Minnesota Vikings: Five things we learned in victory over the Green Bay Packers

1. Jerick McKinnon established himself as the lead back over Latavius Murray.

Against the Bears, McKinnon proved just how dynamic he can be running for 95 yards and a touchdown, along with six catches for 51 yards. While he wasn’t quite as good against the Packers, he was still far more productive than Murray.

On the day, McKinnon carried the ball 16 times for 69 yards and a touchdown. Compared to Murray’s 15 carries for 28 yards, that’s obviously a better day on the ground for the second straight week. Yet, what separates McKinnon even further is the production in the pass game as he caught another five passes for 30 yards and a touchdown.

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Of course, the Vikings need to keep McKinnon fresh, so Murray should see a fair amount of work moving forward. But, McKinnon is clearly the best option in the backfield. Not to mention, the Vikings back to own for all you fantasy lovers out there.

That being said, the Vikings rushing attack has been encouraging to see the last couple of weeks. They ran the ball 31 and 33 times against the Bears and Packers, respectively, for a total of 271 yards. If the Vikings can continue making defenses respect both phases of the offense, they are going to be in great shape the rest of the way.

2. Laquon Treadwell showed his true potential as he turned in the best game of his professional career.

Treadwell caught all three of his targets for 51 yards, a solid game for the 2016 first round pick. After failing to make much of an impact without Michael Floyd on the roster, this was definitely a promising performance from the young wideout.

Of course, he’s had an impact as a run blocker up to this point. But, as a first round pick, the expectation has been for him to produce in the passing game as well. His performance against the Packers was the first real sign of that.

In fact, one of his catches was just insane. With a corner all over him, Keenum made a high, back shoulder throw to Treadwell, who jumped and pulled in the ball with one hand. Arguably, it could be in the discussion for top catch of the year.

Hopefully, Treadwell can build on this performance because the Vikings could sure use production from the third receiver spot. This especially holds true if Diggs is forced to miss anymore time.