MINNEAPOLIS- It was a playoff atmosphere at U.S. Bank Stadium as the Green Bay Packers and the Minnesota Vikings squared off in a week 17 battle to stay in the playoff hunt. By the end, one team emerged poised for a run, while the other fell flat.
The Packers opened the game on offense but mustered only three yards before having to punt. Minnesota, who has been playing with a revolving door of quarterbacks since starter Kirk Cousins was put on Injured Reserve, started Jaren Hall, who’s first drive managed a mere eight yards. Green Bay found more offensive traction on their second drive. Starting on their own 25 after a touchback, the Packers went on a nearly six minute drive that culminated with an Anders Carlson 34 yard at the 6:43 mark of the first quarter. This was after Danielle Hunter pressured Jordan Love, who narrowly missed Malik Heath, who was wide open in the end zone, on the preceding third down play.
On the ensuing possession Hall was intercepted after throwing behind Johnny Mundt. Mundt tipped the ball and the carom was collected by Green Bay’s Corey Ballentine, setting up Green Bay on the Vikings 33 yard line. The Packers wasted little time in cashing in as Jordan Love his Jayden Reed for a 33 yard touch pass on second down. Carlson’s extra point made the score 10-0 Green Bay at the 5:10 mark of the first quarter.
Minnesota found some footing with their running game, moving to their own 44 yard line before having to punt again. Green Bay went right back to work, this with a healthy dose of the ground game before Love found Bo Melton on a 28 yard gainer to the Minnesota 33 yard line as the first quarter closed. The Packers racked up 141 yards of offense against the Vikings 31 yards in the opening frame. The Packers had a golden opportunity to score on a 4th and one play, but Jordan Love missed a wide open Melton, turning the ball over on downs.
The Vikings used the stop to create some offensive momentum. They were able to drive 40 yards to the Green Bay 36 yard line before settling for a 54 yard Greg Joseph field goal, making the score 10-3 with 9:25 left in the second quarter. The Packers took the ensuing drives from their own 25 yard line to the end zone as Jordan Love just stretched the ball across the goal line. The drive took five and half minutes off the clock, leaving the Vikings 3:59 to try to mount an answer. Their answer stalled, and they punted back to the Packers, who started on their own 12 yard line. The Vikings held, after Love inexplicably took a deep shot on a 3rd and 1 yard to go with under a minute to play in the half. The Vikings go the ball back on their own 38 yard line. After picking up 8 yards on first down, Jaren Hall was strip sacked by Preston Smith and Packer DL Karl Brooks at the Vikings 37 yard line with 34 ticks on the clock. It was Jayden Reed that made the house call three plays later on a 25 yard catch and run. He took a clear out slant across the field and into the end zone. Carlson missed the extra point wide to the left, and the Packers took a 23-3 lead into halftime. Green Bay amassed 265 yards of total offense, including 180 through the air during their first half onslaught.
After the halftime show, which featured midwest favorite Hairball, ISU alum Knee Nwangwu returned to kickoff to their own 43. The bigger news was the change to Nick Mullens at quarterback. The Mullens promptly hit Justin Jefferson for a 12 yard gain to cross midfield to get their first drive in the second half started. The Vikings used two screens to move to the Green Bay 32 yard line before penalties backed them up to the Packer 42 yard line. However, Justin Jefferson was able to match a catch on a dig route on 3rd down and 14 yards to go to keep the Viking drive alive. However, the Green Bay defense stiffened at their own 9 yard line and stopped the Vikings on a 4th down and 4 play.
Aaron Jones had a solid night, including a 26 yard run on the first play after the Viking turnover on downs. Jones finished the night with 120 yards rushing on 20 carries and a lot of excitement heading into week 18 “We set ourselves up to be back in the same position as last year, but this time on the other side of it. We took care of business cause if we didn’t we wouldn’t even be having this conversation.” The Packers went on to rip off an 8 minute, 13 play drive that ended with a 9 yard touchdown toss to Bo Melton, Love’s third passing TD of the game and Melton’s first career TD snag. Melton was elevated from the practice squad for the game and showed his enthusiasm. “Yeah, it’s tough being on the practice squad…you never know when your time’s coming and I just wanted to ready when my time came.” On the touchdown play he said, “I saw space to the right and Jordan gave me a great ball. When I saw the ball in the air I’m like, ‘I’m coming down with it.’” Melton finished with a game high 105 receiving yards on six receptions.
By the time the third quarter ended Green Bay had pretty well put the game on ice with a 30-3 lead. The Vikings were forced to punt to open the fourth quarter and Green Bay obliged by promptly muffing the punt to give the Vikings the ball at the Green Bay 7 yard line. Minnesota took two plays to turn it into points as Mullens found TE Johnny Mundt for a 6 yard touchdown pass in the left flat to make the score 30-10 with 14:06 to go in the game.
Injuries started to stack up by the end of the game as the Packers had lost AJ Dillon to an arm injury and Jayden Reed to a chest injury. However, Green Bay was able to put together yet another drive taking the ball from their own 25 yard line to the Vikings 13 yard line before Anders Carlson booted a 37 yard field goal to round out all scoring 33-10 with just over six minutes left. The Packers rolled for 471 total yards in the win. Minnesota mustered 211, with 144 passing between the two quarterbacks. Jordan Love had an impressive 24/33 256 yard and 3 touchdown performance. Those three touchdown tosses give him 30 on the season and puts him in third place in the NFL, just one behind San Francisco’s Brock Purdy and two out of the lead (Dad Prescott).
The Green Bay win sets up a showdown for the Packers when the Chicago Bears come to town in week 18. A Packer win would put them in the playoffs again, after a one year absence. The Vikings playoff hopes have been all but dashed. But a week 18 win over the Lions and a lot of help could still provide a playoff slot for Minnesota. The Vikings would need to win against the Lions AND get a Green Bay loss, a Seattle loss to the Arizona, along with a New Orleans loss and a Tampa Bay win. Game time for Minnesota is noon on January 7th and Green Bay will play at 3:25pm.
