Vikings upset Packers in Lambeau 28-22
Joe Johnson
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The Minnesota Vikings went into Sunday’s game in Green Bay as about as big of underdogs as you could imagine. Sure, according to nearly everyone that handles Legal sports betting in Tennessee, Iowa… Really anywhere, had the Vikings as the biggest underdogs as we’ve seen in years in this border battle. But, the 5-1 Packers were never really more than a touchdown favorite against the 1-5 Vikings, so maybe those in the gambling industry know something that we in the local sports media market do not as the experience/injury-depleted Vikings played with the high powered (but injury-depleted) Packers all day and ended up
Dalvin Cook returned with a bang, amassing four touchdowns (three rushing, one receiving), a nearly six yards per carry average before the final drive (5.7), with 30 rushes and two grabs through the air, as well. Cook proved that if he isn’t the best all around running back in the league, he’s tied for the spot. With Cook on the field, assuming he can stay healthy, the Vikings seem to have something pretty close to a consistently winning formula on offense. With the emergence of rookie sensation Justin Jefferson and the consistently amazing play of Adam Thielen, the Vikings really seem to be a halfway decent offensive line away from having the best offense in the NFL. You’ll note that I’m not mentioning the most important piece of that equation, quarterback Kirk Cousins, but as we saw today when Cook & company are firing on all cylinders, all they need is for Cousins to be efficient to win (which should make both sides happy, albeit, I can already hear Vikings “fans” screaming ‘$45 million for a game manager!’ into the pile of Vikings memorabilia they’re about to burn).
The teams went into the half tied at 14 a piece, with the Vikings coming out of the half firing on all cylinders on both sides of the ball, scoring 14 and holding the Packers to zero points. The second half Vikings defense seemed to flummox Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who outside of his day against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, has had a renaissance in 2020. The Packers were held scoreless until around three minutes left in the second half, something that may have happened sooner in the half had the refs properly called pass interference on 4th-and-9 on Vikings safety Anthony Harris (I know, they get away with murder so why mention it? Because we’re not them. WE’LL NEVER BE THEM!).
After Davante Adams scored his THIRD touchdown (to follow up on his two touchdown effort week 1 (to go along with 14 touchdowns and 156 yards receiving), the Packers were down 28-20 and elected to go for two via their replacement running back Jamaal Williams (who finished the day with 75 yards on 16 carries for a healthy 4.7 average). The refs initially called Williams short on a run up the middle, but upon further review the call was overturned and the Vikings received the ball back with two minutes and some change remaining up by six.
After following the philosophy they’ve had since 2014, playing not to lose instead of playing to win, and a couple of first downs on the back of Dalvin Cook, the Packers received the ball back with no timeouts and 47 seconds left from their own 29-yard-line. The drive started with an outside run to Jamaal Williams for seven yards, with Williams finding the sideline. The second play was a toss to Williams, who made it out of bounds for the first down at the Packers 40-yard-line.
Packers tight end Robert Tonyan picked up another first down but landed in-bounds, which ran the clock down to the 12-second mark (which was almost followed by an illegal formation and ten-second runoff). The following play was the game-winner in which the Vikings dropped nearly everyone into coverage, the Vikings rushed three and thanks to a hustle play by rookie DJ Wonnum ended up hitting Rodgers from behind and forcing a fumble to end the game!
Here are the stats leaders for the day:
Packers:
Aaron Rodgers: 27/41 291 Yards, 3 Touchdowns, 0 INT
Rushing:
Jamaal Williams 16 carries, 75 yards, 4.7 average
AJ Dillon 5 Carries, 21 yards
Aaron Rodgers 2 carries for 9 yards
Receiving:
Robert Tonyan Jr. 5 receptions, 79 yards, 15.8 average
Davante Adams 7 receptions, 53 yards, 7.6 average, 3 touchdowns
Vikings:
Kirk Cousins: 11/14 for 160 yards and 1 Touchdown
Rushing:
Dalvin Cook: 30 Carries for 163 yards, 5.4 average, 3 touchdowns
Alexander Mattison: 3 carries for 8 yards, 2.7 average
Receiving:
Dalvin Cook: 2 catches for 63 yards, 31.5 average and a touchdown
Adam Thielen: 3 receptions for 27 yards, 9.0 average
Justin Jefferson: 3 receptions for 26 yards, 8.7 average
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SKOL!