Vikings hang on for 4-0

A win in Lambeau puts the Vikings in the NFC's driver's seat

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By Matthew Coller

GREEN BAY — The Minnesota Vikings did everything they could to keep the Green Bay Packers alive at Lambeau on Sunday.

They started the contest up 28 points and then allowed the Packers to crawl back to a two-point deficit late in the game. There should certainly be a lot of questioning of the way the coaches handled the second half but when the dust settled, the Vikings remained undefeated and they repeated many of the same things that got them to this point: Big plays from Sam Darnold, a rushing attack with Aaron Jones and timely turnovers caused by the defense. Despite the bad taste of the second half, the Vikings head to London next week with a strong case as the best team in the NFL.

Here’s how it went down….

To nobody’s surprise, the game began with Aaron Jones touching the football. The Lambeau crowd seemed conflicted as Jones cruised to a 5-yard gain and then caught a screen that he took for a first down. They probably tried to ride Jones one too many times and he was stuffed after a short gain. Then we saw the Sam Darnold everyone is afraid of. He rolled to his left and tried to fit the ball into an extremely tight window and nearly threw an interception. But, as has been the case this year, he didn’t let it linger. Darnold stood and delivered a third-and-long completion to Jalen Nailor to put the Vikings in scoring position. Jordan Addison wasted no time turning scoring position into actually scoring. He smoked the Packers’ defense for his first touchdown of the year.

What. A. Start.

Particularly up front, where Darnold had time to throw downfield on the back-to-back deep completions.

Jordan Love came out onto the field with his team down 7-0. It marked his first appearance since suffering an MCL injury in Brazil during the Packers’ opener. Unsurprisingly the Packers started out on the ground with an 8-yard gain by Josh Jacobs. We haven’t really seen the Vikings’ run defense tested, which Packers HC Matt LaFleur appeared determined to change. After a short pass for a first down, Jacobs blasted through for another first down into Vikings territory. Is this going to be a redux of the Eagles Week 2 game last year?

Love found Reed with a clean pocket for a 24-yard gain to Jayden Reed. The Packers talked a lot about how they do not have a true No. 1 wide receiver but Reed sure looks like it every time he plays against the Vikings.

The Vikings found their run defense and Green Bay committed a false start to push them back to third-and-13. Love threw a pass over the middle too low, looking a little rusty. The kicking element arrived on the scene, as it so often does at Lambeau, as Brandon Narveson doinked his kick off the upright.

Aaron Jones got right back to work. He gained 17 yards on the opening play of the drive and then the Packers grabbed his facemask at the end, making it a 32-yard gain when said and done. One play and the Vikings were in Will Reichard’s range. Darnold provided a reminder of his athleticism (and apparently his knee was feeling OK) on third down when he scrambled for a first down. He’s done an excellent job of using his legs when called upon — something that was missing from the Vikings for a long time.

In the red zone, Darnold looked for Jefferson but he was grabbed by corner Eric Stokes, setting up first-and-goal at the 3-yard line. Hm. Wonder who’s going to get the football? Josh Oliver, of course. After trying Jones once, Kevin O’Connell went play-action and Oliver was wide open for a touchdown.

Another 14-point lead for the Vikings out of the gate. Whew. Lambeau was in shock.

The last three weeks, Brian Flores’s defense has gotten absolutely nasty when given a two-score lead. They were able to play aggressively and force opponents to solve their moving-parts defense. Could the Packers remain patient and stick with the run?

Nope. On third-and-7, Vikings LB Kamu Grugier-Hill, who has looked like Eric Kendricks-Grugier-Hill the last two weeks, jumped in front of WR Christian Watson for an impressive interception. Love’s throw was ugly again, making you wonder if he was really ready to come back.

With a chance to put another game on ice before everyone settled into their seats, Jones took the reins again. He ran for a first down on second-and-2 and then picked up 12 yards on a screen pass where he probably should have had a touchdown if his guard kept running. That play set up the Vikings at first-and-goal at the 7-yard line. With the Packers expecting Jones again, O’Connell dialed up a reverse to Addison, who juked a dude and went into the end zone.

21-0. What is going on?

At that point, the conversations in the press box and stands started: Are they really this good? Is this better than 2017? Is this 1998 again? Should they extend Sam Darnold today? No level of hyperbole seemed like too much. They haven’t just been winning, they have been demolishing.

Still, lots of time to go. The Packers came back out on the field with 11:50 left in the second quarter down by three scores. We actually saw the opposite version of this back in 2019 when the Vikings were down big early and then nearly came back to win.

