CB Darius Slay intercepted the Vikings late in the fourth quarter to give the Lions possession at the 20-yard line with 30 seconds remaining in a 13-13 tie game.
Darius Slay’s interception was his second of the season and sixth of his career. He now has two interceptions in each of the past three seasons.
Darius Slay’s interception is the fourth interception this season by the Lions in the final 2 minutes of the fourth quarter. All four interceptions either sealed the Lions win or gave them possession to win the game. This was also Slay’s second career interception in the final 2 minutes of the fourth quarter, with both occurring in 2016 (vs. Phi 10/9).
LIONS 77TH THANKSGIVING DAY GAME
The Detroit Lions defeated the Minnesota Vikings 16-13 in the Lions’ 77th Thanksgiving Day Game. The Lions have now claimed victory over the Vikings in each of the last two Thanksgiving Day games between the teams (44-38, 1995).
With a 16-13 victory over the Vikings, the Lions extended the club’s winning streak on Thanksgiving to four-straight wins, dating back to 2013. This four game-winning streak represents the team’s longest on Thanksgiving Day since winning four in a row from 1997-2000.
Head Coach Jim Caldwell improved his record with the Lions on Thanksgiving to 3-0. With the win, he joins two other Lions coaches to win their first three Thanksgiving Day games in Detroit, including Buddy Parker (1951-55) and Bobby Ross (1997-99).
COMEBACK WINS
By claiming a 16-13 fourth-quarter comeback win over Minnesota, the Lions have now claimed 7 wins this season when trailing in the fourth quarter during all 11 games this season. Entering the game, the Lions were the first team in NFL history to win 6 games when their team trailed in the fourth quarter of their first 10 games of the season.
WITH THE WIN
The 16-13 win over the Vikings gave Coach Caldwell his 25th win as head coach of the Lions. He became the third head coach in team history to reach 25+ wins in a coach’s first 50 games. He reached 25 wins in his 43rd game with the Lions, joining Buddy Parker (35 from 1951-55) and Potsy Clark (33 from 1931-34) as the only Lions head coaches to win 25 games in their first 50 with the Lions.
7 Wins in 11 Games: With a win over the Vikings, the Lions improved to 7-4 on the season. This marks the second time in three seasons under Coach Caldwell that the Lions have won 7 of the team’s first 11 games of the season. He joins Buddy Parker (7 in 1951, 8 in in 1952, 9 in 1953, 8 in 1952) as the only coaches in team history to notch 7+ wins during the season’s first 11 games at least twice in the first three years as Lions head coach.
TEAM DEFENSE
By yielding just 13 points to the Vikings in the Lions’ Thanksgiving Day win, Detroit has now held opponents to 20 points or less in five consecutive games (17 vs. Was 10/23; 20 at Hou 10/30; 16 at Min 11/6; 19 vs. Jac 11/20; 13 vs. Min). This marks the first five-game streak for Detroit since the team reached a six-game stretch from Weeks 15-17 in 1995 and Weeks 1-2 in 1996.
It also represents the first time the Lions held opponents to 20 points or less five consecutive games in the same season since the end of the 1991 season (Weeks 12-17).
20 Points or Less Allowed: Under Coach Caldwell and Defensive Coordinator Teryl Austin, the Lions have now held opponents to 20 points or less in 24 of the team’s 43 games played since the beginning of the 2014 season. They have tallied the fifth-most (tied with Denver) such games over the past three seasons.
In 2016, the Lions have held opponents to 20 points or less in 7 games,
LS DON MUHLBACH
By playing against Minnesota, LS Don Mulhbach tied T Jeff Backus (191) for the fourth-most games played in Detroit Lions history. Thus far in 13 seasons, Muhlbach has tallied 191 career games.
K Matt Prater’s game-winning 40-yard field goal as time expired also represented the 300th successful field goal in Muhlbach’s career that he has snapped. With 10 points today accumulated by Prater, Muhlbach has now snapped on PATs and field goals that have accumulated 1,300 points.
K MATT PRATER
K Matt Prater connected on 3-of-3 field goal attempts (29, 48, 40) and scored 10 of the team 16 points in Detroit’s 16-13 thrilling Thanksgiving Day comeback win.
