falling. The sky is not falling for us,” he said. “We’ve got to get ourselves a little bit better and keep moving forward.”
Detroit’s schedule will see them on the road for the three of their five remaining games. It will be to their advantage that all three are teams that are below the .500 mark.
Receiver Marvin Jones Jr., who caught six passes for 106 yards and two touchdowns, echoed his coach’s sentiments.
“We just have to look forward,” Jones said. “We can’t go on with that should’ve, could’ve, would’ve. We have a lot of football to play and that’s what we have to focus on. Can’t focus on anything else. We know we’ve missed some opportunities in some games, but we can’t think like that. We have to go forward and we have the team to do it. There’s no doubt in my mind that we will do it.”
