Packers win 5th straight

Week 16
December 24, 2016 - 12 p.m. - FOX
Lambeau Field
Green Bay, Wisconsin

Packers 38 - Vikings 25

The Packers defeated the Vikings to win their fifth straight game and set up an NFC North showdown in Week 17 against the Detroit Lions for the division crown.

Led by another MVP performance by Aaron Rodgers, the offense was clicking on all cylinders.  Rodgers threw for 347 yards and four touchdowns.  Rodgers also ran for a touchdown.  Jordy Nelson was unstoppable as he caught nine passes for 154 yards and two touchdowns.

The Vikings played well, but not well enough, as they were fighting for their season.  With the Packers win, the Vikings were eliminated from playoff consideration.

With the win, the Packers have set up a showdown in Detroit in Week 17.  The winner will win the NFC North division title.

Offense Struggles in Vikings' Stadium Opener

Week 2
September 18, 2016 - 7:30 p.m. - NBC
US Bank Stadium
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Packers 14 - Vikings 17

Offensive struggles similar to the 2015 season reappeared as the Packers fell to the Vikings.  The Vikings opened their new stadium, US Bank Stadium, against the Packers on NBC's Sunday Night Football.

Packers dominate Vikings on TNF

Week 5
October 2, 2014 - 7:30 p.m. - CBS
Lambeau Field
Green Bay, Wisconsin

Packers 42 - Vikings 10

The Packers absolutely pummeled the Minnesota Vikings in a Week 5 Thursday Night Football matchup at Lambeau Field.

Photo credit: Jonathan Daniel

For the first time this season, the Packers scored first in a game after Aaron Rodgers connected with Randall Cobb for a 8-yard touchdown.  The catch is Cobb's sixth touchdown reception of the season through five games.  Aaron Rodgers extended the Packers lead on the next drive by throwing a 66-yard touchdown to the NFL's leading receiver, Jordy Nelson.

The defense came to play.  The Vikings committed three turnovers in the second quarter on three consecutive possessions.  The first, an interception by Julius Peppers returned 49-yards to the house.  With the interception, Peppers became the first player in NFL history to record one hundred sacks and ten interceptions.  The second turnover, Jamari Lattimore intercepted Christian Ponder's next pass attempt.  Rodgers made the Vikings pay after connecting with Davante Adams for another touchdown.  The touchdown was the first for the rookie wide receiver out of Fresno State.  The third turnover was a fumble by Matt Asiata forced by Morgan Burnett.  The Packers lead the Vikings 28-0 at halftime.

The Vikings were forced to rely on backup quarterback Christian Ponder as their rookie starting quarterback Teddy Bridgewater suffered a high ankle sprain 4 days earlier.  Ponder continued his poor play wearing a Vikings uniform as he fell to 1-5-1 against the Packers in his career.  Ponder was sacked six times in the game by Nick Perry (2), Mike Daniels (1 1/2), Letroy Guion (1 1/2), Julius Peppers (1/2), and AJ Hawk (1/2).

The third quarter wasn't much better for the Vikings.  This quarter, the Packers got running back Eddie Lacy rolling.  Lacy found the end zone twice in the quarter.  Lacy finished a nice night with 105 rushing yards on 13 carries.  This game was by far Lacy's best game of the young season.

The Packers replaced most of the starters in the fourth quarter, including Rodgers.

Photo credit: Jonathan Daniel

In the three quarters that Rodgers played, he passed for 156 yards on 12/17 passing and three touchdowns.  Rodgers threw his 200th touchdown pass of his career.  Rodgers is the 2nd fastest quarterback ever to reach 200 passing touchdowns (Dan Marino).  Jordy Nelson caught only one pass all night long.  That one pass, however, was a 66-yard touchdown.  Randall Cobb continued his trend of catching touchdowns as he added a touchdown reception along with three receptions for 34 yards.

The Packers get a mini bye week before they hit the road again next week in Miami.

