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Vikings continue mastery of Lions

Dec 10, 2006 - 9:50 PM DETROIT (Ticker) -- Artose Pinner made the most of a rare opportunity by sticking it to his former team.

Pinner rushed for career highs of 127 yards and three touchdowns as the Minnesota Vikings captured their 10th consecutive win over the Detroit Lions with a 30-20 victory.

The win could not have come at a better time for the Vikings (6-7), who had lost five of their previous six games after a 4-2 start under first-year coach Brad Childress.

"It was great," Pinner said. "There were a lot of firsts today. First three-TD game. First 100-yard game against a team I used to play for. Most important that it gave us a chance to stay in the playoff race."

"It's kind of like NCAA Tournament time," Vikings safety Darren Sharper said. "We're still in it. If we win our next three, I believe we'll definitely be in."

The team's starting fullback, Pinner stepped in for Chester Taylor, who was questionable due to sore ribs. The 28-year-old entered the contest with just nine rushes for 49 yards.

Playing his first season with Minnesota after three years with Detroit, Pinner was strong right from the start, capping off the Vikings' first two drives of the game with short TD runs.

"It was a pretty good win," Childress said. "We knew Detroit would put up a fight, yet I thought we jumped them pretty good. These guys have responded, not in times of comfort and convenience, but with some adversities, whether it's your starting tailback (out) or close losses. They've continued to fight on."

The second scoring drive was started when Lions receiver Roy Williams fumbled on a short pass by Jon Kitna near midfield. That was one of six turnovers - including three fumbles - for Detroit, leading to 23 points for Minnesota.

"Turnovers will lose you ballgames," Williams said. "I don't know how many we had today. Six? You'll never win a ballgame with six turnovers."

The Lions absorbed their 57th consecutive loss when committing more turnovers than their opponent.

Kitna, who finished with 294 yards passing, had one of his four turnovers right before the end of the third quarter, throwing behind Williams on a post pattern. Williams deflected the ball up in the air, leading to an interception by rookie cornerback Cedric Griffin.

Despite his struggles, Kitna will remain the starting quarterback Detroit coach Rod Marinelli stated.

"It's not all his fault," Marinelli said. "That's all I can tell you."

Taking over at the Detroit 26, Minnesota went ahead, 30-13, moments later after Pinner capped off his career day with a one-yard TD with 13:50 remaining in the fourth.

"Chester's been our workhorse all year long and obviously he had to take a fall this week," Vikings quarterback Brad Johnson said. "Someone else had to step up. Today was Artose's day. It's a great day for him. It was a tremendous opportunity for him."

A 23-yard touchdown catch by Kevin Jones cut the Lions' deficit to 30-20 with 10:57 remaining, but they could not get any closer while watching one of their top players suffer a serious injury.

Jones, who finished with six catches for 67 yards, had a left foot injury on a rush on 2nd-and-goal with 4:47 left. The running back had to be helped off the field and will undergo an MRI.

Backup running back Arlen Harris was stuffed on third down and Kitna was sacked by safety Dwight Smith on fourth down to kill any possible comeback by Detroit.

"The key play was that big sack on fourth down at the end of the game by Dwight Smith," Sharper said. "They had nothing to lose. We knew they were going to try and score points. So they tried it and Dwight made a helluva play."

The Lions (2-11), who ended up with minus-three yards rushing, lost for the fifth consecutive time.

With Pinner leading a stellar ground attack that finished with 172 yards on 44 carries, Johnson was able to bounced back from a rough outing last week in Chicago without much pressure.

The 38-year-old finished 14-of-22 with 159 yards. He did toss one interception, and has no touchdowns against four picks in two December contests.