Packers power through problems to vault Vikings
MINNEAPOLIS - It still doesn’t look easy for a Green Bay Packers offense that has sputtered more often than anybody could have envisioned.
Aaron Rodgers and friends had their moments Sunday, though – far more than the Minnesota Vikings, whose chance to seize control of the NFC North against their slumping rivals turned into a 30-13 drubbing and chants of “Go Pack Go!” at TCF Bank Stadium.
“Maybe it’ll get you guys off our back for a couple days,” Rodgers said with a smirk after the game. “But we’ve been taking it on the chin, rightfully so, the last three weeks. (We) had a couple really poor performances.”
These teams are all square in the division at 7-3 now. But it sure doesn’t feel that way, not when Rodgers gets cooking the way he did to answer the Vikings’ best charge with a seven-play, 80-yard touchdown sprint that changed the dynamic.
There was a 37-yard strike down the sideline, and a 27-yard TD throw into the tiniest of end-zone windows and a backhand flip for a two-point conversion to make it 27-13 – all to James Jones after Rodgers broke the pocket, shades of the quarterback’s NFL MVP campaign a year ago.
“Everyone wants to put a point, put their finger on exactly what it was,” Green Bay receiver Randall Cobb said of ending a three-game losing streak. “But us as a team, we stuck together. Our coaching staff, we all stuck together and we came together when we pretty much hit rock bottom.”
The Packers also had miscommunications, bad run reads, dropped balls, all sorts of issues Sunday. For a while, it seemed their best offense was a Vikings penalty, such as the 50-yard pass interference call on cornerback Terence Newman that spurred a touchdown drive before halftime.
But on a day the Vikings tested him with all sorts of looks, Rodgers made enough plays, Eddie Lacy reemerged to rumble for 100 yards on 22 carries and Mason Crosby was 5-for-5 on field goals, ending a slide that raised doubts about whether the Packers are still the class of the division.
It shouldn’t have.
The Packers still have Rodgers, and the Vikings have second-year quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, who had played well enough during his team’s five-game winning streak but isn’t at a point where he can elevate everyone else on the field. Bridgewater also took an absolute beating Sunday.
Rodgers’ numbers weren’t huge: 16-of-34 passing for 212 yards and two touchdowns with an 86.9 passer rating. But he made some plays few NFL quarterbacks can, while continuing to deal with a sore throwing shoulder he said felt “OK” after the game.
One week after a stunning home loss to the Detroit Lions, the Packers defense was in fine form, too, controlling the line of scrimmage, holding Adrian Peterson to 45 yards and a score on 13 carries and forcing a key fumble by Peterson on the edge of the red zone minutes after Jones’ TD in the fourth quarter.
“If you could bottle it,” Packers coach Mike McCarthy said, “I wouldn’t be standing here talking to you, that’s for sure.”
Rodgers’ best receiver, Cobb, dropped at least two balls on third down. Jones also missed one. Another wideout, Davante Adams, once again spent time on the sideline getting an ankle worked on. Center Corey Linsley’s own ankle injury in the first quarter left Green Bay’s O-line short, too.
All things considered, the Packers should’ve been happy to escape with a win, much less a rout that reinforced why they’re not only the best team in the division, but have a chance to be one of the best teams in football when January rolls around.
“It’s big for all of us,” Rodgers said of the win. “I think sometimes we play a little better when we start to get questioned by you guys. We responded really well today.”
Follow Tom Pelissero on Twitter @TomPelissero.
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