Lions Put Goff and No. 2 Scoring Offense

DETROIT, Mich. — The Lions get their biggest test of the season Sunday when the unbeaten Minnesota Vikings come to Ford Field for a 1 p.m. NFC North game, a matchup of one of the league’s most productive offenses against its toughest defense.

Minnesota is 6-0, 3-0 on the road and sitting in the NFC’s top seed after a 16-10 win over Indianapolis last week. The Vikings give up just 12.3 points a game, fewest in the NFL, and lead the league with a plus-7 turnover margin. Their offense has been modest by comparison: 125 points through six games, which ranks 23rd and is tied for the second-lowest total ever for a team starting 6-0.

Detroit counters with 30.7 points per game, second only to Buffalo, and is 3-0 at home. The Lions beat Green Bay 20-17 in their first game back from the bye and are trying to stretch their winning streak to three while snapping a two-game skid against Minnesota that dates to last season.

Much of the afternoon will hinge on Jared Goff against a defense coordinated by Brian Flores that sends extra rushers on roughly 70 percent of snaps, by far the most in the league. Goff, in his 11th season, has 14 touchdown passes and no interceptions through six games and leads the NFL with a 112.5 passer rating. In 157 career games he has never faced the league’s No. 1 scoring defense, though he is 4-2 against Flores-run Minnesota defenses.

Running back Jahmyr Gibbs gives Detroit another way to keep the Vikings honest. He has 267 rushing yards over his last two games and 620 for the season, fourth in the league, against a Minnesota front that allows 98 rushing yards a game.

On the other side, the Lions pass rush, with 21 sacks, tied for second in the NFL, will chase Kyler Murray, who has not thrown an interception in 91 attempts since Week 3 and has run for 132 yards in five starts. Detroit has allowed the most passing yards of any team, so slowing receivers Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison and tight end T.J. Hockenson is the defense’s job one. The game airs on FOX.

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