#GoPackGo

Detroit Lions  3-2
Green Bay Packers  3-2
Chicago Bears  2-3
Minnesota Vikings  2-3

Packers, Vikings battle ends in tie

Week 12
November 24, 2013 - 12:00 p.m. - FOX
Lambeau Field
Green Bay, Wisconsin

Packers 26 - Vikings 26

The Packers and the division rival Minnesota Vikings played for 75 minutes resulting in a rare tie for a football game.

Scott Tolzien made his second consecutive start for the Packers and it was a dud.  Tolzien struggled against the lowly Vikings finishing with a stat line of 7/17 for 98 passing yards before being replaced by Matt Flynn mid-way through the third quarter.

The Packers struck first in this football game on a Tolzien 6-yard run that included a video game spin move for the ages.  From that point forward, the Packers offense hit a wall and trailed the Vikings going into halftime 13-7.  Tolzien continued to struggle in the third quarter and after a Vikings touchdown to extend their lead to 20-7, head coach Mike McCarthy made the switch at quarterback.

Matt Flynn gave this football team a spark of energy.  With less than a minute into the fourth quarter, the Vikings added a field goal to give the Vikings a sixteen point lead at 23-7.  And at that point, Flynn began to work his magic to mount a comeback.  Flynn led the Packers on a eight play 80-yard drive with heavy doses of Eddie Lacy into the end zone.  After a failed two-point conversion, the Packers trailed the Vikings 23-13 with eleven minutes to play.  After a defensive stop, Flynn led the Packers on a twelve play 77-yard drive ending with a touchdown pass to Jarrett Boykin.  The Packers trailed the Vikings with three and half minutes to play.  The Packers defense stepped up again holding the Vikings to a three and out and giving Matt Flynn a chance to tie or win the game.  A ten play drive including a fourth down conversion resulted in a Mason Crosby field goal sending the game to overtime.

The Packers won the toss and elected to receive in the overtime period.  Flynn and the Packers drove the field all the way to the Minnesota 2-yard line.  But the Packers could not punch it into the end zone.  Mason Crosby hit a 20-yard field goal to give the Packers the 26-23 lead.  However, due to the new overtime rules, the Vikings would receive an opportunity to tie the game or win it with a touchdown.  The Vikings drove the field as well all the way to the Green Bay 17-yard line.  The Vikings tied the game again with a Blair Walsh field goal sending the game into sudden death for the remainder of the overtime period.

Photo credit: packers.com

The Packers and Vikings both possessed the football twice after the tie in overtime, but neither could move the ball.  The clock slowly ticked down to triple zeros ending the game in a rare tie.  Head coach Mike McCarthy said the ending of the game left an "empty feeling," as neither team won, nor lost.

This was the first game in NFL history to end in a tie despite scoring taking place during the overtime period (due to the new overtime rules).

This tie was the Packers fifth game all-time ending in a tie.  That mark is the most by a team in NFL history.

After replacing the ineffective Scott Tolzien, Matt Flynn finished the day 21/36 for 218 yards and a touchdown.  Eddie Lacy ran all over the Vikings for 110 yards and a touchdown.

The Vikings Christian Ponder finished the day 21/30 for 233 yards and a touchdown.  Adrian Peterson continued his success against the Packers rushing for 146 yards on the ground and had one touchdown.  Former Packer Greg Jennings had an unproductive two receptions for 29 yards in his return to Lambeau Field.  Jennings was booed heavily by the Lambeau faithful.

