Category: 2022 Week 17 @ Green Bay

Jalen Nailor’s touchdown a bright spot in Week 17 loss vs. Packers

The rookie wide receiver hauled in his first career touchdown in Sunday’s blowout loss to the Packers

While the Vikings’ performance on Sunday in Green Bay was a disappointment, there was a bright spot in all of it for one player: wide receiver Jalen Nailor.

As it stands today, Nailor is the last wide receiver on the depth chart and only gets opportunities in garbage time. On Sunday, Nailor got that opportunity and he took advantage. Drafted in the sixth round out of Michigan State, Nailor is a guy who is known for his speed and taking the top off the defense.

Late in the fourth quarter, Kirk Cousins connected with Nailor on a 47-yard touchdown pass, which was the first of his career.

Nailor would end his day with three receptions for 89 yards and one touchdown but it was a nice showing for him in what was a sloppy performance by the rest of the team. It’s too early to tell if Nailor will be a consistent contributor for this Vikings offense, but if he continues to take advantage of opportunities when given the chance, he could end up carving out a role for himself.

The Vikings are struggling without Garrett Bradbury

The Vikings are struggling without their starting center

The Vikings went into Green Bay Sunday afternoon with hopes of eliminating the Packers from the playoffs, but instead, it was quite the opposite. The Packers came out on top keeping their playoff hopes alive, and the Vikings fell to the number three seed in the NFC standings.

Unfortunately, the Vikings had a few guys leave due to injury and one of those positions was center. Austin Schlottmann has been filling in for Garrett Bradbury who has been battling a back injury. On just his fifth play of the game, Schlottmann suffered a broken ankle that will knock him out for the rest of the season.

In previous seasons, fans may not have thought that losing Bradbury would be that detrimental to the team. This season, it’s been quite the opposite. Before getting hurt, Bradbury was Pro Football Focus’ 10th-ranked center and had been proving himself as an important member of the offensive line. Since his injury, the interior offensive line has taken quite the hit. Sunday’s game against the Packers was another example.

On the surface this stat is bad, but in context to how Bradbury has played this season, it’s even worse. In the 12 games that he has played this season, Bradbury has just one game with five pressures allowed and that was against the Dallas Cowboys.

The Vikings might just be playing it cautious with Bradbury knowing they have the playoffs already locked up, but if for some reason Bradbury can’t go, this interior offensive line could be in for a world of hurt when the playoffs arrive. Throw in the fact that Brian O’Neill left the game Sunday with a calf injury, and the severity is unknown. Things could turn south fast for this Vikings offensive line.

The Vikings had major issues with their cleats on Sunday

These kinds of issues shouldn’t happen in week 17

There are some lessons that the Minnesota Vikings just shouldn’t be learning in week 17 of the season, especially in a building that you play in every season. The turf looked rough on the television broadcast and it played out as such.

From early on in the game, players were slipping and the unlucky plays were happening. Justin Jefferson was slipping on the field and did so on the play that Packers cornerback Jaire Alexander did the Griddy right in front of him.

The biggest question is: why are the Vikings struggling with cleats in week 17 when they play at Lambeau Field every single year?

Head coach Kevin O’Connell said that it was “strongly recommended” that the Vikings wear seven-stud cleats to provide better traction. Unfortunately, quite a few players didn’t wear them and were seen changing into them, including Jefferson.

I understand there is something to not being able to force players to wear certain gear, but this raises a cause for concern. O’Connell shouldn’t have allowed this to happen, especially with defensive coordinator Ed Donatell having worked in Green Bay for a significant amount of time. Saying that you aren’t going to force people to wear a certain cleat feels like an excuse and that won’t fly for very long.

Sure, the Vikings didn’t lose because of the cleats, but it didn’t do anything to help stop the downward spiral of the team on Sunday.

Vikings vs. Packers: Studs & Duds from embarrassing loss

There weren’t many superlatives coming out of this game

The Minnesota Vikings couldn’t get out of their own way on Sunday afternoon against the Green Bay Packers losing in brutal fashion by a score of 41-17.

Everything that could go wrong did, as they lost center Austin Schlottmann and right tackle Brian O’Neill to injuries. It wasn’t just that, they had every bounce go against them and couldn’t get anything going on offense.

For once, the defense wasn’t the issue, as they place pretty well considering the circumstances.

This week is going to have a lot more duds than studs, as you can imagine, this wasn’t the fault of one person.

Vikings embarrass themselves in Green Bay, see chance at No. 1 seed dissolve

The Jim Nantz and Tony Romo curse is unfortunately real

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The Minnesota Vikings had an opportunity to enhance their standing in the NFC playoff race after the Philadelphia Eagles lost 20-10 to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday afternoon. Instead, they blew a huge opportunity, and did so in embarrassing fashion, with a 41-10 loss to the division-rival Green Bay Packers.

