Winless Lions could still cause problems for the Vikings on Sunday

There is no guarantee that the Minnesota Vikings will get a win on their home field against the winless Detroit Lions in Week 5.

The Minnesota Vikings should not underestimate the winless Detroit Lions this week. Even though the Lions have started 0-4, their record does not reflect how good they really are. Similar to the Vikings, Detroit has been somewhat unlucky this year and they have played well enough to have a better record.

Week 5 appears to be a must-win for Minnesota if they still have aspirations of making it to the playoffs. The Vikings are 1-3 with one of the hardest schedules in the league. Their games against the Lions are supposed to be their “easiest,” but that might not be the case. Detroit head coach Dan Campbell has his team playing some good football.

Going into the fourth quarter of their Week 1 game against the San Francisco 49ers, the Lions were down by 21 points. Detroit managed to come back and make it a one-possession game and they had the ball with a chance to tie the score with the last play of the contest. Their ability to fight until the very end is admirable. This level of fight could cause problems for Minnesota on Sunday if they take their foot off the gas at any moment.

Minnesota Vikings must know the Detroit Lions are better than their record suggests

In Week 2 against the Green Bay Packers, the Lions went into halftime with the lead, and they were a record-breaking Justin Tucker field goal away from getting the win against the Baltimore Ravens.

Detroit got to the red zone three times in Week 4 against the Chicago Bears without scoring a single point. A few mental errors, which one would expect them to clear up, stopped them from getting into the end zone on these drives.

Lions quarterback Jared Goff is on track to potentially set new single-season career-highs in passing yards, completion percentage, and touchdowns.

A fresh start in Detroit has allowed Goff to play some of his best football, and even though he is playing for a team with significantly less talent than his old squad, he is making it work and playing well enough to put the Lions in a good enough position to win games.

Minnesota should beat Detroit this week, there is no debate there. But the Vikings should not, by any means, go up against the Lions on Sunday with the expectation that they will win if they are not at the top of their game.