#LifeWithoutAaronRodgers

Detroit Lions  6-5
Chicago Bears  6-5
Green Bay Packers  5-5-1
Minnesota Vikings  2-8-1

Rodgers, offense dominate Vikings on SNF

Week 8
October 27, 2013 - 7:30 p.m. - NBC
Mall of America Field
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Packers 44 - Vikings 31

The Minnesota Vikings could not stop Aaron Rodgers and the offense as the Packers dominated the Vikings in primetime in their final game at Mall of America Field, formally known as the Hubert Humphrey Metrodome.  The offense was so unstoppable, punter Tim Masthay as not needed as the Packers never punted once during the football game.  Aaron Rodgers finished the evening with 285 passing yards and two touchdowns on 24/29 passing.  Eddie Lacy continued his solid rookie campaign with 94 rushing yards and a touchdown.  The Vikings did not have an answer for Jordy Nelson as he caught seven passes for 123 yards and two touchdowns.  Jarrett Boykin has really stepped up since the injuries to Randall Cobb and James Jones as he hauled in five balls for 89 yards.  On the special teams side, Micah Hyde, who has replaced Randall Cobb as the kickoff/punt returner, dashed 93 yards on a punt return for a touchdown.

Photo credit: packers.com

The Packers started slow as usual in this football game.  The Vikings Cordarrelle Patterson took the opening kickoff 109 yards for a touchdown, which tied an NFL record for the longest play in NFL history.  Green Bay scored on their opening possession to tie the game and didn't look back.  The Packers took a 24-17 lead into halftime and led 31-17 after the third quarter.  The Packers then took a fourth quarter lead of 41-17 before they cooled the engines.  The Vikings added a couple touchdowns late in the game to make the score appear closer than it really was.  Green Bay continues to roll despite all the injuries to key players on both sides of the ball.

The Packers had two very impressive statistics from this football game.  On third down, the Packers went 13/18 for a 72% third-down efficiency (Packers also went 2/2 on fourth down).  And the Packers held the football for over 40 minutes in this game; mostly due to long drives and many conversions on third down.  This is an example of pure offensive efficiency.

Former Packer and now Viking Greg Jennings caught only one pass for nine yards against his former team.  Adrian Peterson was held in check as he rushed for only 60 yards, but did add one touchdown.

#gopackgo

Green Bay Packers  5-2
Detroit Lions  5-3
Chicago Bears  4-3
Minnesota Vikings  1-6

Packers advance against Ponder-less Viks

NFC Wild Card Round
January 5, 2013 - 7 p.m. - NBC
Lambeau Field
Green Bay, Wisconsin

Packers 24 - Vikings 10

The Packers advanced to the NFC Divisional playoffs to take on the #2 seeded San Francisco 49ers after beating the Minnesota Vikings at home in the Wild Card matchup.  This was the third time these two teams matched up against each other, but this one was the most important.

Vikings starting quarterback Christian Ponder did not play in this game.  Ponder suffered a triceps injury the previous week and apparently was affecting Ponder's throwing ability in pre-game warmups.  Backup quarterback Joe Webb stepped in the spotlight and looked like a backup quarterback.

Photo credit: packers.com

The story of the night was the Packers defense.  Without Christian Ponder under center, we put all our defensive focus on stopping Adrian Peterson.  (Disclaimer:  I don't think there is anyway to stop Adrian Peterson; you can only contain him/slow him down.)  The Packers contained Peterson all night.  The defense did not allow Peterson to beat them.  If the Vikings were going to win, it was going to be with the legs and arm of Joe Webb.  Webb was terrible.  The Vikings never really had a chance.  Peterson rushed for 99 yards on 22 carries.  This was a small victory for the Packers defense.  In the two regular season match ups, Peterson averaged 7.4 yards per carry.  Tonight, Peterson averaged 4.5 yards per carry.  Again, you can't stop Adrian Peterson; you can only contain him.


The Vikings took their opening drive down for three points.  After that, nothing for that Vikings offense until late 4th quarter.  Packers led 7-3 after the 1st quarter and 17-3 at halftime.  And the Packers led 24-3 after the 3rd quarter.  Again, the Vikings were never in this football game.

