Thoughts on Week 1 (2026): Green Bay Packers at Minnesota Vikings
Well, that was a bad way to start the season. Entering Sunday’s Week 1 matchup against the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium, the Green Bay Packers were just looking to start the season with a win against a hated NFC North rival. In the end, the Packers were unable to hold on to a double digit lead and lost at Minnesota. Let’s get this over with.
The opening kickoff by Trey Smack went into the end zone for a touchback, giving the Vikings the ball at their own 35 yard line. On first and 10, Vikings RB Aaron Jones was tackled for a loss of one yard by CB Keisean Nixon. On second and 11, QB Kyler Murray (who is new to Minnesota) rushed a deep pass after a blitz by LB Zaire Franklin. The pass was intercepted by Nixon, who returned the pick to the Green Bay 47. The Packers offense did not take advantage of the opportunity to score a touchdown. However, they did get into range for Trey Smack to kick the field goal from 59 yards out. The kick was good, giving Green Bay a 3-0 lead with just over 12 minutes left in the first quarter. After the kick return went to the Minnesota 30 yard line, the Vikings offense took the field looking to have a better end to their drive than the first possession. They did convert a third and 4 when Justin Jefferson made a tough catch for 9 yard gain. After that, the drive stalled after two false start penalties in a row. The ensuing punt ended in a fair catch by Skyy Moore at the Green Bay 19 yard line. New Packers TE Jonnu Smith caught a 4 yard pass on first and 10, but the pass was ruled incomplete after the officials looked at the replay due to Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell throwing a challenge flag. On the ensuing second down, Jordan Love connected with Christian Watson, who took the pass all the way for an 81 yard touchdown. Trey Smack missed the extra point kick to the right, resulting in the score being 9-0 in Green Bay’s favor with less than 8 minutes left in the first quarter. After the kick return, the Vikings started their next drive at their own 30 yard line. On third and 7 from the 33 yard line, Kyler Murray scrambled for only 2 yards before sliding/slipping down. Javon Bullard was called for an unnecessary roughness penalty due to what looked like him hitting Kyler in the head. Kyler left the game after that hit with a concussion, which led to Carson Went being brought in for the rest of the game. The Vikings were still able to get into field goal range on this drive. Thankfully, the defense held them to a field goal. The kick by Will Reichard was good from 38 yards out, cutting the lead to 9-3 with less than 2 minutes left in the first quarter. The ensuing kickoff was returned all the way to the Minnesota 40 yard line by Bo Melton. On third and 7, the Packers moved the chains when Jordan Love connected with Christian Watson for a 10 yard pass play. After that, the drive went nowhere and the Packers had to deal with a fourth and 3 from the Minnesota 20. The offense was on the field, but they had no intention on running a play. The attempt to make Minnesota jump offside failed and the Packers settled for a 40 yard field goal. The kick was good, increasing the lead to 12-3 with under 14 minutes left in the first half. After 4 straight drives that ended in a punt (2 by each team), the Vikings had the ball at their own 15 with 5:18 left in the second quarter. Even after Carson Went got sacked on the first play, the Vikings were still to go down the field and score a touchdown. On first and 10 from the Green Bay 39, Lukas Van Ness jumped offside, allowing the Vikings to have a free play. Went threw it up to Justin Jefferson, who made the catch for a touchdown that, with the extra point, cut the lead to 12-10 with less than 2 minutes left in the half. The Packers were able to answer back with their own touchdown just before the end of the first half. The drive ended with a 2 yard TD catch by Christian Watson that, with the extra point, gave the Packers a 19-10 halftime lead.
After the first 2 drives of the second half ended in a punt (one by each team), the Packers had the ball at their own 13 with 10:55 left in the third quarter. Jordan Love found Matthew Golden for a 13 yard pass completion that resulted in a first and 10 at the 26. After a few run plays in a row, the Packers faced a third and 4 from their own 42. Love found Jayden Reed for a 6 yard pass completion that continued the drive. 2 plays later, Love found Jonnu Smith for a big chunk play that almost resulted in a touchdown. Smith got tackled at the Minnesota 7 yard line, setting up a first and goal. Unfortunately, the Packers did not get a touchdown in that goal to go situation, forcing them to settle for a chip shot field goal, which was made by Trey Smack. With that field goal, the Packers’ lead increased to 22-10 with over 5 minutes left in the third quarter. The Packers defense was unable to keep Minnesota from getting their first points of the second half. An 8 play drive that started at the Green Bay 28 due to a huge kick return ended with a 16 yard TD pass from Carson Wentz to tight end TJ Hockenson. The extra point was good, cutting the lead to 22-17 with less than 2 minutes left in the third quarter. Green Bay tried to respond by putting more points on the board on their next drive. At first, they did, as Trey Smack made a field goal that would have given the Packers an 8 point lead with over 13 minutes left in the fourth quarter. However, the Vikings jumped offside on the field goal attempt. Rather than keeping the points, Matt LaFleur decided to accept the penalty and put the offense on the field on fourth and 1 from the Minnesota 17. I liked that the decision was made to go for it. However, the play that was chosen, a QB sneak, did not work well as it was stuffed. As a result, the Vikings took over on downs. What happened next was some of the most egregious officiating I have ever seen. On third and 11 from the Minnesota 34 yard line, Carson Wentz was sacked for a 10 yard loss. The sack was nullified due to a ridiculous “illegal contact” penalty against Javon Bullard, who was nowhere near the sack. 3 plays later, Chris McClellan was called for a “roughing the passer” penalty that negated an incomplete pass on third and 3 from the Minnesota 46. Then, near the goal line, Carson Wentz was picked off by Evan Williams on third and 5 from the Green Bay 6. That interception was negated by a ridiculous defensive holding penalty on Xavier McKinney, who was ran over by Hockenson. Thanks to the officiating, the Vikings were able to score a touchdown that, with the 2 point conversion, gave Minnesota a lead that they would not relinquish. The last three drives for Green Bay ended in the following: a strip sack fumble that was lost, a tip drill interception, and a turnover on downs. In between all that, the Vikings scored 2 more touchdowns to make the final score 39-22. With the loss, the Packers start the 2026 season at 0-1.
