Review—another awful half of football turned in by the Packers, and another sub-standard performance by the QB. Rodgers is the prime example of stats not telling the whole story. This season, and in this game, his stats are and were great, however in crunch time when needed he didn’t come through and left the Packers searching for more answers. The Packers got mega-production from OLB Kyler Fackrell (3 sacks) and another solid performance by Aaron Jones (103 yards on 16 touches) yet the team seemed lethargic and without passion when it mattered.
Seattle outgained the Packers (378-359), converted 3 touchdowns of their 5 red zone trips to the Packers 1 of 2, and overcame the game’s only turnover to outlast Green Bay. Many wanted the Packers to go for it on 4th and 5 with a few minutes left in the game, as did I, however I can see why they would’ve decided to punt. Rodgers had just skipped a pass to a wide open St. Brown the play prior and thought the D could get one more stop or possibly make a play (which might’ve been more likely than the offense actually coming through right after showing they couldn’t). Either way it was another frustrating loss to a bad team. Yes, Seattle is bad.
This game left the Packers as the 9th seed looking up to Seattle and Washington, both teams Green Bay lost to and now find themselves essentially needing to win out (their remaining 6 games) to make the playoffs. Then again, is making the playoffs really the best for this organization? While it’s tough to root for the Packers to lose, it’s the best thing for the long-term. Otherwise it’ll be more of the same, another loss in the playoffs—no thanks.
Match-up—let’s take a look at another disappointing team, the Minnesota Vikings.
| Offense | Defense | T/O | |||||||||
| Total | Pass | Rush | Points | Total | Pass | Rush | Points | Take | Give | Total | |
| Green Bay | 398.8 (8th) | 290.0 (7th) | 108.8 (17th) | 24.7 (13th) | 349.1 (12th) | 223.0 (5th) | 126.1 (26th) | 24.3 (16th) | 12 | 11 | 1 |
| Minnesota | 363.7 (14th) | 279.0 (8th) | 84.7 (31st) | 24.1 (15th) | 320.8 (5th) | 226.0 (6th) | 94.8 (4th) | 22.9 (11th) | 17 | 16 | 1 |
As you can see these teams are fairly evenly matched, which would make sense why they tied one another in week 2 earlier this year. Minnesota boasts the 5th ranked defense in the league (yards), but due to their offense being middle-of-the-pack, the Vikings have given some short fields that their defense hasn’t been able to keep the opponent out of the end zone a few times. That’s still an area of struggle for Green Bay. Evidenced last week by only converting 50% of their red zone trips to Touchdowns, if the Packers keep with the run game, especially when in the red zone to open throwing lanes and give the offense other options to confuse the defense.
Preview—if the Packers want to win this game, they’ll have to play 4 full quarters of football, and keep it clean. They played clean last week, but only showed up for about 2.5 quarters and the defense eventually wore down. They’ll need to win the turnover battle (not tie, but win it) and the time of possession. If Green Bay can rush for over 150 yards (as a team) and possess the ball for about 31+ minutes that should be good enough to get the job done, however I don’t have faith they’ll commit and stick to the run game and will lose another close road game, hopefully ending their season instill major change this offseason…
Prediction—
Packers 23
Vikings 26
39-23 overall record.
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