Have the wheels come off yet? It appears that Joey Harrington will be on a very short leash against Minnesota this week. To say that this game has a high potential for disaster is an understatement. The Lions, who have been ineffective at best, on both sides of the ball are facing a Vikings team who has an excellent offense and shaky defense. The fact the Vikings are returning home (insert DO-do-DOOO Viking horn sound) coming off three consecutive losses makes this a critical game for them. Mike Tice is under fire due to the fact that this is the third straight year where the the Vikes have had a mid-season collapse after a pretty strong start to the season. Tice also unwisely let Randy Moss play a few snaps on an injured hamstring so that Moss could keep a consecutive games started streak alive. Since then Moss has missed the last couple of games and will not play against the Lions.

The Lions offense has been ineffective at best. Joey Harrington must play well this week against a below average Vikings defense in spite of the lack of a running game to be depended upon and nagging injuries to three of his receivers. This is a major opportunity to re-assert his position within the organization and with the fans. I don't believe his career in Detroit will weather another benching. The Lions gained 81 yards rushing from Kevin Jones last week(he carried the ball exclusively). Expect the Lions to keep feeding Jones/Pinner/Bryson the ball in hopes of keeping the Vikings offense off the field. I think the Lions best chance in this game is to run their version of the Dean Smith "Four Corners" offense by using a lot of time clock and controlling the ball. They will mix in short passes and runs and hopefully chalk up first down after first down. The fact that they have been unable to maintain control of the ball effectively this far into the season doesn't make it likely they will be able to do so against Minnesota. The Vikings are porous on defense but expect them to copy what other teams have done to render the Lions ineffective by moving the safeties up and putting 9-10 players around the line of scrimmage.

The Lions defensive backs have to be excited that they will at least not be reading back of Randy Moss's jersey as he streaks up and down the field for TD's, like they usually do when playing in Minnesota (insert Viking Horn sound).
I'm afraid that the Lions secondary will have plenty of opportunities to read the backs of Marcus Robinson's and Nate Burleson's jerseys throughout the game, unfortunately. Also the Lions will probably have some difficulty stopping the Vikings stable of backs who are equally as capable of running the ball as breaking for big yards receiving out of the back field. Daunte Culpepper is making a strong run for consideration as league MVP, so the Lions must do what they can to keep him contained in the pocket and under pressure. They must also hope that he coughs up the ball a couple of times or throws a couple of interceptions, for that is the only the chance in Hades that they have for being close in this game.

If recent performances stand as an indicator, this game is blow-out city. I will not expect any different until the Lions prove otherwise Big Dave Tinglehoff's Vikes 35 Yukon Dan's Cousin 14