Good afternoon, everyone. On Sunday night (New Year's Eve 2023, to be exact), the Green Bay Packers took on the Minnesota Vikings at US Bank Stadium. Entering this game, both teams were fighting for their playoff lives. There was pressure for the Packers to win this game in a hostile environment. Even though they were not at full strength due to injuries and (in the case of Jaire Alexander) a suspension by the team, the Packers were able to dominate the game from start to finish against the Vikings. Let’s get into detail on how this game went down.
After a shirtless Kirk Cousins (yuck) blew the horn, the Vikings kicked off to the Packers. Keisean Nixon took the kickoff, but was only able to get to the Packers 20 yard line. The Packers went for a big shot play to start the drive, but the pass from Jordan Love to Jayden Reed was overthrown. A three yard run by Aaron Jones and an incomplete pass on third and 7 forced the Packers to punt to Minnesota. From their own 23, the Vikings started their first drive with Jaren Hall under center. Two runs totaled 9 yards and set up a third and 1 from the Minnesota 32 yard line. Rather than running it again, the Vikings opted to pass on third down. The pass went incomplete thanks to Isaiah McDuffie and Preston Smith, forcing the Vikings to punt back to Green Bay. The punt resulted in a touchback, giving the Packers the ball at their own 20. Thanks to a mix of run and pass plays, the Packers were able to move the ball down the field all the way to the Minnesota 16 yard line. The bummer was that the Packers had to settle for a field goal after a third down pass from a back-pedaling Jordan Love (he was pressured by the defense) to Malik Heath was a bit overthrown in the end zone. The kick by Anders Carlson was good from 34 yards away, giving Green Bay a 3-0 lead with 6:43 left in the first quarter. The Packers offense was able to get the ball back quickly thanks to the defense forcing an interception. A pass that Jaren Hall threw bounced off his receiver’s hands and into the hands of Corey Ballentine for the pick. Two plays later, Jayden Reed caught a 33 yard touchdown while breaking Sterling Sharpe’s rookie receiving record in the process. The extra point was good, giving Green Bay a 10-0 lead with 5:10 left in the quarter. The Packers defense forced the Vikings to punt again after a 5 play drive, giving the offense a chance to increase their lead. From their own 26 yard line, the Packers were once again able to get into scoring range. The biggest play of the drive was a 28-yard pass completion from Jordan Love to Bo Melton. They faced a third and 1 from the Minnesota 24 yard line. They tried the “Love Shove” and failed to get the first down. Rather than trying that again on fourth down, they opted for a pass. Love threw to Bo Melton, who almost caught the pass. After the turnover on downs, the Vikings were able to move the ball down the field and get into scoring range. Thanks to a sack of Jaren Hall and a “give up play” on third and 16, the Vikings had to settle for a field goal. Greg Joseph made the kick from 54 yards away, decreasing Green Bay’s lead to 10-3 with 9:25 left in the second quarter. After the kickoff went out of the end zone for a touchback, the Packers started their next drive at the 25 yard line. Another healthy mix of run and pass plays helped the Packers move the ball down the field on this drive, which ended when Jordan Love took the ball himself and ran to his left while jumping and reaching for the goal line to score a touchdown. The extra point was good, giving the Packers a 17-3 lead with 3:59 left in the half. The Packers defense was able to force the Vikings to punt once again. Quay Walker’s sack of Jaren Hall and an incomplete pass on the ensuing third and 16 from the Minnesota 36 forced the Vikings to punt back to Green Bay. With 1:47 remaining in the half, the Packers had a chance to increase their lead. Instead, they went three and out after a deep pass to Jayden Reed went incomplete on third and 1. After the punt, the Vikings started their next drive at their own 38. The drive did not last long, as Jaren Hall was sacked by Preston Smith. Hall lost the ball as he was getting sacked, and the ensuing fumble was recovered by Karl Brooks at the Minnesota 37 yard line. 3 plays later, Jayden Reed caught a short pass and took it all the way for a 25-yard touchdown while dragging a defender in the process. Reed did hurt his chest after this play and missed the section half, but not before celebrating the touchdown with a version of the Griddy. The extra point kick was missed by Carlson, keeping the score at 23-3 at halftime.
The Vikings started their first drive of the second half at their own 43 thanks to a long kick return. They were able to turn a second and 28 to a first down in 2 plays thanks to the soft defense played in that part of the drive. Rather than settle for a field goal, the Vikings decided to go for it on fourth and 4 at the Green Bay 9. The pass by Nick Mullens (who got the start in the second half) intended for Justin Jefferson went incomplete, giving the Packers the ball due to a turnover on downs. From their own 9, the Packers went on a long drive that lasted 8 minutes of game time. Even without Jayden Reed, the Packers were able to move the ball down the field thanks to Aaron Jones, Malik Heath, Ben Sims, Bo Melton, AJ Dillon, and Tucker Kraft. The 13 play drive ended when Jordan Love found Bo Melton for a 9 yard touchdown pass. The extra point by Anders Carlson was good, giving Green Bay a 30-3 lead with 49 seconds left in the third quarter. The Packers defense forced a three and out, but later gave up a touchdown thanks to a muffed punt by Samori Toure, who should not have been back to receive the punt (or should be on the active roster next week). The touchdown pass from Nick Mullens to Johnny Mundt, plus the extra point kick by Greg Joseph, cut the lead to 30-10 with 14:06 left in the fourth quarter. Thankfully, the Packers offense went on another long drive that took 7 minutes and 55 seconds off the game clock. The drive should have ended in a touchdown, but a short pass to Samori Toure on a third and 3 from the Minnesota 12 yard line lost 6 yards. The kick was good by Carlson from 37 yards away, increasing the lead to 33-10 with 6:11 left in the game. The Vikings tried to get a score in garbage time, but were unable to do so. After an incomplete pass on fourth and 4 from the Green Bay 10 resulted in a turnover on downs, the Packers were able to run out the rest of the clock with Sean Clifford subbed in for Jordan Love. Clifford was able to get Bo Melton to over 100 yards receiving before the game went to 0:00. With the 33-10 win, the Packers are now 8-8 and in control of their own playoff destiny (thanks to the Steelers winning over the Seahawks earlier in the day).