Prater tied the game with a 48-yarder with 1:45 left to play in the game, and he then nailed a game-winning 40-yarder as time expired. He now has 12 career game-winning kicks with less than 2:00 to play in the fourth quarter or in overtime.
Overall, he has made 18 game-winning or game-tying field goals with under 4:00 to play in the fourth quarter or in overtime, including six in 2016.
This was the third time in Prater’s career (first with the Lions) that he has connected on a game-tying field goal with less than 2:00 minutes to play in the fourth quarter, and then made the game-winning field goal later in the fourth quarter or in OT.
His 40-yarder to end the game marked the fourth game-winning field goal of his career (second with the Lions) as time expired.
QB MATTHEW STAFFORD
With 23 pass completions in the 16-13 win over Minnesota, QB Matthew Stafford set a new NFL record for the fewest games needed to reach 2,500 career completions. Through 104 career games, his total of 2,507 completions surpassed the previous high set by Falcons QB Matt Ryan, who reach 2,500 completions in 110 games. He accomplished this six games faster than anyone in NFL history.
Stafford’s Game-Winning Drives: Stafford has now tallied 27 game-winning drives during his career when trailing or tied in the fourth quarter or in overtime. Thus far in 2016, Stafford has led the Lions on 7 fourth-quarter game-winning drives, including in 6 of the last 7 games (16-13 win vs. Min, 11/24/16; 26-19 win vs. Jax, 11/20/16; 22-16 OT win at Min, 11/6; 20-17 win vs. Was, 10/23; 31-28 win vs. LA, 10/16; 24-23 win vs. Phi, 10/9).
He is the only quarterback in NFL history to lead his team on seven game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime in the team’s first 11 games of the season.
Stafford is now tied for the most fourth-quarter/OT game-winning drives (7) in a season by a quarterback since 1950.
Since Jim Caldwell became the Lions head coach in 2014, Stafford leads the NFL with 15 game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime.
Dating back to 2011, Stafford’s 25 game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime rank first in the NFL.
Touchdowns at Ford Field: On Stafford’s 2-yard touchdown he threw to WR Anquan Boldin to open the game in the first quarter, he connected on his 100th career touchdown pass at Ford Field.
Stafford on Thanksgiving: With 232 pass yards in the win over Minnesota, Stafford became the third quarterback (QB Tony Romo, 2,338; Troy Aikman, 2,175) in NFL history to throw for 2,000 yards on Thanksgiving. In 7 Thanksgiving games, he has thrown for a franchise record 2,219 yards and the second-most in NFL history.
With 1 touchdown pass against the Vikings, Stafford set a new franchise record with 15 career touchdown passes on Thanksgiving and broke the previous record held by Hall of Fame QB Bobby Layne (14, 1950-58).
Stafford in 8 Seasons: By reaching 2,500 completions, Stafford (2,507) become the fourth quarterback in NFL history to complete 2,500 passes in his first eight NFL seasons.
With 23 completions, Stafford surpassed QB Drew Bledsoe (2,504) for the third-most completions by a quarterback in his first eight seasons.
WR ANQUAN BOLDIN
WR Anquan Boldin’s 2-yard touchdown reception that gave the Lions a 7-0 lead to open the game against the Vikings was his 80th of his career. He became the 26th player in NFL history to reach 80 career touchdowns.
RB THEO RIDDICK
With 5 receptions in the 16-13 win over Minnesota, Riddick (128) surpassed FB James Jones for the most receptions by a Lions running back over a two-year span in team history.
LB TAHIR WHITEHEAD
LB Tahir Whitehead led the team with 12 tackles (11 solo) in the Thanksgiving Day 16-13 win over Minnesota. With 12 tackles against the Vikings, he now has reached 100 tackles on the season for the first time in his career. Through 11 games, he has a career high 101 tackles.
He has now tied his career single-game high of 12 tackles four times this season, and those have occurred in the last 7 games.
P SAM MARTIN
P Sam Martin has now accumulated a net punting average of 45.4 through the first 12 weeks of the season, which is the highest by a punter through 12 weeks since 1992. He passed Saints P Thomas Morstead’s 45.2 in 2012.