Vikes Beat the Pack in Another Close One
The Minnesota Vikings beat the Green Bay Packers 27-25 on Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium, and as is their fashion, they turned a dominating performance into a stomach-churning, nail-biting, last-minute win to keep pace with Detroit Lions atop the NFC North division. At 14-2, the Vikings now must beat the Lions next week at Ford Field and they will become the top seed in the NFC and have home field advantage throughout the playoffs. But it almost didn’t happen.
The Vikings took the early lead and held onto it through the end, but the Packers nearly erased a three-score deficit in the fourth quarter. Just like in Lambeau earlier in the season, the Packers didn’t roll over, while the Vikings made enough plays down the stretch to win the game. That kind of MO will not hold up well in the playoffs, so the team will have to work on how to salt away victories.
Sam Darnold, though occasionally erratic (throwing high to his receivers, who often helped him out), ended up with a very good afternoon of play. He was 33 of 43 for 377 yards, three touchdown passes, one interception and a 116.1 rating. Slinging Sammy was firing bullets and threading small windows, including an incredible pass and catch with Jordan Addison for a touchdown. Darnold hit eight different receivers on the game (some of the catches were all-world, such as one to Justin Jefferson that was called back on a penalty) and none more important than the short pass to Cam Akers out of the backfield, who had to make a shoestring catch to set up the victory formation for the Purple.
The defense put together a great game plan against the high-voltage Packers offense to keep them out of the endzone until the Vikings offense turned over the ball on a short field in the third quarter. They didn’t look like a dominating defense in the fourth, but holding them to 271 yards on the game was a major key to this victory.
There is so much in this game to talk about and not enough room here, so why not check out the fellas at Vikings Territory Breakdown podcast—Joe Oberle, senior writer at vikingsterritory.com and purplePTSD.com and Mark Craig, NFL and Vikings writer for the Star Tribune and startribune.com—as they break it all down. Tune in: the Vikings are 14-2: Skol!!!!!
The Vikings Did the Thing on Sunday