Love started out his comeback attempt with a rocket to Romeo Doubs for a first down. The Packers’ franchise QB then tossed a ball in the air to Reed and he was tackled by Josh Metellus before the ball arrived, bringing Green Bay to the Minnesota 23-yard line.

But every time the Vikings have seemed like they might allow their opponent to break through, somebody has risen to the occasion. It has often been Patrick Jones — and it was again as he sacked Love back to the 32-yard line. A throw into traffic got broken up and Green Bay was forced to settle for a field goal. In a full turn of the tables, Narveson missed again and the Vikings retained their 21-point lead.

With a chance to put the dagger in Green Bay’s heart, the Vikings had their first underwhelming drive, going three-and-out after Darnold overthrew Brandon Powell on third down. Still a lot of football left.

Or not. Love’s first pass went flying off two Packers and right into the hands of Shaq Griffin. He returned it to the Green Bay 4-yard line.

On the big board, the Packers played a chip with a player saying, “get louder!” Nobody got louder, except the high percentage of Vikings fans in the stands.

If it wasn’t already bad enough, Darnold flipped the ball up to Justin Jefferson, who shredded his defender in the end zone and made it 28-0.

With under three minutes remaining in a nightmare half, Love scrambled for a first down and then hit Doubs for a 17-yard gain to bring the Packers into the red zone for the third time. Or maybe not. As if things couldn’t go anymore against Green Bay, the completion was overturned after O’Connell challenged.

The Packers ultimately had to go for fourth-and-10 because their kicker is broken and there’s no point to going down 28-3 unless you’re playing the Falcons. A pass to the end zone was broken up by Byron Murphy Jr. and the Vikings took over with two minutes remaining.

Finally, Green Bay got a break on special teams. Punt returner Brandon Powell got hurt on a hospital ball by Darnold, forcing Jalen Nailor to take his place on a punt with under one minute left in the half. The ball went through Nailor’s hands and the Packers picked it up at the 3-yard line.

After a mini meltdown by Matt LaFleur on the sideline, Love got the Packers on the board by finding Reed for a touchdown to bring the score to 28-7.

While the overall feel of the Vikings looking like the ‘85 Bears still remained heading into the locker room, there had to be a flicker of concern that they let Green Bay off the hook by botching the punt. Anything can happen in Lambeau when these two teams play.

The Packers came out in the second half the same way they played in the first half. Love threw an inaccurate pass on third down and after a review it was determined that he did not have the ball. Punt.

One more score for the Vikings might put Love on the sideline for the rest of the game and allow the Vikings to go into run-the-clock mode early. On third down, Darnold found Addison for a 25-yard gain on a spectacular catch. Jones then went for 16 yards and the Vikings were on Green Bay’s side of the field again in an eyeblink. Darnold again scampered away from trouble for 12 yards.

It seemed inevitable that the Vikings were about to put the game away but Darnold’s throw toward the end zone got picked off by Xavier McKinney, keeping the Packers’ flickering hopes alive. Not that it has come back to bite the Vikings to this point but their aggressiveness when leading big in games has been questionable at times. (File that under good problems to have).

Love threw two more inaccurate passes and Green Bay went three-and-out. No harm, no foul.

The sloppiness continued for the Vikings though. After a good run by Jones, he was caught from behind for a 2-yard loss. The rule of KOC is that you can never run twice in a row, so Darnold dropped back to pass and was sacked for a 12-yard loss. The Vikings ended up punting and Ryan Wright booted it through the end zone.

Maybe it’s because everyone watched Georgia-Alabama on Saturday night but 21 points with 6:28 left in the third didn’t yet feel like a done deal.

Love got rolling with a bubble screen for a first down and then a quick pass to Reed. In an eyeblink the Packers were at the Minnesota 34-yard line. A Packers holding call negated an explosive run — only the 476th example of them stepping on their own feet. On fourth down, Love tried to go for broke and instead had the ball broken up at the goal line. Yet another stand for the Vikings’ D.

Another three-and-out gave the Packers the ball back inside their own 20-yard line with the clock running out on the third quarter.

Finally the Jordan Love that we saw in 2023 arrived at the beginning of the fourth quarter. He rolled out and fired a pass down the sideline to Viking nemesis Bo Melton. Love then found a wide open Dontayvion Wicks to cut the score to 14 points.

Uh oh. 11:38 left.

The Vikings went for a play-action shot and then disaster struck. Darnold went back to throw on second down and got clobbered. The ball went flying and the Packers picked it up at the Vikings’ 20-yard line.

Everything that went right in the first half suddenly swung the other way. Two players later, the Packers scored on a quick pass and the score was cut to one score. Green Bay went for two and converted.