The Green Bay Packers allowed 21 straight points to the Minnesota Vikings and couldn’t complete a late comeback on Sunday at Lambeau Field, leading to a disappointing 28-22 loss to their NFC North visitors in Week 8.
The Vikings scored on their first four possessions and got 226 total yards from running back Dalvin Cook to create the upset.
Here are the studs and duds from the Packers’ 28-22 loss to the Vikings:
Studs
DL Kenny Clark: Who knows what Dalvin Cook’s final totals would have looked like had No. 97 not been in the game. Playing alongside Dean Lowry, Tyler Lancaster and Kingsley Keke, the contrast between Clark and his teammates on the defensive line was stark, even stunning. On two different occasions, Clark single-handedly blew up the play. On the first drive, he drove Garrett Bradbury back three yards and stuffed Cook for no gain. Later, he beat the reach block attempt of the right guard and lassoed down Alexander Mattison after he tried to cut it back. In the fourth quarter, he consistently took on double-team blocks at the point of attack and held his ground. The run defense was bad. Clark was not the reason why.
WR Davante Adams: The Vikings were committed to making sure Adams didn’t slice and dice them all the way down the field every series, so Mike Zimmer gave his young cornerbacks plenty of help. The wind element certainly helped condense the field and take some pressure off defending the deep ball. Adams still impacted the game, especially in the scoring area. He beat Jeff Gladney’s outside leverage for a 5-yard touchdown on the first drive. He caught Gladney napping on a well-designed play for a 1-yard score. Late in the fourth, a terrific individual effort from the slot created a third touchdown. The Packers just weren’t able to wiggle him free consistently in the other parts of the field.
TE Robert Tonyan: Three of his five receptions gained first downs, including his first catch on the first drive. He made a terrific contested catch along the sideline on the final drive, and he also should have scored on his 45-yard catch but had to lay out to secure the slightly inaccurate throw. The Packers got hosed when he drew a fourth-down pass interference penalty on Anthony Harris, only to have the officials pick it up. It was clearly interference. He gained 79 yards but it should have been more. With a good ball on the deep throw in the third quarter, he easily would have gone over 100 with a score.
QB Aaron Rodgers: Look, give him some credit. The Packers quarterback was asked to throw a lot in tough conditions, and he handled the task admirably. The ball wobbled at times but Rodgers generally got the ball where he wanted it to be despite wind gusts of 40 miles per hour. Whereas the Vikings didn’t attempt a single pass over 10 yards, Rodgers completed 9 of 17, including two over 20. Once again, he was terrific from a clean pocket but struggled a bit under pressure. Rodgers didn’t hit Tonyan in stride on the 45-yard completion, and he missed Jace Sternberger for a big play, but his accuracy was generally good. Equanimeous St. Brown failed to finish catches on two well-placed throws on back-to-back plays in the second half. His late touchdown pass to Adams was a remarkable throw given the necessary trajectory and spiraling winds.
Duds
DL Dean Lowry: His sack of Kirk Cousins was a gimmie, and any impact of the sack was erased by his disappearing act against the run. Strong for the last month, Lowry got pushed around Sunday. He was on the field for 30 run plays but didn’t truly affect more than one or two. The Vikings ran at him over and over.
S Darnell Savage: The Packers safety missed two more tackles, pushing his team-high total to nine through seven games. Savage just isn’t affecting the game in many ways, and his tackling as a last-level defender hasn’t been good enough. He was credited with four tackles, and all four were seven yards or more down the field.
TE Marcedes Lewis: His run-blocking, usually tremendous, was satisfactory at best. Officials flagged him twice for holding. One negated an 8-yard run, the other an 8-yard completion. Both times, Lewis was attempting to block a defensive end. Neither was egregious, but both docked the Packers 10 yards.
DL Kingsley Keke: The second-year defensive lineman had a chance at an impact play on the first snap of the second half. He worked around the block of Garrett Bradbury and was ready to dump Cook in the backfield for a loss, but the Vikings running back simply cut past him, springing a 37-yard gain. Minnesota had no problems moving Keke out of position in the run game.
S Vernon Scott: He played just four snaps. His missed tackle on Cook cleared the way for his 50-yard touchdown. In position to make the stop at around the 35-yard line, Scott got caught leaning and Cook made him pay. His diving tackle attempt barely slowed Cook’s progress.
S Will Redmond: He also played just for snaps. His missed tackle was at least partially responsible for Minnesota’s first touchdown. Shadowing Cook on 3rd-and-8, Redmond had a chance to make a tackle in space and get the Packers defense off the field. Instead, Redmond overpursued to the outside, and Cook exploded past him to pick up the first down.
WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling: He played 61 snaps, including 41 on passing downs, but saw just one target. The third-year receiver also missed on several lead blocks on quick passing plays. The Packers gave him an end-around but he gained just four yards. MVS has the speed, but he just doesn’t change direction well, complicating the effectiveness of plays needing him to read the defense and make a cut.
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