MINNEAPOLIS — WHO: Minnesota Vikings vs. Green Bay Packers
WHEN: Sunday, Jan. 2 at 7:20 p.m. CT
WHERE: Lambeau Field, Green Bay, WI.
The 7-8 Minnesota Vikings will travel to Green Bay to take on the 12-3 Packers on Sunday Night Football on KARE 11. Minnesota is coming off a disappointing loss to the Los Angeles Rams and the Packers are currently on a four-game winning streak.
The Vikings are in must win mode as they fight for their playoff lives with two games left. Their postseason chances have dropped to 13%, according to FiveThirtyEight.com. They showed they could beat Green Bay earlier this season with a 34-31 win. Oddly enough though, the Packers haven't dropped a game since, and we know how tough it is to play at Lambeau.
Here are three keys to the game for Sunday:
Stymie Aaron Rodgers. Easier said than done, right? After a slow start, Rodgers is on an absolute tear this season, all while dealing with a broken toe. That toe hasn't immunized his performances. He made headlines this week while discussing his future, saying he "wouldn't rule out" retirement. I'm sure the Vikings wouldn't mind him making that decision before Sunday night. Although in the first matchup this season, Minnesota kept Rodgers mostly in check for the first half. The defense created pressure early, including a strip sack in the first quarter. More of that, please. The Vikings are near the top of the league in sacks and even though they didn't get home against the Rams, the pressure still forced three interceptions. If the defense can knock Rodgers off his rhythm on Sunday night, the team has a chance for another win.
Slow down Packers' run game. In the last match up, the Vikings held the Packers to 95 yards rushing, including only 53 from A.J. Dillon. Green Bay did not have Aaron Jones though, and he will be out there this time. While the Packers' run game hasn't been trailblazing the last several games, the Vikings' run defense has been porous recently. They gave up 159 rushing yards to the Rams and it probably would've been more if Sean McVay didn't abandon the run so much. Minnesota is 28th in the NFL, giving up 130 rushing yards a game. Aaron Rodgers is always going to give his team a chance, but he doesn't need to be aided by a successful ground game.
Get Kirk Cousins going. Cousins passed for 341 yards and three touchdowns in his last game against Green Bay. He posted a 128.4 passer rating. The problem: outside of the Steelers game, he hasn't been nearly as efficient since then. In the last 5 games, Cousins has only completed 60.7% of his passes with 9 touchdowns and five interceptions. The offense suffered a big blow with wide receiver Adam Thielen going on injured reserve with an ankle injury. After the news, Cousins said, "Adam was battling through an injury and showing his toughness by playing against the Rams, but we're not going to have him the rest of the way, so we just have to ask that much more of some of our other receivers and give some younger players a great opportunity to play and put some stuff on tape and show what they can do." The offense will get Pro Bowl running back Dalvin Cook back after the team activated him from the COVID list, so Cousins will not have to shoulder the load alone. He does need to pick it up though and play like the Kirk Cousins we saw through the first 11 weeks. After Baker Mayfield threw for a game-high four interceptions in the last game at Lambeau on Christmas, Cousins will hope to avoid a similar performance on Sunday.
We will be traveling to Green Bay for this matchup. I'll be live tweeting from Lambeau Field (@ReggieWilsonTV). We'll have all of your game day coverage throughout the evening on KARE and make sure to stay up for Vikings Extra after the game.
