DETROIT — The Detroit Lions thought the bye week, and the 15-point victory over an NFC contender that preceded it, would be a jumping-off point.

But it instead proved to be a tripwire, their faces bouncing off the ground in Sunday’s 27-24 loss to the Minnesota Vikings before their minds could fully register what had gotten them there. Offensively, perhaps we underestimated the roles of former center Frank Ragnow and offensive coordinator Ben Johnson in the team’s success against a Vikings’ defense led by coordinator Brian Flores. Lions coach Dan Campbell said Flores didn’t present Detroit’s offense with anything it hadn’t seen before, outside of the few wrinkles that are typically added.

If this performance was a one-off, perhaps we’d be inclined to give them the benefit of the dou

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