The Detroit Lions were on the road against one of two remaining undefeated teams, down 10-0 in part because of a bad decision to run a fake punt. They were facing arguably the best defense in the NFL this season.
Even after they came back to overcome that deficit, a huge fumble in the fourth quarter was returned by the Minnesota Vikings for a touchdown, giving them a late 29-28 lead.
Sunday's game against the Vikings was big for the Lions. They didn't want to fall two games behind in the loss column to a division rival as good as Minnesota.