Packers at Vikings: Preview, Predictions, and More

Green Bay Packers vs Minnesota Vikings

Aaron Rodgers and company nearly slid by the Jacksonville Jaguars last Sunday, winning 27-23. A-Rod practically had to pull out all the stops to get past a team they were predicted to easily defeat. Sitting a top the division with Green Bay is Minnesota, who used a strong defensive performance to get past the Tennessee Titans on the road.

After refusing to show his hand about Sam Bradford will make his first start, reports have now leaked that we will indeed see Bradford on Sunday night. McCarthy and the Packers have said all week that they’re preparing for both. However, they now know which gameplan they’ll be running with and may have had 24-ish hours to fully focus on Bradford.

Keys to Victory

Eddie Lacy, for much of his career, has owned the Minnesota Vikings when these two teams square off. After averaging a ridiculous 95+ yards against the Vikings the previous two years, Minnesota was finally able to find success versus the RB in the very last game of the 2015-16 season, guiding them to their first division title since 2009.

Green Bay really just needs to avoid shooting themselves in the foot in this first game versus the purple and gold. Grind with Lacy while controlling the clock and force a potentially antsy Sam Bradford into poor decisions and things will be good for Green Bay. K.I.S.S.: keep it simple stupid. Minnesota is vulnerable, and Green Bay needs to take advantage of that rather than forcing Rodgers to shoulder the whole load.

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Minnesota on the other hand, must find their offense in the red zone and Blair Walsh cannot have another performance like he had his last week. Adrian Peterson and the offensive line have to find the same wavelength and produce on the ground like it should. Peterson isn’t known for bursting out of the gates after not playing any preseason games, but he’ll need to be key if the Vikings are to win this game.

Sam Bradford does provide the live arm that Shaun Hill doesn’t, but it is still unknown how exactly he’ll fit with Norv Turner’s offense. It’s also worth mentioning that Bradford is 10 times more comfortable from the gun than under center. Meanwhile, All-Day has struggled with finding production from gun runs; the Minnesota Vikings can ill afford another lackluster effort against a team that’s vying for their division crown.

Both the Vikings and Green Bay are missing corners on the defensive side of the ball. It’s not known if Xavier Rhodes will return from a “knee pop” he felt during warm-ups before the Titans game. Green Bay may be without their top corner, Sam Shields, who suffered his third concussion of his career. The last concussion he suffered caused Shields to miss four games. It would be a huge blow to Green Bay to lose a player of that caliber this early in the season.

Green Bay and Minnesota both showed that their defense can survive from proven depth, it’ll be interesting to see how each offense attacks those points come Sunday night.

Odds

Point Spread: Green Bay -2.5
Moneyline: Green Bay -130 Minnesota +110
Over/Under: 44

Per oddsshark.com

More Vikings: Vikings at Titans Recap, Highlights, Score, and More

Prediction

The purple and gold defense looks primed for a breakout season, with or without Rhodes in the lineup. Griffen and company wreaked havoc on Rodgers in the season finale last season, and from what we saw Sunday, Rodgers still hasn’t changed his tenancy to hold onto the pigskin. Bradford makes his first appearance of the season playing on his first playoff ready team, Peterson and the o-line will finally be in tune, and the defense must protect their new stomping grounds.

No changing of the guard as of yet in the NFC North, that’ll be a later determined scenario.

Pick: Green Bay Packers: 24, Minnesota Vikings: 27

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