After topping 49ers, Lions face short week in hosting Vikings in key game to close regular season

The Detroit Lions have a short week to prepare for a pivotal matchup against Minnesota, and they will not complain about that fact.

The winner will earn the NFC North title and home-field advantage until the Super Bowl. The loser will start the playoffs on the road as a fifth-seeded wild card.

“You couldn’t write a better scenario,” Detroit coach Dan Campbell said after a 40-34 win at San Francisco on Monday night. “You couldn’t come up with this. The fact that both teams are sitting at 14-2, and it’s for the division and the top seed, it just doesn’t get any better than this.”

The Lions arrived in the Motor City at about 7 a.m. on Tuesday and had a day of rest before getting ready for a marquee matchup on Sunday night at home against the Vikings.

“These are the types of games you dream of when you are growing up," All-Pro right tackle Penei Sewell said. “These are the moments that you live for. Opportunities like this don’t come often.”

The Jared Goff-led offense.

“He’s playing at an ultimate level right now,” Campbell said. “You find me a quarterback that’s playing better than him in this league right now.”

Goff completed 77% of his passes against his hometown 49ers and set a franchise record by throwing three touchdown passes for the fourth game in a row.

He has connected on at least three-fourths of his passes for the eighth time this season, joining Tom Brady (2007) as the two players in league history to pull off the feat.

Detroit's defense. The banged-up unit has allowed 31 points or more in three of the past four games, setting up high-scoring matchups.

Kerby Joseph. After going five games without an interception, the safety picked off two passes against the 49ers to give him an NFL-high nine interceptions.

“He came up in a big way, not just that the picks,” Campbell said. “He had some critical tackles and just really showed up for us.”

Joseph is the first Detroit player with nine interceptions, including a pick-6, since Hall of Famer Lem Barney did it in 1967.

Za'Darius Smith. The veteran defensive end, acquired from Cleveland at the trade deadline, played on 52% of Detroit's defensive snaps and was the only player on the unit to not have a tackle at San Francisco. Smith has been held without a sack for three straight games after he had a total of 2 1/2 sacks in consecutive games against Green Bay and Chicago.

Sewell went to the locker room at the end of the first half to have a thumb injury evaluated in San Francisco.

“Should be good,” Campbell said.

4 — David Montgomery, Jahmyr Gibbs along with Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams are the first pair of running backs and receivers in league history to have each player gain 1,000 yards from scrimmage.

“We’ve got a good group and a very unselfish group, which is the best part of it,” Goff said. “Those guys want to see each other succeed.”

Rest and recover after playing on Monday night and flying across the country to prepare for perhaps the biggest game in the regular season in team history.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle (85) runs past Detroit Lions linebacker Jack Campbell (46) after a catch during the first half of an NFL football game Monday, Dec. 30, 2024, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell yells from the sideline during the first half of an NFL football game against the San Francisco 49ers, Monday, Dec. 30, 2024, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff (16) throws a pass during the first half of an NFL football game against the San Francisco 49ers, Monday, Dec. 30, 2024, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Detroit Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams (9) is tackled by San Francisco 49ers cornerback Deommodore Lenoir (2) during the second half of an NFL football game Monday, Dec. 30, 2024, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Detroit Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs (26) scores a rushing touchdown past San Francisco 49ers cornerback Renardo Green (0) during the second half of an NFL football game Monday, Dec. 30, 2024, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff (16) walks off the field after a win over the San Francisco 49ers in an NFL football game Monday, Dec. 30, 2024, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — The New York Jets interviewed former Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel on Friday for their head coaching vacancy.

Vrabel is the second known coaching candidate to meet with the Jets, who announced they completed their interview with him. New York also spoke to former Washington and Carolina coach Ron Rivera on Thursday.

Vrabel is expected to be a highly sought candidate during this hiring cycle, and New York got a chance to sit down with him early in the process. New Orleans and Chicago also fired their coaches during the season and will likely be among the teams joining the Jets in searching for replacements.

The 49-year-old Vrabel served in a consultant role with Cleveland this season, but his contract expired earlier this week — allowing him to interview with other teams.

