The Green Bay Packers accomplished
something last Monday night that no other team has been able to pull off this year. For the first time this season, a team was shut
out. It isn’t particularly surprising,
the Packers have a good defense plus the New Orleans were missing their QB,
running back, both of their starting receivers, their swiss army knife (Taysom Hill)
plus a handful of other starters. It was
the first time the Saints had been shut out in over two decades. Minnesota was also victorious last week in a
game with a hungry Seattle Seahawks group.
The Vikings were in charge for most of that game, but Seattle did make
it interesting late in the fourth quarter when their offense started to come to
life. Geno marched his guys down the
field on an 11-play drive, taking up over six minutes of the clock in the process. Sixty-eight yards later Smith threw a
touchdown that would put them up by four points, leaving only four minutes and
twenty-one seconds remaining. On the
ensuing drive, Sam Darnold showed us once again how potent this Vikings offense
can be as it only took thirty seconds on four plays to go 70 yards for another
score. (Vikings B. Murphy was penalized on a face mask hold for 15 yards). Seattle got the ball once more, and tried a 60-yard
field goal, but ultimately missed.
Jordan
Love has propelled the Pack to 11 wins already this season. They could potentially end the season as one
of only a few teams to ever win 13 games yet not win their division. If you think that sounds weird how about the
fact that they could also wind up as the third-best team in the North? Yeah, crazy. That’s just how darn good this
NFC North group of teams have been this year.
History shows that there have never been three 13-win teams within the
same division. When the Packers met the
Vikings earlier this season the Vikings got the best of the Packers, winning
31-29. The turnovers are what played the
biggest role in the end the first time around, Green Bay had four, while
Minnesota had three. Matt LaFleur could
only watch as his offense went scoreless in two of the first three-quarters of
the game. Then Love almost brought them
all the way back for a win as the cheese heads cheered their Packers on as they
scored 22 points in the fourth quarter, but to no avail still losing by two
points.
PACKERS OFFENSE:
POINTS PER GAME- 27.5 (7TH)
TOTAL YARDS P/G- 377.3 (4TH)
RUSH YARDS P/G- 147.3 (4TH)
PASS YARDS P/G- 230.1 (12TH)
SACKS ALLOWED- 16 (2ND)
PACKERS DEFENSE:
POINTS PER GAME- 19.1 (6TH)
TOTAL YARDS P/G- 312.1 (6TH)
RUSH YARDS P/G- 102.5 (8TH)
PASS YARDS P/G- 209.7 (9TH)
TOTAL SACKS- 43 (6TH)
Minnesota
hasn’t just been one of the best teams in the entire league this year but is
also silently attempting to do something that no one could’ve foreseen coming. Kevin O’Connell has had his team in a great
position all season long to contend for the NFC North Championship. With a win this week, they can do just that heading
into a week 18 game against one of the league's best offenses in their number
one rivals, the Detroit Lions. Many
thought that Sam Darnold couldn’t become a true franchise quarterback after his
tenure with the New York Jets. Though in
hindsight if we knew then what we know now in terms of the Jets franchise and
how it has been run for years we would have been a little less critical of Sam.
The
Vikings beat the Packers in their prior meeting during their 5-game win streak. They have only lost two games so far this
season and both losses came after that win streak. The first was against the Lions, 31-29 and
the other loss was to the Rams in Los Angeles 30-20. Since the second loss in week 8 Minnesota hasn’t
lost another game, winning 8 straight games.
It is almost unthinkable with how great the Lions and Eagles have been
this year that the Vikings still have a very good chance of locking up the
number one seed in the NFC. They hold
their destiny in their hands. Two more
wins and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs plus the additional bye
week before playing a postseason game.
VIKINGS OFFENSE:
POINTS PER GAME- 26.4 (9TH)
TOTAL YARDS P/G- 346.3 (12TH)
RUSH YARDS P/G- 111.1 (16TH)
PASS YARDS P/G- 235.3 (8TH)
SACKS ALLOWED- 46 (24TH)
VIKINGS DEFENSE:
POINTS PER GAME- 18.4 (3RD)
TOTAL YARDS P/G- 335.8 (16TH)
RUSH YARDS P/G- 87.1 (2ND)
PASS YARDS P/G- 248.7 (30TH)
TOTAL SACKS – 44 (5TH)
This
will be a very tough game to try and predict.
They are evenly matched on the offensive side of the ball. Even the defenses are comparable, the one big
difference I can see is against the opposing team's passing. Green Bay allows 209 yards in passing yards
(9th) while Minnesota is conceding an average of 248 yards (30th)
a contest. It makes sense that the
Vikings are giving up the 30th most pass yards a game when you think
about how Brian Flores's (MIN DC) defense leads the league in QB pressures on
both 1st and 3rd downs.
One of the key matchups I will be looking for is Josh Jacobs vs. the
Vikings 16th 16th-ranked rush defense. The other one is rather obvious, Vikings' one-two
receiving threat in Jefferson & Addison going up against Green Bay defensive
backs. Especially now that the Packers
will be without their top cornerback Jaire Alexander after being ruled out with
a knee injury. I am leaning toward the -1.5-point
favorites, the 13-2 Minnesota Vikings at home.
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