One Superstar Viking Played Like Garbage at Green Bay
A couple of weeks ago, Justin Jefferson fired up a disinterested, lackadaisical day at the office. In Week 12 at the Green Bay Packers, Christian Darrisaw stepped up to the plate and seemingly did the same thing.
One superstar Viking played like trash in Green Bay, fueling frustration and raising a question about just what went wrong in the team’s seventh loss of 2025.
In his first contest against Micah Parsons as a Packer, Darrisaw flopped — a rarity for him — and looked like a shell of himself during the NFC North showdown.
Vikings LT Christian Darrisaw Posts Strangely Bad Performance
The man was probably due for a stinker, all things considered.
Darrisaw Missing in Action at GB
Arguably the team’s second-best player behind Justin Jefferson, Darrisaw floundered at Lambeau Field. He surrendered five pressures and two sacks, mostly to Micah Parsons, on just 19 dropbacks by quarterback J.J. McCarthy.
His overall grade from Pro Football Focus checked in at 54.5, one of the lowest of his career, with his pass-blocking mark at 24.4 — the worst of his career.
In short, the veteran tackle, known for dependability, consistency, and stardom, got worked. If he was due for a bad game like Jefferson a few weeks ago, Week 12 was it.
The Micah Parsons Experience
So, what happened to Darrisaw? Easy — Parsons happened.
The moment Green Bay traded for Parsons with Dallas during the summer, Vikings fans envisioned this very scenario. Parsons will torment the purple team for at least a half-decade, solely because Jerry Jones decided to ship Parsons to the one team that would really irritate the Vikings. That’s how fans perceived it, anyway.
What folks didn’t expect was Darrisaw’s total capitulation. That happened, at least for a game.
Parsons is a future Hall of Famer, and he did future Hall of Famer things to Minnesota’s offensive line.
First Game with Full Offensive Line … Flops
Speaking of which, the Vikings finally showcased their completely healthy offensive line for the first time in 2025 on Sunday:
- Christian Darrisaw
- Donovan Jackson
- Ryan Kelly
- Will Fries
- Brian O’Neill
Good to go, right? Wrong — that group produced the worst or second-worst OL showing of the season for Minnesota. So, yes, right when the starting fivesome came together, the Packers dominated the unit.
O’Neill was the only starter who held up in his normal form. The rest experienced rough outings.
Can’t Hold Darrisaw Down for Long
Thankfully, Darrisaw isn’t doomed. The game was not career-defining. He now knows what to expect every time his team faces Green Bay + Parsons. Darrisaw will remember that Parsons took him to school, and perhaps next time Darrisaw will do something about it.
It’s substantially more likely that Darrisaw posts a rebound performance this weekend at Seattle than a downward spiral where the Packers game becomes the new norm.
It’s also worth noting that the Seahawks don’t employ Parsons-like EDGE rushers. They have ordinary ones.
A Darrisaw Injury?
Moreover, Darrisaw’s status for Week 13 could be up in the air.
SI.com‘s Will Ragatz wrote Monday, “On a day where basically nothing went right for the Minnesota Vikings, two of their starting offensive linemen and former first-round picks exited the game due to injury.”
“Left tackle Christian Darrisaw (foot/ankle) and left guard Donovan Jackson (ankle) both tried to play through their ailments before ultimately being ruled out of the game in the second half of Sunday’s 23-6 loss at Lambeau Field. Afterwards, head coach Kevin O’Connell said ‘it’s probably too early’ to know the severity of the issues for either player, and whether or not they could be in danger of missing next week’s game against the Seahawks in Seattle.”
Wednesday afternoon will provide a clearer picture of the statuses of Darrisaw and Jackson for Sunday.
“Both will be evaluated further, with more meaningful updates perhaps to come on Monday. Darrisaw, the Vikings’ first-round pick back in 2021, saw his 2024 season end early when he suffered a major knee injury 13 months ago. He missed the first two games of this season and had to manage the injury after coming back,” Ragatz added.
“That’s included not practicing on Thursdays all year and hardly playing in a Week 8 Thursday night game against the Chargers. This foot/ankle injury appears to be unrelated to Darrisaw’s knee. It happened earlier in the game, according to O’Connell. Darrisaw attempted to play through it, but was eventually ruled out in the fourth quarter.”
The Seahawks rank eighth in the NFL in defensive sack percentage.
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