Good afternoon, everyone. On Sunday December 29th, the Green Bay Packers took on the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium. Sunday’s game was the first one in the 63-year history of the Packers-Vikings rivalry that both teams had at least 11 wins on the season leading into the game (Packers were 11-4 and the Vikings were 13-2 entering Sunday’s game). The Packers were looking to improve their record and their playoff seeding, though they can only go to 5th due to not having a chance to win the NFC North. The game ended up being a close one, though the Packers were down by as much as 17 in the second half. A slow start coupled with some miscues on both sides of the ball led to the loss on Sunday. Let’s get into detail on how this game went down.
The Packers started this game on the offensive side of the football. The drive started at their own 30 after the opening kickoff went into the end zone for a touchback. The drive was going well as the Packers were moving the ball down the field. On second and 4 from the Minnesota 48 yard line, Josh Jacobs was running for a first down when he fumbled the ball, which was recovered by the Vikings. Thankfully, the defense was able to keep the Vikings offense from scoring anything on their first drive. On third and 9 from the Green Bay 47 yard line, Sam Darnold’s pass completion to CJ Ham went for only 2 yards thanks to Xavier McKinney’s effort on defense. The punt went out of bounds at the Green Bay 15. From there, the Packers ignored Josh Jacobs and threw three straight incomplete passes, resulting in a three and out. The punt by Daniel Whelan was fair caught at the Minnesota 35 yard line. From there, the Vikings offense was able to get into Green Bay territory on their next drive. Thankfully, Sam Darnold was forced to throw an incomplete pass on third and 3 from the Green Bay 39. This forced Will Reichard to attempt a 57 yard field goal, which ended up hitting the crossbar. Thanks to that miss, the Packers took possession of the ball at their own 47. After converting a third down with a Josh Jacobs run, Jordan Love connected with Tucker Kraft on a short pass that went for 18 yards. An extra 10 yards were added due to a low block penalty called against Harrison Smith, resulting in the Packers getting a first and 10 at the Minnesota 11. Three plays later, the Packers could not get into the end zone. On fourth down, they decided to go for the field goal to take the lead. The kick was good by Brandon McManus from 22 yards out, giving Green Bay a 3-0 lead with 1:47 left in the first quarter. On the ensuing kickoff, Zayne Anderson made the tackle on the return while doing a helmet to helmet hit. Due to that hit, he had to leave the game due to having to be evaluated for a concussion. From their own 23 yard line, the Vikings were able to move the ball down the field with relative ease. The 9-play drive ended with a 31-yard TD pass from Sam Darnold to Jalen Nailor. The PAT kick by Reichard was good, giving Minnesota a 7-3 lead with 11:52 left in the second quarter. After the ensuing kickoff went into the end zone for a touchback, the Packers started their next drive at their own 30. During the drive, the Packers converted a third and 1 with a 13-yard run by Josh Jacobs. 2 plays later, Jordan Love threw an incomplete pass intended for Jayden Reed. However, the Packers were given a first down due to a pass interference penalty on Minnesota. Thanks to that penalty, the Packers got a first and 10 at the Minnesota 31 yard line. Josh Jacobs ran for 6 yards on first down, but he got stopped for nothing on second down, setting up a third and 4. Jordan Love connected with Romeo Doubs on the third down pass that only went for 2 yards. Instead of going for the field goal, the Packers decided to go for it on fourth and 2. Love threw a pass that Jayden Reed should have caught. That dropped pass resulted in a turnover on downs. The Vikings were able to move the ball down the field on the ensuing drive, but the Packers defense was able to hold them to only a field goal on the drive. The 25-yard kick by Reichard was good, increasing the lead to 10-3 with 2:16 left in the first half. After the kickoff went into the end zone for a touchback, the Packers started their drive at the 30 yard line. Josh Jacobs converted a third and one with a 7 yard run, but the play was called back due to an illegal formation penalty. On third and 5, there was an unnecessary deep shot to Bo Melton that went incomplete. The punt was muffed, but it was recovered by the Vikings’ return man at the Minnesota 16 yard line. The first play was a 28-yard pass over the middle to TJ Hockenson. Two more pass completions later (one each to Justin Jefferson and Hockenson), the Vikings had a first and 10 at the Green Bay 44. Sam Darnold was sacked by Karl Brooks for a loss of 5 yards, but the defense allowed a 12 yard pass on the next play. With 4 seconds left, the Vikings took their last timeout to get ready for the 55 yard field goal. The kick ended up being wide right, but the Vikings got another try from 5 yards closer due to a completely bogus offsides penalty on Edgerrin Cooper. Looking closely, there was nobody that was offsides for Green Bay, but the refs called it anyway to the anger of Matt Lafleur and every Packers fan that was watching that live. The kick from 50 yards out was good, giving Minnesota a 13-3 halftime lead.
