Vikings at Packers

[CharVike]

First time we haven't faced a Packer HOF QB in 30 years. Hopefully they go through another Starr to Farve stretch of scarping the bottom of the barrel for a QB who can play at a high level. Our D is better than theirs which is a surprise because I do feel they have better overall talent than we do. But Flores has a great scheme and the knowledge to game plan. We don't give up many big plays. We have a short week, need to hit the road and come off a hard hitting game which is always difficult. Looks like Hock is finally through his training camp and his hands are back. From what I read Love has had cold starts so I expect Flores to get after him early. Plus Love's accuracy hasn't been that good which also helps. Hopefully our OL plays good. We should know that early as we usually try to establish the run. If it's 12 carries for 30 yards then KOC will abandon that and go full pass mode. Peg needs to get his act together and not miss an extra point and bang the FGs through. I see it 20-17 us.

[VikingLord]

Packers started off the season by killing the Bears, but since then have looked very average to below average, with their only other win being a 1 point margin over the Saints where neither team looked very good.

As for this upcoming game, the Vikings are coming off a heady home primetime win against a team that could be the best overall team in the NFL after scraping by the Bears on the road, while the Packers are coming off two demoralizing road losses to the Raiders and Broncos. If I were drawing straight lines for the two teams, it would suggest the Vikings are more likely to win, but I've been burned before with that thinking so I'll try to take a more introspective approach.

For the Vikings, a lot will come down to the offense's ability to execute and score points when in the redzone. They did that against the 49ers (although it would be nice to get more TDs when in those situations), but didn't really do much against the Bears. Aspects of the offense, like the OL, have been better, but Cousins still shows Jekyll and Hyde tendencies at QB and there are still some worry playcalling and game management mistakes that are cropping up and costing the offense. If the Vikings offense executes more along the lines of what we saw against the 49ers, I like their chances against the Packers. If they revert to some of what we saw early in the season or in the 2nd half against the Bears, I don't like their chances at all.

The defense has also been more consistent as of late, and they have been creating and taking advantage of turnovers as well as creating some disruption in the offensive backfield. Jordan Love, IMHO, has not shown he is anywhere near the level of Aaron Rodgers, but he can still hurt defenses if he's given time and allowed to move around. I'm not afraid of the Packer run game at all. The Packers are statistically better than the Vikings running the ball, but they are not explosive on the ground. If they get a lead and are allowed to pound it, they might be able to do that, but the Packers feature a "Leroy Hoard"-type of running game this year.

Special teams are probably a wash, especially on the road.

This is a tough game to predict. Packers will be back at Lambeau for some home cookin' while the Vikings are on a short week and could have a letdown game after an emotional win.

With that in mind, my prediction is:

Packers - 21
Vikings 17

VikingsVictorious, please forward on to KOC...

[cogitator]

Packers just lost to a not very good Denver team. My only observation from that game is that Jordan Love is not a very good qb, not the future for the Packers, so the Vikings have that going for them. Vikings have the short week working against them, plus a road game, but I still think they win it.

[cmoss84]

Packers seem really banged up, with a lot of players (and starters) on both sides of the ball listed as questionable. If we play with the same intensity as the SF game, and win the turnover battle, we win by 10+. I was impressed with Chandler's screen game-hope to see more of that and less of screens to the other backs.

Love is from the town I live in now, so it is always weird watching him play. Think he struggles against Flores' scheme-they will have to execute very well if they want to score at least 20.

Vikings 27
Pack 19

[JJBreaksRecords]

Im rarely optimistic about Vikings wins lately, but I think they will win this one. OFC, it wont be a blow out win for the Vikings (I doubt they have one this entire season, even with such a supposedly high output offense). Flores will keep Love busy, so I think the Packers will run, a lot.

Vikings 24
Packers 21

[Maelstrom88]

They're giving up 4.5 ypc on defense and we just blocked very well against one of the best dlines in football. Full steam ahead.

[J. Kapp 11]

I'm not sold on Jordan Love, and neither is the league. He's got a lot to prove. He's very inaccurate, as shown by a number of metrics, including the second-highest percentage of off-target passes to open receivers. He's also not processing very well. Yes, he's got a strong arm, but so did Ryan Leaf and Jamarcus Russell.

