Running back Sione Vaki chose a good time to have the best offensive performance of his career.
In a contest where the Detroit Lions knew they had to run the football effectively to stymie Minnesota’s aggressive attacking defense, the Lions put up 230 rushing yards in a 19-15 win at Ford Field.
Jahmyr Gibbs led the way with 153 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries (6.7 avg.). He now has 1,058 scrimmage yards on the season, passing Billy Sims (991 in 1980) for the most scrimmage yards through the first seven games of a season in franchise history.
Vaki played a big role too, recording a career-high 65 yards on 11 carries (5.9) with some of those being critical chunk plays in the fourth quarter. Vaki had 34 rushing yards in the fourth quarter along with a five-yard reception.
“Vaki was one of the guys we challenged this week going into this game,” Lions head coach Dan Campbell said. “We were going to need him. He needed to show up. He was going to need to get some carries for us, some significant carries.
“They needed to be real yards, and he was going to need to be able to pass protect for us. And I thought he took a big step today. That’s a huge step. He gained a lot of trust today, a ton.”