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DETROIT — Looks like the Minnesota Vikings have a feel for desperation.And desperation pass plays.Kirk Cousins took a shotgun snap Irv Smith Jersey nfl draft , rolled slightly to his right, stepped up and heaved a pass from near midfield into the end zone.More Vikings coveragePreview: Cook, Vikings look to keep rolling vs. PackersTop Tweets: Vikings prepare for Packers with TMNT hype videoBarr, seasoned Vikings defense off to strong startNew offense, same Rodgers: Vikings prep for LaFleur’s PackersVikings re-sign center Jones, waive rookie TE DillonKyle Rudolph leaped to make a go-ahead touchdown catch.Cousins’ 44-yard Hail Mary to Rudolph as time expired in the first half put the Minnesota Vikings ahead and they beat the Detroit Lions 27-9 Sunday, moving a step closer to playing in the postseason.“It was a big way to gain some momentum going into the half after a slow start,” Cousins said. “They were calling it a Hail Rudy after it happened.”Minnesota famously beat New Orleans in the playoffs last January on Diggs’ game-ending, 61-yard touchdown reception to advance to the NFC championship game.The Vikings could have clinched a spot in the playoffs with a win and losses by Washington and Philadelphia this weekend. The Redskins lost to Tennessee on Saturday, and shortly after Minnesota walked into its locker room at Ford Field, the Eagles beat Houston on a game-ending field goal.Minnesota (8-6-1) can still earn a spot in the postseason by closing the regular season with a win against NFC North champion Chicago at home, or by having wild-card hopefuls lose in Week 17.“We don’t want to leave it up to anyone else,” Rudolph said.The Vikings overcame an awful start offensively, scoring two touchdowns on Cousins’ passes over the last 1:32 of the second quarter, and relied on their defense all afternoon against Detroit.Minnesota had almost as many punts (4) as yards (5) before Cousins led an eight-play, 69-yard drive that ended with an 8-yard touchdown pass to Stefon Diggs late in the first half. On the Vikings’ next possession after calling timeout with 2 seconds left in the second quarter against a three-man rush, Cousins capped a 70-yard drive with his Hail Mary to Rudolph, who didn’t have much traffic in front of him,.“I didn’t have to move one step off of my spot. I was able to jump,” said the 6-foot-6 Rudolph, who was a highly touted high school basketball player in Cincinnati. “I joked earlier I had a lot of rebounds in high school basketball and at that point, it turns into another rebound, so maybe see if I can get that added to my career total.”In the same end zone three years ago Everson Griffen Jersey , Aaron Rodgers connected with Richard Rodgers on a winning desperation pass to lift the Packers to a win over Detroit to help them make a push to get into the postseason.Cousins finished 21 of 28 for 253 yards with three touchdowns, matching his career high with 29 set in 2015 with the Redskins. Rudolph had a career-high 122 yards receiving, matched a career high with two touchdown receptions, and had a season-high nine receptions.The Lions (5-10) wasted opportunities to have a comfortable cushion in the first half because their offense stalled repeatedly. They had to settle for three field goals and a 9-0 lead, and then they had to deal with a 14-9 deficit after the Hail Mary.“When those things happen, certainly they have a little bit of a toll on you,” coach Matt Patricia acknowledged.Detroit has dropped four of five and seven of nine since reaching .500 in late October, falling apart in Patricia’s first season as a head coach after the franchise fired coach Jim Caldwell with a 36-28 record over four seasons.The playing-for-pride Lions got off to a strong start defensively against the playoff-hopeful Vikings, holding them without a first down until there were three-plus minutes left in the first half.With the ball, though, Detroit could not to take advantage of favorable field position against a stingy defense. The Lions were relegated to Matt Prater kicking one field goal in the first quarter and two in the second.The Vikings opened the second half with a field goal for a 17-9 lead that looked like it would be enough against a team that failed to score a touchdown against them in two games this season. Minnesota sent a lot of fans out of Ford Field early in the second half when Cousins threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Rudolph to go ahead by 15 points.STAFFORD SITSMatthew Stafford was 18 of 32 for 116 yards and was replaced with 4:10 left by Matt Cassel, who was welcomed by cheers before the Lions were called for a false start prior to his first snap.“It’s frustrating that that’s the way the game went,” said Stafford, who is playing through a back injury. “Coach makes those decisions. Always want to be out there, understand where he’s coming from with it. He knows what I’m dealing with and going through. As far as fans’ reaction, it doesn’t make any difference.”INJURY REPORTVikings: CB Marcus Sherels left with a foot injury in the first quarter and didn’t return. CB Xavier Rhodes (groin) limped off the field in the fourth quarter. FB C.J. Ham (elbow) had an elbow injury.Lions: TE Luke Willson (concussion), DT A’Shawn Robinson (knee), DeShawn Shead (knee) were hurt during the game.UP NEXTVikings: Host the Bears on Sunday.