The Green Bay Packers take on their division rivals, the Minnesota Vikings, this Sunday night on New Year’s Eve. Both teams are competing for a playoff spot and both currently have 7 wins and 8 losses. The Vikings are currently tied with the Packers thanks to a 24-10 victory by the Vikings at Lambeau Field in October. But that doesn’t matter as the next match serves as a qualifier for the losing team.
That means there is a gap between these two teams as they need a win to be in the postseason conversation. Of course, it would take the Rams or Seahawks for the Packers to drop a game, but they hope to start their postseason with a win in Minnesota, so let’s discuss how they can do that. love must stand uprightIn Week 8, the Vikings were able to pressure Jordan Love all day, sacking him a total of four times and keeping the passing game under control. Love had a mostly clean game (one of his INTs came on a nice pass that broke Jaden Reed’s hands on 3rd-and-8), but front pressure was his worst enemy in this one game. We all know the Vikings like to blitz and we know they will be fast Sunday night.
Consistent use of Aaron Jones’ pass rush, sharp running and more downfield shots is a simple game plan for coach Matt Lafleur to follow. The offense requires consistent scoring.In Joe Barry’s defense, I’ll leave it at that. In recent weeks, that defensive unit went from “almost promising” to “can’t believe we gave up a combined 54″ with the emergence of rookies Carrington Valentine and Lucas Van Ness and wins over the Lions and Chiefs. Credits to Tommy Devito and Bryce Young.”
In fact, it’s hard to believe this defensive unit can be held under the current 20-point mark without significant help from the offense. The Packers need to hold the Vikings’ 20 points the same often They must consistently sustain drives and score to keep the offense on the bench. The Vikings offense is missing several key players from their Week 8 win against the Packers. Of course, QB Kirk Cousins suffered a season-ending Achilles injury in that game.
TE T.J. Hockenson, who had six catches for 88 yards and a TD in Week 8, will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL and MCL. Rookie WR Jordan Addison, who had seven catches for 82 yards and a TD, is currently listed as “day-to-day” with what was initially considered a relatively serious ankle injury and is questionable to play with . .