This game was called by CBS’ top pairing of Jim Nantz and Tony Romo, an assignment that didn’t bode well for the Vikings. Minnesota is 0-4 with a minus-96 point differential in games called by Nantz and Romo this season.

The game at Green Bay started off rather promising as safety Josh Metellus blocked a punt after just six total offensive plays, but center Austin Schlottmann left the game on their fifth offensive snap with an ankle injury and right tackle Brian O’Neill did as well with a calf injury. I fear that it could be an Achilles injury, as they are often labeled as calf injuries initially.

In this game, every bounce went poorly for the Vikings. Cousins was not great, but it’s hard to pin the loss solely on him. He threw three interceptions in the game, but the first two came on tipped balls with one of those going for a touchdown. He finished the game 18-31 for 205 yards, one touchdown and those three interceptions.

The biggest factor was that wide receiver Justin Jefferson was held completely in check. Packers cornerback Jaire Alexander talked a lot of trash leading into the game and ended up backing it up. Yes, he had plenty of bracket coverage but holding Jefferson to one catch for 15 yards did plenty to help the Packers control this game. It also gave Alexander a reason to disrespect him by hitting the Griddy right in front of him.

The defense is the one unit that doesn’t deserve blame. They held the Packers to 315 yards on the day and only allowed 27 total points despite being put in difficult situations by the four turnovers the offense committed.

The Vikings have one more opportunity to redeem themselves with a final game against the Chicago Bears next weekend. With a San Francisco 49ers win over the Las Vegas Raiders, the Vikings will need a win and a 49ers loss to the Arizona Cardinals to clinch the No. 2 seed.

Jaire Alexander disrespects Justin Jefferson, hits Griddy after incompletion

These two teams are getting chirpy

The Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers rivalry is off to a crazy start on Sunday afternoon and cornerback Jaire Alexander just took it to another level after the referees missed a pass interference call on him.

After said missed pass interference call, Alexander got really cocky and disrespectfully hit the Griddy right in front of wide receiver Justin Jefferson’s face.

Not only did they miss the pass interference call, but Alexander was blatantly disrespectful to Jefferson and it should have been called as unsportsmanlike conduct.

One thing is for sure: these referees are letting these two teams play and it’s going to stay chippy.

WATCH Josh Metellus notch his second-straight game with a blocked punt

The Vikings set themselves up in great position

The Minnesota Vikings really are unlike any other team in the National Football League.

They have been finding ways to win and make opportunistic plays on all three units with consistency.

Just six plays into the game against the Green Bay Packers, they did it again with Josh Metellus blocking a punt in his second-consecutive game.

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The play was after the Vikings forced a Packers three-and-out and set the offense up at the one-yard line. They weren’t able to get into the end zone, but got a field goal to get a quick 3-0 lead.

Pretty impressive start by the Vikings at Lambeau Field.

Vikings vs. Packers inactives: Christian Watson will dress

The inactives don’t leave any major surprises

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In less than a couple of hours, the Minnesota Vikings and the Green Bay Packers will face off in Lambeau Field with the Packers playoff lives on the line.

Prior to kickoff, both teams released their inactive lists and Packers star wide receiver Christian Watson will dress but it remains to be seen how much he will play or how effective he will be.

The Vikings inactive list is a lot of the same and didn’t have any major surprises, as it was announced with the final injury report that both Garrett Bradbury and James Lynch were already announced as out.

The one noteworthy inactive is defensive end Ross Blacklock. With Lynch out and Jonathan Bullard still on injured reserve, his inclusion on the inactive list is not a great sign for his future in Minnesota.

Week 17 Vikings vs. Packers: How to watch, stream and listen

The NFC North champion heads into Lambeau Field on Sunday afternoon

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What a wild rivalry week this has been. One Green Bay Packers podcaster Peter Butkowski made Twitter a warzone when he spent the entire week egging on Minnesota Vikings fans by calling the team fraudulent.

The game itself is a big one, as both teams are fighting for playoff position. Last season saw it be the same thing but in reverse with the Packers having already clinched the division.

The Vikings have a chip on their shoulder with the label of fraudulent being tossed at them left and right.

Make sure you know how to catch this epic battle between NFC North titans.

Behind Enemy Lines: Previewing Week 17 matchup w/Packers Wire

We spoke to Packers Wire to get the scoop on the division rival

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The border battle between the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers always gets pretty contentious. There are a lot of Packers fans that reside in the state of Minnesota and things get really interesting when the two teams play each other.

This weekend is no different. The Vikings have clinched the NFC North division and could potentially clinch the number two seed on Sunday. The Packers on the other hand are riding a three-game winning streak. They essentially need to win out to get a playoff spot.

To get a better sense of where the Packers are, we spoke with Packers Wire managing editor Zach Kruse to better understand the Packers team.