The Vikings got the ball first to start the second half and went down the field for a touchdown. The 9-play drive started at their own 30 after a touchback on the kickoff. The drive ended with an 18-yard touchdown pass from Sam Darnold to Jordan Addison that, with the extra point, increased the lead to 20-3 with 9:44 left in the third quarter. After the Packers’ first drive ended in a three and out (even with the drive starting at the 40 due to a bad kickoff), the Vikings started their next drive at their own 30 due to a poor punt by Daniel Whelan. The Packers got the ball back after Sam Darnold was picked off by Carrington Valentine. Valentine was trying to go all the way for a touchdown during the pick, but he lost the ball. Thankfully, Karl Brooks recovered the fumble at the Minnesota 16 yard line. 4 plays later, Josh Jacobs ran it in from 2 yards out. The extra point kick by Brandon McManus was good, decreasing the lead to 20-10 with 5:07 left in the third quarter. Unfortunately, the Packers defense was unable to stop the Vikings from increasing the lead back to 17 on their next drive. The Vikings’ next drive ended with an 8-yard TD pass to Cam Akers that, with the PAT, upped the lead back to 17 points with 51 seconds left in the third quarter. During the Packers’ next drive, there was an illegal formation penalty that nullified a 10-yard catch and run by Emanuel Wilson. Two plays after that penalty, Jordan Love was sacked for a loss of 10 yards on third and 13 from the Green Bay 38 yard line. The punt by Daniel Whelan was fair caught at the Minnesota 31 yard line. From there, the Vikings were once again able to get into scoring range. Thankfully, the Packers defense was able to force them to settle for a field goal. The 43-yard field goal attempt by Will Reichard hit the left upright and bounced out, resulting in no points for the Vikings. After the missed field goal, the Packers took over from their own 33 yard line. They converted a third and 10 with a 13-yard pass from Jordan Love to Bo Melton. On the next play, Love found Tucker Kraft for a 35-yard pass play that got the Packers into Vikings territory. On first and 10 from the Minnesota 19, Josh Jacobs took a handoff 19 yards for a touchdown. The TD was nullified due to a holding penalty on Sean Rhyan, which forced Green Bay to face a first and 20 from the 29 yard line. Emanuel Wilson ran for 14 yards, setting up a second and 6 from the 15 yard line. After an incomplete pass on second down, Jordan Love found Romeo Doubs for a 9-yard pass that set up a first and goal from the 9 yard line. 2 plays later, Wilson punched it in from 5 yards out. Instead of the PAT, the Packers went for 2. Love completed the two-point pass, decreasing the lead to 27-18 with 6:12 left in the fourth quarter. After the Vikings’ next drive ended in a three and out, the Packers took over from their own 38 yard line with 4:37 left and all three timeouts remaining. In a little over two minutes, the Packers were able to score another touchdown while saving their timeouts. The three-yard TD pass to Malik Heath, plus the PAT, decreased the lead to 2 points with 2:18 left in the game. The Packers defense had one task: get a stop and give the offense a chance at completing the comeback. The first play was not ideal as Sam Darnold completed a pass to CJ Ham that went for 13 yards and a first down. Thankfully, no timeout was taken and the clock ran to the 2-minute warning. On first and 10 from the Minnesota 43, Cam Akers was tackled for a loss of 1 yard by Rashan Gary and the first timeout was used by Green Bay. On second and 11, Darnold completed a pass to Justin Jefferson that should have at least been reviewed by the New York office because it kinda looked like an incomplete pass. The play was not reviewed and the Packers took their second timeout with 1:49 left. On third and 2 from the Minnesota 49, Cam Akers was left wide open for the 6-yard catch that sealed the Vikings’ 27-25 win. With the loss, the Packers now have a record of 11-5 on the season with one game to go.
(Here are the highlights of the game, provided by the NFL’s YouTube page. Click on “Watch on YouTube” if you’re curious.)