“It’s going to be like a playoff game,” Rudolph said.Lions: Close the season at Green Bay on Sunday. Every Thursday during the regular season (when the Minnesota Vikings play a Sunday game) the three coordinators speak to the media. Here’s a few highlights from this week’s press conferences:<u>Defensive coordinator George Edwards</u>Q: What about playing in U.S. Bank Stadium makes this defense better?A: There’s no doubt that our fans and the support and the noise, and all the things that they do to help us out on third down [help us]. But also our players, the concentration and focus that they put forth, understanding the situation, understanding the matches and the coverages Anthony Barr Jersey , understanding the protections that we’re going to get in in those situations. I think the culmination of all of it together has really helped out.Q: How much of a weapon is Mitch Trubisky’s mobility?A: It says a lot, he really got out on us a couple times on third down earlier in the game in Chicago. Also, first and second down. He can find a seam, he’s gotten a lot more comfortable with what they do schematically and with how they’re using their different personnel, so we’ve got to be very disciplined in our rush lanes and hopefully get out and execute the game plan.Q: What types of challenges does it present when a running back can go vertical like Tarik Cohen can?A: It’s a tough match, especially in certain coverages that you’re in. You look around the league, it seems like every week we’re facing a back with that type of skill set. You look at us last week with 25 [Lions running back Theo Riddick], it’s pretty much that everybody has a guy that can really go take the top off as a tough match for a linebacker. It’s one thing that we’ve been working on throughout the course of the week and that we’ve been working on throughout the course of the year, and we’ve just got to be smart and make sure that we can maintain our leverage and not give up the big play.Q: How have you seen teams increase their focus on Linval Joseph over his time here?A: Quite a bit. I think Linval is a tremendous player for us inside, and what he brings to the game, I think people are aware that when you single block him it’s going to be a tough day. They realize a lot of the times that they have to double him. For us, that allows our linebackers who play at the second level to be a little bit freer as they come across, but he’s going to give you a hard day’s work every day that he’s out there. He pays attention to the detail. He’s more than your typical nose with the push that he gets in the pocket and being able to understand block recognition, his effort to the football on screens. He brings a lot to us defensively.<u>Interim offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski</u>Q: How do you balance going back and watching the tape from the game at Chicago but not being the same play caller?A: It’s useful. It’s the same defense versus the same offense. The players are the same and certainly having been part of the staff I was a part of the game plan that put it together. So I think it’s useful to go back and look at it. The nice part is we can see who we were, we can see what they were doing in that particular game. It’s part of any process looking back at the first time you played them.Q: How do you balance still wanting to run the ball more with their run defense?A: They have a very good run defense and a very good pass defense. So I think you have to go into it and put a plan together that you feel is going to have the most success, whether that is running the ball or throwing the ball, but certainly have our work cut out for us.Q: What do you see with Dalvin Cook and what makes him so elusive?A: He is a special talent. God gifted him with some unique physical tools. I think you’d start probably with his feet are pretty impressive. I remember seeing him in his first practice out there and just seeing how his feet moved. There’s only a few guys who look like that. He’s a physically gifted kid. I give him a ton of credit coming off the injury, just worked his tail off in the training room and just worked so hard with coach [Kennedy] Polamalu in the run game, in the pass game, in protection. The kid is working really hard. You are seeing the benefits of that on game day.Q: What is the biggest challenge Khalil Mack offers when you try to game plan around him?A: He is a great player. He is a great combination of size, athleticism, power, effort. Just turn the tape on. He is an impressive player. He certainly is someone that we have to account for in a bunch of different ways. That is why we are out here working and implementing that plan.<u>Special teams coordinator Mike Priefer</u>Q: Why have the onside kick numbers plummeted so much and would you like to see them go back up?A: I’d like to see them go up if we’re kicking them and I’d like to see them stay low if we’re on the hands team Mike Hughes Jersey , to be quite honest. It is an exciting play. I think it’s down from 20 percent to 8 percent or whatever it is. I think part of that is because there is no running start. We’ll continue to evolve and continue to work on the different types of kicks that are going to be successful, some teams already have, we’ve already tried. Whether it’s in practice getting them ready for games. I think you need to have the right type of kick because there is no running start, they already have eight in the box, they’re going to bring up ten in that set up zone, like most teams did anyway on hands team. I think without the running start it makes it much more difficult. Q: Do you ever think about different gimmicks to make that play more exciting?A: I think that’s part of being busy, part of my job is to be creative whether it’s a punt fake, field-goal fake, a creative way to take advantage of what a team is doing with their hands team, or whatever the case maybe. We try not to go into the game and have the same exact onside kick, the same exact same punt fake, the exact same field-goal fake, we try to tweak it and make it hopefully be successful against the opponent that we’re facing. I think that’s what most good teams do and that’s what we try to do every week. That’s part of it. I don’t know if gimmicky is the right word, but you’re trying to put your team in the best position possible to be successful.Q: What can the league do to change more end game scenarios if the onside kick is too dangerous? A: I don’t think the onside kick is too dangerous. I think with the emphasis on staying away from the helmet-to-helmet type of hits, with the no running starts, and those type of things. I think our job as coaches is to create situations where we can be successful with the rules that are in place because I think the new kickoff, kickoff return rules have been very beneficial for our game. I think the numbers, I haven’t seen them, but I’ve heard the concussion numbers are way down, so we’re going in the right direction which is a good thing for our players. It’s a good thing for our game. I think the onside kick success rate will go up a little bit as we get more creative with the types of kicks that we use. That’s just my opinion.