There Is One Way for Vikings to Beat Aaron Rodgers
Dustin Baker
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The Minnesota Vikings have gone to war with the Aaron Rodgers version of the Green Bay Packers for 14 seasons. On the whole, Rodgers is fabulous versus his divisional foe, evidenced by his team holding a 14-9-1 (.604) record against the Vikings since 2008 with Rodgers on the field. Consistently, there is only one way for the Vikings to beat Aaron Rodgers. And that is to sack him.
When Minnesota sacks Rodgers a lot during a game, the Vikings usually win. If the Vikings do not sack Rodgers, the Packers are triumphant. It’s close to automatic.
The swing illustrated in the tweet is drastic. A clear divide exists via documented history on the stakes. And the variance between winning and losing with and without pressure on Rodgers is just mind-boggling.
The Packers own a two-game winning streak at U.S. Bank Stadium. Last season, no fans were allowed in the building, canceling all forms of homefield advantage and making the Week 1 event from 2020 sound eerily quiet. Minnesota and Green Bay embarked on a rare shootout in Minneapolis, and the Vikings simply were not very good on that September afternoon. Before that, in 2019, the Vikings coughed away a golden opportunity to contend for the NFC North. In Week 16 of that season, the Vikings waltzed into their building with a 10-4 record to compete with the 11-3 Packers. Minnesota was lifeless on that Monday night, Christmas Eve-Eve, losing 23-10 and relegating themselves to a wildcard date with the Saints.
Rarely do the Packers topple the Vikings thrice in a row on the road. It happened in 2013, 2014, and 2015 while the Vikings were in flux and getting acclimated to Mike Zimmer. So, for the folks who wish to be done with Zimmer as the Vikings coach, this is a game to monitor as losing three consecutive home games to the primary foe is less than ideal.
Each team is somewhat shorthanded – most NFL squads are by this point in the season – with Danielle Hunter, Michael Pierce, and Irv Smith Jr. missing for Minnesota. The Packers will be without Aaron Jones, Jaire Alexander, Za’Darius Smith, Robert Tonyan, Josh Myers, Whitney Mercilus, etc. Therefore, don’t let either fanbase tell you, “well, we didn’t have [this guy].” It’s hogwash as both teams are depleted of playmakers.
On the sacks, the Vikings have reached the four-sack mark three times in 2021 – versus the Cincinnati Bengals, Detroit Lions, and Carolina Panthers. And with the Vikings ranking #1 in the NFL for defensive sacks, the team vividly has the gridiron chromosomes for the task. Even without Danielle Hunter for 2.5 games, the pressure on opposing quarterbacks has not relented. Many onlookers of the team worried that might happen because, well, quarterback pressure fell off a cliff in 2020 sans Hunter. Thankfully, Zimmer is forcing pressure with and without Hunter in 2021.
If you trust history as a reasonable indicator – Rodgers’ history against the Vikings dates back 13 years – Minnesota is nearly required to fluster Rodgers in the pocket for a victory. Plus, the Vikings are a half-game out of playoff positioning, so they have a double-vested interest to slay Green Bay – a division showdown versus the main nemesis and the desperation vibes for turning around the 2021 season.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sally from Minneapolis. His Viking fandom dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).
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