The keys defensively are:
a) Confuse Love. His numbers against the blitz are decent, 13th in the league in passer rating, but he's not faced a DC who blitzes as often (57.8% of dropbacks) or as exotically as Brian Flores.
b) Contain Aaron Jones. When Jones is not on the field, the Packers have a 32.1% rushing success rate (29th in the NFL). When Jones is on the field, their success rate jumps to 51.7% — highest in the league. Gotta find a way to neutralize Jones the way they neutralized CMC.

Offensively, the Vikings may be the beneficiaries of some key injuries to the Packers defense. Both Jaire Alexander and LB De'Vondre Campbell are questionable. After keeping Kirk Cousins clean against the 49ers, I believe the O-line can do the same against the Packers, whose pass rush is good but not San Francisco good. Being on the road with crowd noise will make things more difficult, of course. Brian O'Neill will be key as he battles against Rashan Gary. But the big key will be the running game. Green Bay is the worst team against the run in the NFL. If the Vikings can put up 100 yards, a fairly low bar, it will make Green Bay respect the run and bite on play-action. Hopefully KOC has begun to figure out that Cam Akers is a significantly better option out of the backfield than Alexander Mattison. I go back to the screen pass to Akers against the 49ers. Kirk checked to this play when he saw the blitz was coming. Rather than just running out for the screen pass, Akers faked like he was going to block Dre Greenlaw, who you can see in the all-22 is preparing to take the hit. Akers then slipped out on the screen. That fake block prevented Greenlaw from reading the screen. It's the kind of savvy veteran move that I don't believe Mattison has in his bag of tricks. Not only that, Akers is just more explosive. Praying that KOC isn't hard-headed about this.

I see the Vikings winning. I don't predict scores.

[VikingsVictorious]

Packers started off the season by killing the Bears, but since then have looked very average to below average, with their only other win being a 1 point margin over the Saints where neither team looked very good.

As for this upcoming game, the Vikings are coming off a heady home primetime win against a team that could be the best overall team in the NFL after scraping by the Bears on the road, while the Packers are coming off two demoralizing road losses to the Raiders and Broncos. If I were drawing straight lines for the two teams, it would suggest the Vikings are more likely to win, but I've been burned before with that thinking so I'll try to take a more introspective approach.

For the Vikings, a lot will come down to the offense's ability to execute and score points when in the redzone. They did that against the 49ers (although it would be nice to get more TDs when in those situations), but didn't really do much against the Bears. Aspects of the offense, like the OL, have been better, but Cousins still shows Jekyll and Hyde tendencies at QB and there are still some worry playcalling and game management mistakes that are cropping up and costing the offense. If the Vikings offense executes more along the lines of what we saw against the 49ers, I like their chances against the Packers. If they revert to some of what we saw early in the season or in the 2nd half against the Bears, I don't like their chances at all.

The defense has also been more consistent as of late, and they have been creating and taking advantage of turnovers as well as creating some disruption in the offensive backfield. Jordan Love, IMHO, has not shown he is anywhere near the level of Aaron Rodgers, but he can still hurt defenses if he's given time and allowed to move around. I'm not afraid of the Packer run game at all. The Packers are statistically better than the Vikings running the ball, but they are not explosive on the ground. If they get a lead and are allowed to pound it, they might be able to do that, but the Packers feature a "Leroy Hoard"-type of running game this year.

Special teams are probably a wash, especially on the road.

This is a tough game to predict. Packers will be back at Lambeau for some home cookin' while the Vikings are on a short week and could have a letdown game after an emotional win.

With that in mind, my prediction is:

Packers - 21
Vikings 17

VikingsVictorious, please forward on to KOC...

You didn't project enough points for the Pukers. Redo this with more Puker points before I forward to KOC.

[ERIK the PURPLE]

Nuwangu inactive again? Injured or not valued? I thought we could use his speed today.

[VikingsVictorious]

Game on. Let's kill them.

[VikingsVictorious]

KOC needs to grow a pair. 4th and 1. Go for it.

[VikingsVictorious]

We're letting the Pukers hang around. We should be up by a lot more than 10. It's been total domination.

[VikingsVictorious]

Cousins is so freaking good.

[VikingsVictorious]

Right when I think we have the game wrapped up we start doing our best to give it away. Another missed FG.

[VikingsVictorious]

Defense brilliantly allows the Puke to go on a long time consuming drive before turning them over on downs.