“Panic in Detroit” - 2024 Retro Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings (Wideboys) for SOMFB

 

The Eighth and Ninth Old Timers Teams played each other on January 7, 2025: (Cards) 

Wideboys cards for Lineups2024DetMinn.pdf

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For Glenn Guzzo and Ricoshea.

Well it was fun while it lasted.  ;)

As a long time Lions fan, the rivalry we had with the Vikings during the last few years was very entertaining.  The relegation of the Packers and Bears to the Second Division of the NFC North was both very welcome and long overdue. 

The rivalry reached its zenith on January 7th, 2025 with the 17th game of the 2024 season, when the two teams entered the final contest of the season both sporting 14-2 records.  Both the NFC North Crown and the top seed in the conference in the playoffs were hanging in the balance. No two teams, with each possessing fourteen wins, had ever met in the final week of an NFL season to settle such high stakes.  

Minnesota QB Sam Darnold

And both teams came into the game with an air of invincibility.  Minnesota DC Brian Flores had uncorked a complex defense built around blitz packages designed to unhinge enemy offenses (2nd vs the run, 4th in sacks, tops in interceptions and in turnovers) to compliment a rejuvenated passer in Sam Darnold.  Detroit QB Jared Goff and runners David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs keyed an offense that would score 564 points, 4th most in NFL history.

The Lions had tamed the Vikings 31-29 in Minnesota in October, but the Vikings had been gathering momentum all season and were playing better than anyone else in the league in December.  Minnesota put seven players in the Pro Bowl, Darnold, receiver Justin Jefferson, long snapper Andrew DePaola, cornerback Byron Murphy, tackle Brian O'Neill, and two guys I loved to watch except when they played Detroit- linebackers Andrew Van Ginkle and Jonathan Greenard.      

I don’t think there can be a more “Minnesota Vikings” linebacker than Andrew Van Ginkel

Greenard could play on the line or at linebacker and be disruptive in either position, while Van Ginkle was the perfect modern (what they'd call in the CFL) cover linebacker.  He could drop into coverage to steal a pass or run a delayed blitz like the hammers of Thor. 

Both men finished in double figures in sacks, accounting for half of the Vikings' 49 quarterback traps.  There were other talented players on that defense but the two of them were the stars week in and week out. Minnesota's head coach, Keven O'Connell, had a reputation as a quarterback whisperer, and this reputation turned out to be well founded when he reclaimed Darnold, who threw for 4319 yards and 35 touchdowns. 

Detroit’s Jahmyr Gibbs tallied more than 1400 yards rushing in 2024. Not bad for a wasted pick!

Detroit overcame a lot of injuries and adversity on defense with a pair of Pro Bowl Safeties in Brian Branch and Kirby Joseph. The heart and soul of Detroit's success was their offensive line, led by tackle Penei Sewell, center Frank Ragnow, and guard Kevin Zeitler. They allowed Montgomery and Gibbs to terrorize teams on the ground while Jared Goff, himself a reclamation project of sorts, found Jameson Williams and Amon-Ra St. Brown downfield for big gains. Coach Dan Campbell managed to turn the Lions around starting midway through the 2022 season. 

David Montgomery

In my lifetime the Lions have not had much luck in these kinds of games, and it was the last scheduled game of the 2024 season, at home at Ford Field on National Sunday night television. Normally we Lions fans have eaten crow in these situations, but the Detroit crowd was on fire that night. The Lion pass rush, so maligned down the stretch in a season of injuries to key defensive performers, sacked Darnold twice early on and pressured him ten times.  Taking a page out of Flore's book, they blitzed on 56% of dropbacks while using "Cover O" schemes, and they forced Darnold into a bad game, winning 31-9.  

The crowning irony is both teams left their best games on the Ford Field turf that game. Having expended maximum effort to win the top seed and a second round home game, Detroit was upset by a Washington team that just looked sharper, while the Rams used a similar defensive scheme as the Lions had tried to pressure Darnold and to defeat Minnesota in the playoff’s first round. This year, Minnesota let Darnold go, and since then, they suffered through a 4-8 start due to poor quarterback play, while the Lions lost Zeitler and Ragnow in the offseason, and they attempted to rebuild their line from the draft and on the fly with mixed results. As of this writing it is the Chicago Bears, led by former Lions Offensive Coordinator Ben Johnson, who lead the North. That may be disapponting to the fans of these two teams, but it doesn't take away from their season long chase against each other, as well as history, for football excellence in 2024. They certainly put on quite a show.    

These two carded teams are set up similarly to the "Old-Timer Teams" set from the Seventies, 1958 Baltimore and New York, 1960 Philadelphia, 1962 Green Bay, 1963 Chicago, and 1965 Cleveland. This set was first discussed in the Review in December 1976, with the Game Co soliciting team lists.  The teams themselves were discussed in the SOM Review in August of 1977, and so they were available along side the 1976 set. I think I bought them the following year. 

Quite a few years ago I made a version of 2007 New Endgland that is on this site as the Seventh Old-Timer Team. These teams would be the Eighth and Ninth. They do have more players than the old sets had; these were limited to 11 skilled players. There is also an extra kicking card for each team with a "2024" kickoff rule for replaying against each other and an "alt" card with more normal kickoffs for playing against other Wideboys cards. So if you want to throw 2024 Minnesota in against, say, the 1976 Raiders, you can. You can take Detroit and see if they can win a championship in the Seventies. Enjoy!

Fred Bobberts      

Initial Date of Publication: 12-17-2025