(Here are the “lowlights” of the game, provided by the NFL’s YouTube page. Click on “Watch on YouTube if you’re curious how things went downhill for Green Bay.)
On offense, it wasn’t perfect by any stretch. The offensive line consisted of the following from left to right: Jordan Morgan at left tackle, Donovan Jennings at left guard (Jager Burton should have started over him), Sean Rhyan at center, Jacob Monk at right guard, and Zach Bako-Bewele at right tackle. This group of O-Linemen, plus everyone else in Green Bay, had a long time to prepare for the chaos that is Brian Flores’ defense. In the end, they did not perform great as they allowed Jordan Love (who finished with nearly 400 yards passing and 2 touchdowns) to get sacked 4 times, including a crucial strip sack near the end of the game. In addition to the sacks, Love was allowed to get hit too many times by the Vikings defenders (Luke Butkus should be fired very soon). Love did his best to help win the game for the Packers, but due to an iffy offensive line, some questionable play calling decisions (including that awful QB sneak attempt), and some bad luck, he could not do that on Sunday. Christian Watson had a great day, catching 6 passes for 147 yards and 2 TDs, while Tucker Kraft had a couple of big catches in his first game back from knee injury. The running backs did not do that great of a job, as they combined for less than 70 yards on the ground. I don’t blame Chris Brooks for being the victim of a bad toss play on a long third down. At the end of the day, the offense failed to put the Vikings away on several occasions before things fell apart in the fourth quarter. Two big examples were when they were in a goal to go situation and settled for a field goal and when the QB sneak failed to get one yard on fourth and 1 deep in Vikings territory. In short, they could not finish, and they have to do better next week against the Jets.
On defense, things started out great, even without Micah Parsons (who will be out for a few weeks to start the season). Keisean Nixon made two big plays to start the game, including an interception of QB Kyler Murray (thanks to Zaire Franklin’s blitz). Even if the offense wasn’t fully able to score on each drive, the defense was able to hold its own. To be honest, things drastically changed when Carson Wentz had to come in after Kyler Murray left with a concussion. The Packers prepped for Murray all throughout the process of preparing for this game. After Murray left, that preparation went out the door. Granted, Wentz is a QB who is way past his prime. However, he had a coach in Kevin O’Connell and some good weapons on offense to help him along (Justin Jefferson being the best one among them). Wentz was sacked a couple of times by the Packers defense, but he was also able to throw three TD passes on Sunday, including 2 to Justin Jefferson. Brandon Cisse (who left with cramps) was the victim of that deep pass to Jefferson that came on a free play (Lukas Van Ness jumped offside). After Jordan Love’s QB sneak failed, the defense had multiple chances on the ensuing drive to get a stop and give the offense another chance to increase the lead. First, there was a sack that was completely negated by an “illegal contact” penalty that was nowhere near the sack. Second, an incomplete pass was nullified by a roughing the passer penalty that was weak. Finally, an interception by Evan Williams was wiped off the stat sheet thanks to a nonsensical “defensive holding” penalty that was uncalled for (Shawn Hochuli stinks as a ref). After Minnesota scored on that drive and the offense failed on their last 3 drives, the defense was given no favors as they allowed 2 more TDs before the game was over. Hopefully Jonathan Gannon’s unit does a better job against the Jets next week.
On Special Teams, there were good moments and bad moments for Cam Achord’s unit. Trey Smack made his first field goal of the regular season from 59 yards out, then he missed an extra point after Christian Watson’s 81 yard TD. Smack did recover by making the rest of his kicks, but I hope that he doesn’t miss another PAT this year. Daniel Whelan had a couple of punts that went deep in Vikings territory, including one that was downed inside the 5 yard line. He also had a bad punt that went about 22 yards and gave the Vikings great field position. At least there were no blocked kicks or punts. On the other end, the Packers were so close to getting a blocked field goal, which would have been awesome to see. As for kickoff returns, each team had one that went into opposing territory. While it was great to see the Packers have one of those, it was not great to see the Vikings have one. Hopefully there is more consistency on Special Teams next week for Green Bay.
Overall, it was a bad loss for Green Bay on Sunday against Minnesota. Not counting the Week 18 backup game last season, the last three games against NFC North rivals ended with a double digit lead being given up (twice against the Bears, and Sunday against the Vikings). All offseason long, the talk was about finishing games better. Right now, I’m done with that talk because the Packers still suffered from not finishing the game the right way. Regardless of how bad the officiating was (and it was awfully biased towards Minnesota), the Packers did not execute well enough on all sides of the ball to win the game. All the Packer can do now is burn the tape and move on to the next game, which will be against the New York (Jersey) Jets at MetLife Stadium. Nothing is guaranteed, even against the Jets. The Packers need to be much better and be ready for any challenges that the Jets throw at them. I’ll be back next week for the recap of that game. Have a great day, everyone. Go Pack Go.
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