Aaron Rodgers completed 23 or 33 passes for 274 yards and threw a 9-yard touchdown to fullback John Kuhn.  Running back DuJuan Harris rushed for 47 yards on seventeen carries and added a rushing touchdown.  Harris also had five receptions for 53 yards.  Harris reminded me of James Starks back in 2011 against the Philadelphia Eagles in the playoffs.  He was somewhat of an unknown player and played well tonight.  There wasn't very many offensive highlights from this game.

Photo credit: packers.com

In the playoffs, all you have to do is win and move on.  That is what the Packers did tonight.  Was it pretty? No.  Would the game have been different if Christian Ponder played? Most definitely.  But again, it's a win.  A playoff win.  And against the rival Minnesota Vikings.  That is probably the sweetest thing of all.

#OnToSanFrancisco

#gopackgo

Vikings beat Pack to earn final playoff spot

Week 17
December 30, 2012 - 3:25 p.m. - FOX
Mall of America Field
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Packers 34 - Vikings 37

The playoff scenarios were simple in this Week 17 matchup against the rival Minnesota Vikings.  For the Vikings: win and you're in.  For the Packers: win and you knock the Vikings out, put the Chicago Bears in, and you still have hope for the #2 seed in the NFC.

Photo credit: packers.com

Adrian Peterson was a man on a mission Sunday.  Coming into the game Peterson needed 208 rushing yards to set the single-season rushing record held by Eric Dickerson in 1984.  Peterson dominated the Packers defense rushing for 199 yards and a touchdown.  The Vikings did their job beating the Packers on a 29-yard Blair Walsh field goal as time expired.  With the Vikings victory, the Packers clinched the #3 seed in the NFC and the Vikings clinched the #6 seed in the NFC which sets up a rematch at Lambeau Field next week for the Wild Card Round.

The Packers started very slow in this ballgame.  We were playing catchup the entire game as the Vikings jumped out to a 13-0 lead early in the 2nd quarter.  The Packers fought back into this game and even tied the game twice in the 4th quarter, but we were never able to overcome Adrian Peterson.

Aaron Rodgers threw for 365 yards and four touchdowns.  Rodgers was also sacked five times in this game.  Greg Jennings played well as he caught eight balls for 120 yards and two touchdowns.  DuJuan Harris also had a decent game as he rushed for 70 yards on fourteen carries.

The Packers and Vikings are set to play for the third time this season next week at Lambeau Field for a Wild Card playoff showdown.  Hopefully the Packers figure out some type of answer for Adrian Peterson as he has gashed the Packers for 409 rushing yards in the first two games.

To the playoffs we go...

Green Bay Packers  11-5
Minnesota Vikings  10-6
Chicago Bears  10-6
Detroit Lions  4-12

Packers outlast Peterson

Week 13
December 2, 2012 - 12:00 p.m. - FOX
Lambeau Field
Green Bay, Wisconsin

Packers 24 - Vikings 10

Photo credit: packers.com

Adrian Peterson had a hell of day for the Minnesota Vikings.  Peterson rushed for 210 yards on 21 carries and also recorded a touchdown.  A big chunk of that yardage, 143 yards to be exact, came after contact.  Peterson also busted an 82-yard touchdown scamper.  Peterson crushed the Packers defense all day long (hints his nickname 'ALL-DAY').

But, the Packers came out on top when it was all said and done.  Packers were fortunate safety Morgan Burnett intercepted Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder twice in this matchup.  We didn't play particularly well in this game, however, we got the win.  At this point, that is all that matters.  Also to note: the Chicago Bears lost to the Seattle Seahawks this week so we are officially tied for first place.

Aaron Rodgers finished the day with 286 yards, a touchdown, and an interception.  Randall Cobb and Jermichael Finley both six balls.  And Mason Crosby, despite his horrendous season, went 3 for 4 in the field goal kicking department.

Green Bay Packers  8-4
Chicago Bears  8-4
Minnesota Vikings  6-6
Detroit Lions  4-8

#gopackgo