After a shaky start, Daunte Culpepper and the Minnesota Vikings picked up the offensive tempo and their first victory.
Culpepper threw for 295 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another score to rally the Vikings past the Detroit Lions 31-24.
"I can't tell you exactly how good this feels after losing four I felt we should have won," Culpepper said.
Moe Williams got the clinching score on a 2-yard run with 2:12 to play. Culpepper threw a 25-yard pass to Randy Moss, their longest connection of the day, to set up the touchdown.
The victory snapped an eight-game losing streak for the Vikings (1-4). The skid began last season when the Lions, then 0-12, beat Minnesota at the Silverdome.
"We knew good things were eventually going to happen and today we made plays down the stretch and good things happened for our ballclub," Byron Chamberlain said.
After trailing for three quarters, Minnesota tied it on Culpepper's 45-yard screen pass to Michael Bennett, who eluded several defensive backs for the score with 5:25 left.
The Lions (1-4) started at their 19 on the next possession, and Chris Hovan batted Joey Harrington's third-down pass.
The Lions had a final chance when Harrington drove them from their 31 to the Minnesota 8. The rookie kept the drive going with a 23-yard pass to Az-Zahir Hakim on third down.
Daunte Culpepper gave Minnesota's offense the jump start it needed in the second half.
But on second-and-goal, Corey Chavous picked off Harrington's pass to the corner to preserve the victory, the first in Mike Tice's NFL coaching career.
"This is a big win because we came from behind and scored a bunch of points in the fourth, and held them when we had to and made a big defensive play at the end," Tice said.
The Lions haven't won back-to-back games since November 2000.
"The second half, we came out flat," Todd Lyght said. "We didn't do anything well defensively."
Earlier, the Vikings were the ones who weren't doing anything right. The offense was flagged five times for false starts -- two apiece on Lewis Kelly and Chamberlain. Chris Claiborne returned Culpepper's lone interception for a touchdown.
"We were just one play from winning the game," Claiborne said. "I don't think we finished well today and that came back to hurt us."
The loss spoiled an otherwise solid afternoon for Harrington, who finished 25 for 41 with 309 yards and two touchdowns. The Vikings pressured him and forced him out of the pocket several times, but the rookie kept his cool.
On the Lions' first offensive play, Harrington found Mikhael Ricks for a 31-yard gain up the middle. Two plays later, Ricks ran uncovered across the right side and caught a 41-yard touchdown pass.
Only 1:11 later, Culpepper's second-down pass slipped through Derrick Alexander's hands and into the grasp of Claiborne, who returned the interception 20 yards for another score.
"We had to keep everybody together," Culpepper said. "We knew we'd have an opportunity to make big plays."
That's when Minnesota started rolling. On its fourth possession, Culpepper found Jimmy Kleinsasser from 2 yards to pull Minnesota to 14-10.
On third-and-goal from the 2, Kleinsasser, playing in his first came since breaking a bone in his leg, fought off a defender at the goal line and caught Culpepper's high, arcing pass for the score.
Harrington went 5 for 5 for 89 yards on Detroit's next drive, which was capped by Hakim's leaping 20-yard catch over two defenders. The score was set up after Harrington, despite getting drilled in the pocket, found Cory Schlesinger for a 24-yard gain to the Vikings 20.
Culpepper finished a seven-play 59-yard drive with a 7-yard TD run to cut Detroit's lead to 21-17 in the third quarter. On first-and-goal, Culpepper dropped back and then ran untouched up the middle.
The Lions made it 24-17 on Jason Hanson's 49-yard field goal. Harrington hit Larry Foster for a 17-yard pass on fourth-and-1 to keep the drive going.
Offense: --- C+. Joey Harrington had another great game, but with the game on the line, he made a rookie mistake that cost the Lions a chance to tie the game up. Regardless of that one mistake, Harrington took the offense downfield with poise and did not crack under pressure. Harrington was sacked only one time and twice in the past three games, which shows his great mobility...something Charlie Batch lacked. The offensive line has been playing better since Harrington took over. One thing that hasn't changed this year is the running game. Once again, Stewart struggled to get yards and couldn't even pick up a single yard on 4th and 1 in the 1st half. The drive the hurt the offense the most was when the Vikings tied the game in the 4th quarter and they quickly went three and out that gave the Vikings good field position for their winning touchdown. All in all, the offense looked good, but they have to get the ball in the endzone when it matters most.
Defense: --- D. Chris Claiborne continues to show that he deserves more respect than what most people give him. Claiborne had another interception against the Vikings that gave the Lions a 14-0 lead. The defense did a good job holding Culpepper and Moss in check, but when they needed to make some plays to perserve the lead, they failed miserably. Vikings RB Michael Bennett, who was quiet most of the game, took a short pass 45 yards for a touchdown to tie the game...he showed the biggest liability the defense has: speed! In the four losses this year, the defense has given up a combined 148 points. The defense has still to hold an opponent under 20 points this year.
Special Teams: --- C-. Hanson made a clutch 49 yard field goal in the 2nd half, but struggled on his kickoffs. The Vikings ended up with good field position due to short kickoffs or bad coverage. John Jett had a good day punting the ball and Desmond Howard had a few good returns.
Coaching: --- D. Mornhinweg's decision to go for a 4th and 1 in the 1st half was a bad decision. James Stewart got stuffed on a 3rd and 1 play, so what does Mornhinweg call, another running play for Stewart. The bottom line is Mornhinweg is 0-12 as Lions head coach on the road. Before he took over the Lions actually had a winning record on the road in 2000.
Overall: --- D. When the Lions were up 14-0 I could not help but think ahead at the possibility of reaching the .500 mark next week against da Bears. Even with a 21-10 lead, the Lions were in good shape getting their first road victory since December of 2000. But, the Metrodome demons stuck yet again as the Lions blew another great chance of beating the Vikings on the road. Anyone remember last year when Crowell forgot to run out of bounds??? The Lions really blew a golden opportunity to finally get some respect they have been craving for. Bottom line is they are once again in last place and have the 2nd worst record in the NFL. If they play like they have in the past two games and the defense figures out a way to showup after half time, the Lions should beat a Bears team that is riddled with injuries and is only a shell of last years 13-3 team.
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Harrington, the rookie who is already the best weapon Detroit has, tried to pluck a victory from the jaws of standard Lions ineptitude Sunday afternoon. And, you know, he almost did it. Trailing, 31-24, with 2:07 left, he marched the Lions 61 yards and still had half a minute to close the deal from the 8. He had a play in mind. They had worked it in practice. He dropped back and saw his receiver, Az-Zahir Hakim, in the corner of the end zone. He lofted the ball on a perfect arc -- or what would have been a perfect arc, had a defensive back not raced back and leapt for it, plucking it clean, causing Harrington to do the one thing he hadn't done all day, throw a pass that was not theft-resistant.
This isn't college, of course, and Harrington gets the "L" hung on him same as the other Lions. He has been in the NFL five games and has experienced four losses, which is more than he lost his entire college career at Oregon as a starter.