There are unknowns at the quarterback position for the Minnesota Vikings, with a starter for Sunday’s game still not named, but this is a dynamic passing game that can still wreak havoc on the Green Bay Packers’ porous pass defense regardless of who is throwing the ball.
“Obviously, we’ve got a tremendous challenge when you talk about the Minnesota Vikings,” said Matt LaFleur on Wednesday. “They’ve got a lot of talented receivers. They’ve thrown for a lot of yards these last couple of weeks. Justin Jefferson is the best in the game. So it’s going to be a great challenge for us.”
As of Wednesday, the Vikings still hadn’t announced if Nick Mullins, Jaren Hall or Josh Dobbs were going to start at quarterback. However, despite the uncertainty at the position since Kirk Cousins suffered a season-ending Achilles injury, this has still proven to be a dynamic passing game, with Minnesota as a team ranking sixth in yards per pass attempt this season at 7.4.
LaFleur considers Jefferson to be the best receiver in the game, and the All-Pro is on an absolute tear right now. Over the last two weeks, Jefferson has caught 13-of-20 passes for 225 yards and a touchdown. Overall, he ranks 11th among receivers with 16.1 yards per catch, is a threat in any part of the field, and is third in yards per route run—an efficiency metric from PFF.
Minnesota will not have tight end TJ Hockenson, who has been placed on IR, but it’s not as if Jefferson is the only wideout to worry about either. Rookie Jordan Addison, who is day-to-day with an ankle injury, has made an immediate impact, totaling 826 receiving yards this season and nine touchdowns. The bulk of his targets have come on short to intermediate routes. Not to be forgotten either is KJ Osborn, who has 531 yards of his own with three scores.
“Both of those guys are really talented receivers,” said LaFleur about Addison and Osborne. “They’ve got elite speed. They’ve made big plays all season long. And it takes a lot of the burden away from Justin when you have multiple people that can contribute in the fashion that they’re able to do that. Like I said, this is one of the more talented, obviously, everybody talks about JJ but I think collectively this is one of the more talented receivers in the NFL.”
Along with the talent that Minnesota has at the position, head coach and play-caller Kevin O’Connell does a great job of moving these receivers around, giving opposing defenses different looks and matchups to contend with.
Understandably so, with the weapons that the Vikings have in the passing game, this is an offense that wants to move the ball through the air, regardless of who the quarterback is. The passing game is also where the Green Bay defense has been picked apart in recent weeks.
The last three quarterbacks to face the Packers – Tommy DeVito, Baker Mayfield, and Bryce Young – are all coming off career days. Against Tampa Bay, it was a heavy use of soft zone that the Bucs picked apart with easy pitch and catch opportunities. It’s as if they knew where the Green Bay defenders were going to be.
Then this past Sunday in Carolina, we saw Joe Barry switch things up with the Packers playing man coverage on a season-high 64 percent of Young’s drop backs. They also blitzed at a season-high rate as well, however the results remained the same.
Even with trying different defensive tactics, this passing game is still being picked apart. Overall, there is a disconnect between what Barry wants to do and what the players are trying to do on the field. In Carolina we saw the Packers blitzing but the cornerbacks still playing soft and, in general, there’s been a lack of execution by the defensive backs.
Against Tampa Bay, the defensive game plan seemed predictable, given how open the receivers were. In each of the last two weeks, there haven’t been timely or appropriate adjustments made either, with Tampa finding success from start to finish, and Carolina starting slow but putting together three straight scoring drives to end the game. The Panthers adjusted to what Green Bay was doing and the Packers didn’t counter.
Green Bay is also going to have to find a way to slow the Minnestoa passing game without All-Pro cornerback Jaire Alexander, who the team suspended for this week’s game. That leaves Eric Stokes and Carrington Valentine on the boundary, with Corey Ballentine as the backup, along with Keisean Nixon in the slot.
“We still got dogs in the room,” said Stokes about playing without Alexander. “Like it don’t matter. It’s time for CV, me, CB, Kei, all of us. We got dogs in the room. It’s not just Ja. But we got other dogs, we got other animals in the room too.”
This Sunday night matchup between Green Bay and Minnesota is a de facto playoff game for both teams. If the Packers win their final two games, their odds of making the playoffs sits at 95 percent, according to the New York Times playoff predictor. If they lose to the Vikings, however, their playoff chances will sit at two percent.
And there’s a good chance that whether it’s winning and losing, it is all dependent upon how well the Packers’ struggling pass defense holds up against the Vikings receivers.