DETROIT — Andrew Van Ginkel had a highlight reel hitstick.

Jonathan Greenard followed with a third-down sack on a three-man pass rush.

Ivan Pace, Jr., intercepted Jared Goff on the doorstep of Detroit's end zone, with help from a blitzing Joshua Metellus, and Harrison Smith picked off the Lions quarterback on his first pass in the second half.

And yet Minnesota endured its first blowout, falling 31-9 at Ford Field on Sunday Night Football.

It means the Vikings must travel to the West Coast to face the Los Angeles Rams in the final Super Wild Card Weekend game next Monday at 7 p.m. (CT), a schedule eerily similar to Weeks 7-8 earlier this year when the Vikings took their initial loss to the chin against Detroit, then played in L.A. on short rest.

Still, they're able to avenge all three of their losses. And they vow the tournament will be different.

"We've got a bad taste in our mouth from the last time we went [to L.A.]," Metellus said.

Smith added of the impending opportunity, "It's something that we should relish."

With division rights and the NFC's top seed at stake Sunday, Minnesota's defense applied admirable pressure, but it too rarely hit its mark; Goff managed to clip 27 of 33 passes for 231 yards and one score.

"We got off to a fast start," said Metellus, "but we couldn't keep the execution to what it needed to be."

"We were just executing our assignments, nothing magical – setting edges, tackling, playing good coverage," Smith said, noting Detroit made smart adjustments. "We've just got to do it all four quarters."

On Detroit's second possession, Goff converted a fourth-and-5 pass to Jameson Williams; Goff was drilled on his release by Metellus – but a fraction of a second late – and on the very next snap Jahmyr Gibbs was unleashed and rushed for a 25-yard touchdown, catching Camryn Bynum flat-footed in the secondary.

"Everybody was playing well at one point and then one person, myself included, breaks down on one play and it leads to a gain that's bigger than what our standard is," Bynum remarked. "I think that's really the biggest thing. We talk about it all the time: everybody can't have a 'my bad' play because it adds up."

They added up in a jiffy once the dam broke and the Lions in their black and Honolulu blue uniforms found their favorite speed: full throttle. Of Detroit's 394 total yards, 235 were amassed in the second half.

"We weren't able to respond. They threw some big punches, and we didn't have any counters today; but we're looking forward to the future," Jerry Tillery said. "We'll see these guys again, we think.

"It's interesting [how] this game offers chances at redemption," Tillery continued. "There's a big opportunity for us Monday night in L.A., so if we go take care of business, the redemption will be there."

Of course, it would have been sweeter if redemption arrived first in the form of a 15th win.

"We didn't play to our standard," Bynum reiterated, adding chunk gains enabled the Lions to battle through negative plays. "We didn't do what we wanted to do. We didn't do what we prepared for – didn't do what we expected ourselves to do. We played well for a little bit; we didn't finish the game."

Defensive pressure wasn't quick enough to beat Goff's quick decision-making in the red zone, either.

To cap a 13-play, 70-yard drive that spanned 7:25 in the third quarter, Goff beat a six-man rush in the nick of time and zipped a short pass over the middle to Gibbs, defended by Van Ginkel, for a 9-yard TD.

Despite an abundance of key plays by Vikings defenders, Minnesota's offense failed to take advantage.

The Metellus-Pace takeaway set up their teammates at Detroit's 7-yard line but to no avail. Sam Darnold tossed three consecutive incompletions – each pass was intended for Justin Jefferson – and the Vikings regrettably settled for three points courtesy of Will Reichard; a tough and common pill they swallowed.

Detroit's next series was upended by another turnover of sorts, this time a stop on fourth-and-1 that was caused by Jonathan Bullard tipping Goff's pass at the line of scrimmage. It returned the ball to Minnesota with three-and-a-half minutes left in the first half – and a prime opportunity to double-dip.

But they botched that chance, too, tasking Reichard with another field goal after fading at Detroit's 13.

"This game could look differently in the end, very easily, with one or two more plays down in the red zone, being successful, and the way that works with momentum, and the way that works for the energy of your whole team. I thought the guys fought. I thought they battled," Kevin O'Connell said. "They answered the bell, in that first half, turning the football over, giving us ops, getting stops. … We were going to go down there and try to get seven points, and we just didn't do it. And you're not going to beat a team like that, regardless of some of the other metrics in the game, when the weighty downs kind of go the way it did, and weighty as they get. They don't get more weighty than scoring plays."

Minnesota's inability to capitalize offensively lingered in the third quarter, when Smith plucked an overthrown ball for Williams out of mid-air. Again, Reichard kicked a field goal.

To understand how well Minnesota's defense played early look at the difference in second-quarter performance – a good indicator being it has been the most productive frame for the Lions this season in terms of yards (120.9) and points (10-plus) – Sunday and Week 7: The Vikings yielded 65 yards on 18 plays (3.6 avg.), and just three points, versus 202 yards on 17 plays (11.9 avg.) and 21 points in October.

Eventually, however, Gibbs stole the show.

The second-year phenom compiled 170 scrimmage yards and scored all four of Detroit's touchdowns. He did it via a blend of untouchable speed, uncanny vision between the tackles and a serious finishing burst.

"He's tough, man – a really good player. You see it on the tape every week. But we've got really good players, too," Metellus contested. "When you're going against good players, you can't mess up."

Bynum is familiar with Gibbs' skills in the open field -- the Vikings safety previously took ownership for taking a bad angle on a tackle attempt that helped permit a 45-yard touchdown trot by Gibbs in the Week 7 contest -- and was honest about needing to be sharper.

"He's one of the best backs in the league, but I pride myself on being able to make tackles like that," Bynum owned his error. "That's one of those situations where I have to be better, and that was one of those 'my bad' plays that I talk about. … I have to be able to save the day and I wasn't able to do that.

"One little detail, especially against a team like that, is enough to make you lose," Bynum added.

On the bright side, the playoffs await. Minnesota's defense has a takeaway in every game – the franchise's most-consecutive games with a takeaway in a single season. And it can lean on its mentality.

That oldie but goodie cliche of going 1-0 each week. It's already time to flip the page.

"It's a one-game season now, so we cannot hold onto this loss – whatever feeling it is," Bynum said. "It's a whole new season right now. We have to use this as fuel and that's the only thing we can use it as."

Bynum concluded: "If we want to get to where we want to go, we're gonna have to see them again."