Detroit Lions vs. Minnesota Vikings preview: 4 reasons to watch

A standard article to write during preseason football is some variation of the “4 things to watch” analytical piece. No one really wants to watch preseason football, but for the die-hards and the fans that obsess over every inch of the 53-man roster and practice squad, the games do provide some value, and those article try to focus the readers’ attention on some notable players or position battles.

Well, we’ve gotten to the portion of the Detroit Lions’ 2019 season in which games hold about the exact same value as preseason football. Sure, the games are still important for some of the players, who will be fighting not just for pride but for future contracts or starting jobs. But there’s not much value to football for fans when nothing is on the line for them.

So this week on our First Byte preview podcast, we changed things up a little bit. In our first segment we fall back on our preseason format and talk about some of the interesting Lions storylines for this game and what it may mean for the future of the franchise.

But don’t worry your little head, because we brought back Arif Hasan from The Athletic Minnesota for the second segment to give us a little perspective on the Vikings’ 2019 season and what to expect from them on Sunday. We give you a little bit of everything in this “byte-sized” episode to get you ready for Week 14.

This week on First Byte

• The defensive line is healthy again. Could we get a glimpse on Sunday of what could have been? Jeremy and Ryan mourn the death of offseason expectations.
• We saw David Blough with no practice. What does David Blough look like with a week of practice?
• Bo Scarbrough and Amani Oruwariye are fun, but how will they match up against tougher competition?
• Arif Hasan joins us and tells us how Kirk Cousins hasn’t fallen on his face yet, why the defense isn’t playing up to expectations, and what Vikings fans are thinking about their Super Bowl chances this year.

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