DETROIT (Ticker) -- Daunte Culpepper gave up his body to give the Minnesota Vikings the lead, and Gus Frerotte used his arm to give them the victory.
Culpepper scored on a pair of runs before leaving with an injury and Frerotte connected with Kelly Campbell on a 72-yard touchdown to lead the unbeaten Vikings to a 23-13 win over the Detroit Lions.
The win was the sixth straight for Minnesota (3-0), dating to last season.
"We're really proud to be 3-0," Vikings safety Brian Russell said. "We're enjoying that right now."
Culpepper's second touchdown run of the second quarter was a two-yarder up the middle on a broken pass play, and put the Vikings up 13-10. But as he dove for the end zone, Culpepper suffered a lower back contusion and had to leave the game. X-rays were negative, but he did not return.
"It's sore right now," Culpepper said. "I'll get an MRI when I get back and see what's really going on in there. One of the linebackers hit me in the back with an elbow or knee. It's part of the game, but I thought he could have held up after I was in the end zone."
Frerotte came in and made an immediate impact, throwing a 72-yard pass to Randy Moss on his second play. The deep strike set up a 21-yard field goal by Aaron Elling that put Minnesota up 16-10 at halftime.
"Gus Frerotte is a very capable player," Lions quarterback Joey Harrington said. "He's shown it all through his career. In this league, the difference betwen a starter and a backup is very minimal."
Minnesota's early success with Frerotte looked like it could be a fluke when he threw an interception early in the third quarter, but the 10-year veteran hooked up with Campbell on a long touchdown with 8:02 left in the third quarter.
Frerotte finished 8-of-19 for 154 yards and a touchdown with an interception, but was steady enough to hold the lead. Before he left, Culpepper was 7-of-13 for 105 yards. His two rushing touchdowns gave him 24 for his career, a Vikings team record.
"I just tried not to screw up and throw dangerous throws," Frerotte said. "I said let's eat some clock and let the defense make some plays."
The Lions (1-2) drove late in the game to try to get close, but had three incompletions and a run stuffed at the one-yard line.
Harrington was 24-of-42 for 235 yards with three interceptions as Detroit fell to Minnesota for the third straight time.
"I felt good," Harrington said. "I just made a couple of bad decisions. We had a couple of penalties that hurt us at bad points... and then I followed that with some bad decisions. Those things add up."
Detroit took an early 10-0 lead on a five-yard touchdown run by Shawn Bryson and a 27-yard field goal by Jason Hanson. But the momentum of the game changed early in the second quarter when the Lions were charged with three straight penalties as they tried to punt.
Once the Lions finally got a punt off without an infraction, rookie Keenan Howry returned it to the Detroit 36. Three plays later, Culpepper got Minnesota on the board with his first touchdown run, a 14-yarder.
"We have nine penalties," Lions coach Steve Mariucci said. "That's a few too many. The three in a row on the punt really hurt us."
The Lions have lost back-to-back games after opening the season with a 42-24 win over the Arizona Cardinals.
"Big plays have haunted us for two weeks," Detroit defensive end Robert Porcher said.
Detroit has lost 10 of its last 11 division games.