Even with some key players out, including Dontayvion Wicks and Christian Watson, the Packers played well for the most part on offense. Aaron Jones had another game running for over 100 yards, finishing with 120 yards on 20 carries. Once again, he was not able to score a touchdown as he was on the sideline during the red zone situations. Thankfully, the Packers were able to score in most of those scenarios on Sunday night. There were a couple of mishaps, including some dropped passes and a turnover on downs, but the Packers were able to put up 33 points for a second straight week. Jordan Love contributed on all 4 touchdowns on Sunday night, throwing for 3 and running for one. Love finished his night with 24 of 33 passes completed for 256 yards and proving that he is the quarterback for the foreseeable future in Green Bay. Love made some great throws, including the first touchdown pass to Jayden Reed, the touchdown to Bo Melton, and also some throws with pressure in his face. Even with that pressure, Love was not sacked once by Minnesota’s defense. Thankfully, Love did not turn the ball over either. Bo Melton led the receiving corps with 105 yards and a TD on 6 catches, while Jayden Reed had 6 catches for 89 yards and 2 touchdowns. Reed’s first two catches broke Sterling Sharpe’s franchise record for most receptions by a Packers receiver in a rookie season. Reed entered with 54 and ended his night with 60 receptions total on the season. Had he played in the second half, he would have joined Bo Melton in terms of getting over 100 receiving yards. Hopefully the chest injury that Reed suffered is not too serious. Tucker Kraft contributed well with 6 catches for 48 yards, while Romeo Doubs had only 3 catches for 28 yards. Had Romeo caught a couple of more passes, he would have done better on Sunday night. It was not perfect, but the Packers did what they had to do on offense to win the time of possession battle and the game itself.
On defense, the Packers played great all night. They forced two turnovers and sacked the quarterback 4 times overall, even though some players were only rewarded with a half sack. Jaren Hall was pressured a lot in the first half and he struggled because of it. Yes, the interception wasn’t entirely his fault as the ball bounced off the receiver’s hands. However, he did lose the ball when he got strip sacked by Preston Smith. He struggled so much that he was subbed out of the game for Nick Mullens, who lost the game for Minnesota last week against the Lions. He performed a bit better, but was unable to score a touchdown for the Vikings in any long drives. The only touchdown that the Vikings scored was after a muffed punt by Samori Toure gave Minnesota first and goal at the 7 yard line. I have been very critical of Joe Barry and his defensive schemes this season. I still think he will be gone after this season regardless of when it ends. However, his unit played well even with some guys out, including Jaire Alexander, who was suspended after his shenanigans at the coin toss in Carolina the week before. Even without Jaire, the receivers were mostly kept in check thanks to the efforts of Corey Ballentine, Carrington Valentine, and the rest of the defensive backfield. It wasn’t perfect, but the defense did limit Justin Jefferson to 59 yards on 5 catches. During the game, Isaiah McDuffie got hurt and was evaluated for a concussion. Preston Smith was banged up too, but he came back after his injury scare. I am glad that the defense played great on Sunday night with basically the season on the line. Hopefully they put up that great effort next week with a playoff spot on the line.
On Special Teams, the Packers were not great at parts. The bummer for Keisean Nixon was that he did not have a long kickoff return against the Vikings. Other than the first kickoff of the game, every other kickoff resulted in a touchback. On the other side, the Packers gave up a big kick return in the third quarter that gave Minnesota good field position near midfield. Anders Carlson wasn’t perfect on his kicks, as he missed yet another extra point, marking his fifth missed PAT of the season. Carlson did make all of his field goals, so at least that’s good. No field goal or punt attempts were blocked for either team on Sunday night. The worst thing that the Packers did on Special Teams was when Samori Toure gifted the Vikings a first and goal (and a TD) by muffing a punt and losing the ball in the process. The Packers were up by 27 points when that happened, but that can’t happen anyway regardless of the score. Against better teams, like Dallas or San Francisco, that stuff can be costly. To Special Teams: no more mistakes from here on out.
Overall, even with some mistakes, it was great to see the Packers win big against the Vikings. In 4 of the past 5 seasons (all under head coach Matt LaFleur), the Packers have played the Vikings in the second to last week of the NFL season. In all 4 games (twice each in Green Bay and in Minnesota), the Packers won against the Vikings. I hope that the NFL keeps putting the Packers against the Vikings in that particular week for the foreseeable future, preferably at the “Frozen Tundra of Lambeau Field”. Speaking of Lambeau Field, that is where the Packers’ next game is. Like the season before, the Packers have a simple scenario: win against a division rival at Lambeau Field and they’re in the playoffs. The division rival they are facing next week is the Chicago Bears, who have been hot the past few weeks. The Bears have nothing to play for since they have been eliminated from playoff contention. However, the Packers can’t take anything for granted, especially against division rivals. I’ll focus on that game later. For now, I am celebrating a Victory Monday. Have a great 2024, everyone. Go Pack Go!
(Here are the highlights of the game, provided by the NFL’s YouTube page. Click on “Watch on YouTube” if you want to.)
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