First Place Is on the Line Everywhere: Vikings at Lions Headlines a Loaded NFL Week 8 Sunday

First place is on the line everywhere on this loaded NFL Week 8 Sunday. The undefeated Minnesota Vikings headline the board in Detroit against the Lions, Cleveland and Pittsburgh settle first place in the AFC North, Kansas City and Denver fight over the AFC West lead, and Lamar Jackson returns in Buffalo. Week 8 serves up twelve games on Sunday, November 1 — after Green Bay opened the week by beating Carolina 27-19 on Thursday night — and almost every one of them moves a standings line. Add a Sunday night game nobody at the league office would choose again, and you have the most consequential Sunday of the season so far. Here is the whole board, game by game, with the final injury picture attached.

The main event: undefeated Minnesota at Detroit

The Minnesota Vikings are 6-0, alone as the NFL's last undefeated team, and somehow they are underdogs. Detroit is favored by 3.5 points at Ford Field, according to the Action Network's Week 8 board, and the market's skepticism is not hard to find. Minnesota is 4-0 in one-possession games, its offense ranks near the bottom of the league in efficiency, and quarterback Kyler Murray was just 14-for-24 for 150 yards and a touchdown in last week's 16-10 win over Indianapolis, according to the Action Network preview. The Vikings have scored only 10 offensive touchdowns in six games.

And yet: nobody can score on them. Minnesota has allowed a league-low 74 points through six games — 12.3 per game — with a plus-7 turnover differential built on 11 takeaways against just four giveaways, according to SportsBook Wire's preview. Defensive coordinator Brian Flores blitzes at a 70 percent rate, the highest in the league, per the Action Network. That is the test for Jared Goff, who has been flawless on paper: 1,788 yards, 14 touchdowns, zero interceptions and a 112.5 passer rating, coming off a 303-yard, turnover-free night in Detroit's 20-17 win over Green Bay, a game Amon-Ra St. Brown owned with nine catches for 153 yards. One honest wrinkle for Minnesota: running back Aaron Jones is questionable after aggravating his left knee against Indianapolis, with Jordan Mason — who led the Vikings in rushing in that game — next in line, according to LineCrush's matchup analysis. Minnesota also swept both meetings with Detroit last season, winning as an underdog each time. Kickoff is 1 p.m. ET on FOX.

First place, settled head-to-head: Browns at Steelers

The AFC North gets its own summit meeting at the same hour, at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Steelers and the visiting Cleveland Browns both arrive at 5-2, and the winner takes sole possession of first place as November begins, according to the Akron Beacon Journal's game-day coverage. Cleveland won the first meeting 27-24 at home on October 1, so a win on the road in Pittsburgh would give the Browns their first season sweep of the Steelers since 1988 — in a building that has not been kind to them.

Lamar is back, and Baltimore cannot wait any longer

The third 1 p.m. headliner is in Orchard Park, where the Buffalo Bills (5-1) host the Baltimore Ravens (4-3) at Highmark Stadium on CBS. Lamar Jackson, who missed Weeks 5, 6 and 7 with a high ankle sprain, carries no injury designation on the team's official injury report and will play, according to Last Word on Sports. Baltimore went 1-2 with Tyler Huntley starting in his place and slid to last place in the AFC North and ninth in the AFC standings, according to Ravens Wire — a remarkable spot for a team that was 3-1 with Jackson, who has completed 70.8 percent of his passes for 967 yards, six touchdowns and one interception this season. The problem is the other sideline: Buffalo leads the NFL at 32.8 points per game, though the Bills also allow 28.5 per game, the third-highest mark in the league, according to RG.org's numbers. If Jackson's ankle lets him run the way Baltimore needs, this has every chance to be the game of the day.

The late window: Chiefs at Broncos for the AFC West lead

The one late game with a division lead attached kicks off at 4:25 p.m. ET on CBS: the Kansas City Chiefs (5-1) at the Denver Broncos (5-2). Kansas City won the first meeting 31-10 on September 14, according to RG.org, and the Chiefs allow just 17.2 points per game, the second-fewest in the league. Denver counters with a 3-0 home record, a three-game win streak and 21 sacks — but the Broncos will do it without running back RJ Harvey, who was placed on injured reserve Saturday, one of several Saturday moves that reshaped this Sunday. We broke down the full injured-reserve wave — and why Jonathan Taylor is playing at Jacksonville under a trade cloud — in our Week 8 injury and transactions notebook, published with this roundup. The rest of the late window is a Los Angeles derby, with the Chargers visiting the Rams at SoFi Stadium at 4:05 p.m. ET on FOX, and the New England Patriots at the Miami Dolphins alongside the Chiefs game on CBS.

The rest of the board, and a Sunday night the league kept anyway

The remaining early games, all at 1 p.m. ET: Tennessee Titans at Cincinnati Bengals and Indianapolis Colts at Jacksonville Jaguars on CBS, and Arizona Cardinals at Dallas Cowboys, Las Vegas Raiders at New York Jets and Atlanta Falcons at Tampa Bay Buccaneers on FOX, according to NBC Sports' Week 8 schedule. The Jets are expected to be without Breece Hall (quad) again, with Braelon Allen starting, according to Ian Rapoport's reporting via Fantasy Index; Jacksonville's Jakobi Meyers (hamstring, ankle) is expected to play, as are George Pickens and Jaylen Waddle. Sunday night belongs to the Philadelphia Eagles (2-5) at the Washington Commanders (1-4-1) at 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock — a matchup of two teams with three combined wins that the league seriously considered flexing out, according to USA Today, before the October 20 deadline passed with the game left in place. Washington, already carrying one of the league's longest injured lists, lost defensive tackle Daron Payne for the season this week. The Giants, 49ers, Texans and Saints are on their bye week, per USA Today, and the week closes Monday night with the Chicago Bears at the Seattle Seahawks on ESPN and ABC. For yesterday's full Week 8 setup — Jackson's return and the Jeffery Simmons trade — see our Saturday roundup, and keep up with every score in the Sports section.