The one-time All-Pro linebacker who helped New England win three Super Bowl titles was 56-48 in six seasons as coach of the Titans, including 2-3 in the postseason. He was fired by Tennessee after a 6-11 finish last season.

The Jets fired coach Robert Saleh on Oct. 8 when the team was 2-3 and replaced him on an interim basis with defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, who is 2-9 heading into New York's season finale Sunday at home against Miami.

Ulbrich said Friday he expects to be given an opportunity next week to interview for the head coach job.

“I, for sure, look forward to that,” he said. “But at the same time, I'm in my feet right now. I've got to finish the season right and these players deserve everything I have.”

Linebacker Jamien Sherwood, voted the Jets' MVP by his teammates, said Ulbrich “most definitely” should get a shot at the full-time job.

“I feel like Brick was put in a compromising position,” Sherwood said. “You know, it happened midway through the season. I feel like things would look different if he had it from the start. Again, there’s no excuses, obviously.

“I just feel like as players, we've got to go out there and play better for him. I feel like he did everything he needed to do when he was put in the limelight.”

General manager Joe Douglas was fired six weeks after Saleh, and the Jets have also begun their search for his replacement. New York has interviewed Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy, former Atlanta Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff, former Tennessee Titans GM Jon Robinson and ESPN analyst Louis Riddick for the GM job.

Riddick is the most recent GM candidate to meet with the Jets, having sat down with the team Thursday. The 55-year-old former NFL safety joined ESPN in 2013 and serves as an NFL and college football analyst on the network and ABC. He interviewed with Detroit and Houston for their GM openings in 2020.

New York owner Woody Johnson hired The 33rd Team, a football media, analytics and consulting group founded by former Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum, to assist them in their two searches. Tannenbaum and former Dolphins and Vikings GM Rick Spielman are helping identify and vet GM and coach candidates and coordinate interviews.

Vrabel played 14 seasons in the NFL that included stints with Pittsburgh, New England — where he was part of three Super Bowl championship teams under Bill Belichick — and Kansas City. He had 57 career sacks with 11 interceptions and 19 forced fumbles and was selected as an All-Pro during the 2007 season.

After his playing career, he served as an assistant at Ohio State, his alma mater, for three seasons before joining Bill O'Brien's staff with the Houston Texans in 2014. Vrabel was the linebackers coach for three seasons before becoming the defensive coordinator in 2017. He was hired as the Titans' coach the following season.

Vrabel led the Titans to the 2019 AFC championship game, where Tennessee lost to Kansas City. It was the first of three consecutive playoff appearances for the Titans under Vrabel, who was selected as the AP NFL Coach of the Year in 2021. But Tennessee missed the postseason the next two years, going 13-21 during that span, and Vrabel was fired after the 2023 season.

Rivera went 26-40-1 during a four-year stint with the Commanders, leading Washington to the playoffs during his first season with the team in 2020. He was fired last January after a 4-13 season.

Rivera, who turns 63 next Tuesday, is the only coach in NFL history to have led teams with losing records to the playoffs more than once, having done so with Carolina (7-8-1) in 2014 and Washington (7-9) in 2020.

He led the Panthers to the postseason four times during his tenure in Carolina from 2011 to 2019, including a Super Bowl appearance in the 2015 season when the team went 15-1 in the regular season and eventually lost to Denver in the title game.

Nicknamed “Riverboat Ron” for his aggressive decisions on the field, Rivera has a career record of 105-108-2, including 3-5 in the playoffs.

Rivera, who served as an assistant for the Chargers and Bears before becoming a head coach, played nine seasons in the NFL as a linebacker for Chicago. He was part of the Bears team that won the Super Bowl during the 1985 season behind its exceptional “46” defense under coach Mike Ditka and coordinator Buddy Ryan.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

FILE - ESPN's Monday Night Football analyst Louis Riddick walks on the field during pre-game warm-ups before an NFL football game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Indianapolis Colts, on Oct. 11, 2021, in Baltimore, Md. (AP Photo/Terrance Williams, File)

FILE - Washington Commanders head coach Ron Rivera speaking during a press conference at the end of an NFL football game against the Dallas Cowboys, Jan. 7, 2024, in Landover, Md. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

FILE - Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel argues a call during the first half of an NFL football game against the Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday, Jan. 7, 2024, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, File)