On offense, the Packers did not play well at all for most of the game. The game went downhill for the offense as soon as Josh Jacobs lost the fumble on the first drive. From there until late in the third quarter, the only points that the Packers were able to score against the Vikings was a 22-yard field goal during a drive that should have resulted in a touchdown. On the following offensive drive, the Packers attempted a fourth down conversion rather than settling for a field goal. Jayden Reed was supposed to be the recipient of that pass from Jordan Love, but he stopped a bit in his route and had to dive for the catch, which was unsuccessful. Reed ended up with only 1 catch for 6 yards on Sunday. Love did not have his best game, though that was partly due to him being pressured a lot by the Vikings defense. The offensive line did not have its best day against Minnesota. In addition to allowing a couple of sacks, there were three crucial penalties on O-Linemen that wiped out big plays. Two of them were illegal formation penalties and the third one, a holding penalty, wiped out a 19-yard TD run by Josh Jacobs. The receivers did not have a good time on Sunday due to the sticky man coverage by the defense and Love was definitely inaccurate on some throws. At the very least, Love did not throw a pick against Minnesota this time. Christian Watson was definitely missed on Sunday as the offense was unsuccessful on deep throws. The drive after the Josh Jacobs fumble was awful as it was just three unsuccessful deep passes. They did get into a rhythm during the comeback attempt, but I think that was due to the Vikings playing softer on defense. Matt LaFleur definitely should have made some adjustments, including trying to incorporate some screen passes. The Packers can’t afford to have a slow start at all in the playoffs, with their first playoff opponent possibly being the Eagles. Before that, however, the Packers offense needs to have a great day against the Bears at home, which should hopefully not be an issue.
On defense, the Packers did better than in Week 4 in terms of allowing fewer points. However, they allowed Sam Darnold to throw for nearly 400 yards while only sacking him once all game. The pass rush did pressure him to throw some passes out of bounds, but one sack is not going to cut it. Even if the run game was kept in check, the lack of pass rush did not help Green Bay’s defense at all. What also did not help was losing Zayne Anderson and Devonte Wyatt leaving due to being evaluated for a concussion. Anderson hurt his head when he tackled a Vikings return man with a helmet to helmet hit. This forced Javon Bullard, who came back after missing two games with an ankle injury, to move to the safety position next to Xavier McKinney. While the secondary did their best to limit Justin Jefferson, it allowed a whole bunch of completions to other receivers, including Jordan Addison, TJ Hockenson, Jalen Nailor. There were a couple of players who played great for the defense, including Edgerrin Cooper, who totaled 4 tackles for a loss, Carrington Valentine, who intercepted Sam Darnold, and Karl Brooks, who got the only sack of Darnold and recovered the fumble after Valentine lost the ball during the pick return. The defense did their best during the fourth quarter as they tried to help the offense complete the comeback, but they allowed an easy pass to Cam Akers that iced the game. This defense needs Jaire Alexander and Evan Williams back in action as soon as possible, but I don’t think either of them will play against the Bears next week. It’s more important to save them for playoff action. Hopefully Jeff Hafley’s unit is ready for anything against the Bears and in the playoffs.
On Special Teams, the Packers thankfully did not have any turnovers. However, there was an awful offsides penalty on Edgerrin Cooper that nullified a 55-yard field goal attempt that went wide right. That penalty, which was bogus, gave the Vikings another shot at a field goal to end the first half. Those 3 points ended up being the difference in this game as the final score was 27-25 in Minnesota’s favor. Brandon McManus did his part in making each kick. Daniel Whelan needs to be better at punting deep into enemy territory, though it did not help that he had to punt near his own goal line at one point. His worst punt went for only 29 yards and didn’t flip the field at all. At least the Packers did not allow any punts or field goals to get blocked. Edgerrin Cooper was close to blocking the field goal at the end of the first half. If the kick was blocked and the penalty was not called, it would have changed the momentum in Green Bay’s favor. The kickoff return coverage was good for Green Bay, even though Zayne Anderson got his head hurt during the first half. There were no returns for Green Bay since every kickoff by Minnesota ended in a touchback. There was not a punt return either since the 2 punts by Minnesota ended in going out of bounds and being fair caught by Jayden Reed (who had a bit of room to run, but did not want to run). At least nothing disastrous happened to Green Bay on Special Teams. Hopefully that continues in these next few weeks.
Overall, it was another tough loss against a top opponent. The Packers had too many errors on offense and defense to ultimately avoid the loss in Minnesota. Due to this loss, the best possible seed that the Packers can get for the playoffs is the 6th seed. The reason why is because both the Vikings and Lions swept the Packers this year. The loser of that Week 18 game will get the 5th seed while the winner gets the NFC North and a first round bye in the playoffs. There is a problem with the Packers getting the 6th seed. The Washington Commanders, led by rookie QB Jayden Daniels, have control of that 6th seed thanks to their overtime win on Sunday night against the Falcons and having a better NFC record than the Packers. Unless the Commanders lose to the Cowboys next week, the Packers have to settle for the 7th seed for a second straight season. For right now, the Packers can only control what they can and get a win on Sunday January 5, 2025 against the Chicago Bears at Lambeau Field. Hopefully they get that done to build some momentum heading into the playoffs. Have a great week and a happy 2025, everyone. Go Pack Go.
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