Minnesota Vikings: Week 6 preview against Green Bay Packers
The Minnesota Vikings take on the border rival Green Bay Packers in a Week 6 matchup at U.S Bank Stadium. What’s there to know heading into the game?
The Minnesota Vikings head into a Week 6 showdown with the Green Bay Packers at U.S. Bank Stadium. At 3-2, the Vikings hope to leap-frog the first-place Packers in the NFC North standings with a convincing win at home.
They will look to accomplish this without starting quarterback Sam Bradford. At least, that’s the assumption. Returning against the Chicago Bears, Bradford’s knee didn’t look ready. In fact, he was forced out of the game prior to halftime. In turn, it’s truly hard to see him returning any time soon. Not a good sign for the Minnesota Vikings.
Fortunately, backup Case Keenum stepped in and carried the Vikings to a 20-17 win over the Bears. For the game, he went 17-for-21 for 140 yards, leading the offense to two touchdowns and a field goal. The victory marked just the second time Minnesota won at Soldier Field in the last 10 seasons.
While the game wasn’t pretty, thanks in large part to a dismal offensive performance in the first half, the Vikings got what matters, the W. They also should feel good about their chances versus the Packers even with Keenum at quarterback. As matter of fact, Keenum is tenth in quarterback rating (97.6) and hasn’t thrown an interception in four games. Basically, he’s played the role of starter quite well.
Even so, the Packers are feeling good about themselves after taking care of the Dallas Cowboys in Week 5. In a tight fought battle, the Cowboys thought they were heading towards a win after scoring a touchdown with 1:13 remaining. Instead, Aaron Rodgers led another comeback drive resulting in a Davante Adams touchdown and 3-point Packers lead with 11 seconds to go.
Of course, the Packers would take care of business with little time remaining on the clock and win 35-31, improving their record to 4-1.
Lifetime, the Vikings are 51-60-2 against their hated rival, but they handled them well at home last year. In the game, Bradford led Minnesota to a 17-14 win in his first start as a Viking, finding Stefon Diggs nine times for 182 yards and a touchdown.
On the other side, Rodgers was held in check by the Vikings defense, producing 213 yards passing along with a game-sealing interception by Trae Waynes. Making the win even sweeter was the stupid look on Rodgers’ face after putting up a pitiful performance.
With that, let’s look into what Minnesota has to do to get back-to-back home victories over Green Bay!