MINNEAPOLIS (AP)—The Lions are coming.

For so many years, those words have been a comfort to the Minnesota Vikings
and their fans, a sure sign of victory no matter how well or poorly they were
playing at that moment.

The poor Lions have left the Metrodome with a loss 13 straight times. They
haven’t won under the big, white roof since 1997. The losses have come in all
shapes and sizes, from a 42-10 wipeout in 2007 to a 12-10 heartbreaker the
following season.

This time around, something feels different.

The Lions are coming off two straight decisive victories, the Vikings are
reeling a bit after giving away halftime leads in the first two weeks, and
Detroit is favored in Minnesota for the first time since 1981.

“Any time you play a team that is coming in with a lot of confidence, you
want to be the team to bring them down a bit,” Donovan McNabb(notes) said.

That’s a Viking. Talking about trying to knock a Lion’s confidence down. My,
how things have changed.

The Lions won at Tampa Bay to open the season, then pounded Kansas City 48-3
in the most lopsided regular season victory in franchise history.

“I think there’s been a lot of excitement going into this season. There’s
even more with us actually following through on the hype we’ve had around our
team in these first two games,” said Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh(notes), who
was 11 years old the last time the Lions beat the Vikings in Minnesota. “It’s
more or less really not being a fluke and just a lot of hype. We’re bringing it
to life as we should.”

The Lions have actually won 10 games in a row, including a four-game winning
streak at the end of last season and four wins this preseason. Preseason doesn’t
count in the record books, of course, but when a team has lost as many games as
the Lions have, any victory is welcomed with open arms.

“I think we’ve continued to have that confidence and that swagger since
last year,” Suh said. “We’re just carrying it over. It’s not necessarily that
it’s just coming into effect now that we have a 2-0 start. I think it’s been
there.

“It’s been instilled in us and now it’s a little more prevalent to
everybody outside our facility now that we’re taking care of business as we
should.”

A victory Sunday would be the biggest indicator yet that it truly is a new
day in Detroit and not just another hopeful start destined to swirl down the
drain. The Lions have four victories in the Dome since Suh was born in 1987.

The last time they won—Scott Mitchell was the quarterback and Barry
Sanders was finishing off a 2,000-yard season.

“We’ve had some good players here in the past, but what we’ve managed to do
is we’ve put good players around them,” third-year coach Jim Schwartz said.

With Suh, Schwartz, quarterback Matthew Stafford(notes) and receiver Calvin
Johnson(notes), the Lions have leaned heavily on continuity to get through the abnormal
offseason that kept coaches and players from communicating all summer long.

The Vikings aren’t quite as familiar with each other, and it’s showed.
Leslie Frazier is in his first season as the permanent coach and they have a new
offensive coordinator (Bill Musgrave), quarterback (McNabb) and left tackle
(Charlie Johnson(notes)).

The result has been an uneven performance, especially on offense, where they
have let good starts in both games fizzle. Last week they racked up 284 yards
and 17 points in the first half, only to sputter and stall throughout the second
half as Josh Freeman(notes) rallied them to the win.

“There are still some things being worked out on both sides of the ball as
we are going through this process,” Frazier said. “We are still learning one
another and learning a lot about our players and particularly the new coaches.
That’s part of it and we knew that would be the case.”

The Vikings are getting Kevin Williams(notes) back from a two-game suspension this
week and the big defensive tackle is eager to pull his team out of the rough
start. He watched them give away a 17-10 halftime lead in the opener at San
Diego and a 17-0 lead to the Bucs at home last week.

Several team leaders, including McNabb, guard Steve Hutchinson(notes) and defensive
end Jared Allen(notes), addressed the team earlier this week in hopes of settling
things down and keeping them focused.

“I’ve been a part of teams that have been 0-2, 1-2, but the team still got
close enough where everyone had that confidence that the next game we were going
to win,” McNabb said. “You win one, you feel like you’re going to win the
next. Then you get on a winning streak and all of a sudden the confidence level
is at a high where you feel like every time you step out on the field you’re
going to win the game.

“I think that’s where we need to get to. I think we have the guys and the
talent to do that. And all it takes is one.”

Follow Jon Krawczynski on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/APkrawczynski

In last week’s NFL Power Rankings, the folks at the SB Nation mothership placed the Minnesota Vikings as the second-worst team in the National Football League, despite a very hard-fought loss on the road in San Diego against the Chargers. Now, in their Week 3 Power Rankings, though the Vikings loss another tough game, they really couldn’t move the Vikings down to #32. . .not with the Kansas City Chiefs hanging around. . .so they decided to move the Vikings up one spot to number 30 instead.

What did they say about the Vikings this week?

So the Donovan McNabb in Minnesota story isn’t looking so great right now. This team needs to be better with a player like AP there.

To be fair, I don’t think we can put Sunday’s loss at the feet of Donovan McNabb. . .he played significantly better than he did in the opener, that’s for sure. But yes, Adrian Peterson’s talents are being wasted thus far, which is never a good thing to see. Hopefully this team can start getting it into gear, although they face a tough test this Sunday when the Detroit Lions come to town.

By Dave Campbell, Associated Press

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — The Minnesota Vikings have a back-to-basics approach on defense this week.

Tackling was a problem in the season-opening loss at San Diego, negating some of the solid pass coverage the Vikings applied downfield. Even the best tacklers like cornerback Antoine Winfield and linebacker Chad Greenway missed on a few plays, and the Chargers were able to move the ball by running after the catch and completing short throws in the middle of the field.

This week, the Vikings host Tampa Bay, and the Buccaneers feature a couple of big bodies to bring down in quarterback Josh Freeman and running back LeGarrette Blount.

Receiver Percy Harvin and tight end Visanthe Shiancoe are among the Minnesota Vikings who will be held out of Saturday’s preseason game at Seattle.

Harvin hasn’t practiced much this week because of a rib injury, and Shiancoe is still working on a pulled hamstring that kept him out of the preseason opener.

“I think we’ll do that with both of them and just give them a chance to get a few more days of rest and then get ready to go next week,” coach Leslie Frazier said on Thursday.

Right guard Anthony Herrera and cornerback Asher Allen also will miss the game. Herrera practiced for the first time this week in his bid to return from a torn knee ligament. Allen has a toe injury.

Receiver Greg Camarillo won’t play because of a groin injury, which opens up playing time at the crowded position.

Harvin, Michael Jenkins and Bernard Berrian are the top three receivers on the depth chart and the only locks to make the team. After that, a cluster could be competing for two roster spots.

That list includes Camarillo, Devin Aromashodu, who was signed away from Chicago in the offseason, Jaymar Johnson, whose return skills could give him an edge, Juaquin Iglesias, and CFL transplant Manny Arcenaux.

Frazier said “nobody has really nailed down those spots yet,” which is a big reason why the Vikings are choosing to keep out Harvin and Camarillo.

“If this were a regular-season game, things may be different,” Frazier said. “But we really need to evaluate that position and when we talked about it, we said, ‘You know what, we know Camarillo, we know Percy. We want to get to know these other guys much better so we can make the right decision.’”

Fullback Matt Asiata will miss the game with a strained hip flexor. Linebacker Heath Farwell is out, as well, because of a hamstring injury.