The Packers have won four consecutive NFC North titles with Aaron Rodgers as their quarterback. The Vikings have one win against the Packers in the last four seasons.
“I am tired of that,” said Vikings defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd. “It’s been three years since I’ve been here and the Packers have been the toughest game every year.”
Sunday night in Green Bay two 10-5 teams will decide who is the 2015 division champion. “Everybody is going to play lights out,” said Vikings kick returner and wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson. “We want to go home with the title.”
The Packers were embarrassed in Arizona last Sunday, losing 38-8 to the Cardinals. Rodgers, probably the NFL’s best quarterback, played behind a leaky offensive line. His two fumbles were returned for touchdowns. He was sacked eight times and threw one interception.
The Vikings scored a season high 49 points in their easy 49-17 win over the Giants at TCF Bank Stadium. Adrian Peterson ran for over 100 yards for the seventh time this season. Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater completed 15 of 25 passes for 165 yards and a touchdown, with no interceptions. But it was the defense that wrote the best storyline, harassing quarterback Eli Manning, his receivers and runners.
That defense made Vikings fans wonder if similar results could happen in Green Bay Sunday in the nationally-televised game on NBC. Floyd, though, isn’t assuming the Packers’ meltdown in the desert will repeat in the below freezing temps at Lambeau Field.
“It’s not that easy to just take someone’s confidence away,” Floyd said. “At the end of the day they can easily jump back on a horse. You gotta understand who that quarterback is. …”
The Packers have stumbled at times this season, not playing up to expectations. The Packers were coming off consecutive losses when they played the Vikings in Minneapolis on November 22 but the Purple couldn’t put an end to their 0-4-1 losing streak against Green Bay. In that 30-13 win, Rodgers threw two touchdown passes and Eddie Lacy rushed for 100 yards.
The Vikings hope to control Rodgers by keeping him in the pocket most of the time. The Packers’ receivers sometimes struggle to get separation and if the Vikings don’t have to double team some of them it will allow the Minnesota defense to concentrate more on Rodgers.
Still, it only takes a breakdown here or there for Rodgers to exploit a defense. Floyd said Rodgers and Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson are the only two players he could think of that can throw touchdowns from the 50-yard line while moving.
“He’s a guy that can make a lot of passes on the run,” Floyd said. “We know his style and we know how he can be. We can’t take last week lightly (the Packers’ performance against the Cardinals). At the end of the day he’s still Aaron Rodgers—still the Green Bay Packers, and we gotta treat them as such.”
Worth Noting
Peterson, who has 1,418 yards rushing, could win his third career NFL rushing title Sunday night in the Vikings’ final regular season game. The 30-year-old Peterson would become the second oldest player ever to lead the league in rushing. The Jets Curtis Martin was 31 in 2004 when he led the league.
Bridgewater has 1,421 yards passing, six touchdown throws, two interceptions and a 94.6 passer rating in his last six road games. The Vikings are 4-2 in those games.
Stubhub.com is listing tickets as low as $97 for the game in Green Bay. The temperature at kickoff could be about 20 degrees with no snow and moderate wind.
National Player of the Year candidate Denzel Valentine, who last month had knee surgery, likely won’t be available when the Spartans play the Gophers tomorrow at Williams Arena. Without Valentine, the nationally No. 1 ranked Spartans lost 83-70 at Iowa on Tuesday night in their Big Ten opener.
Jim Dutcher, the former Gophers coach, told Sports Headliners Valentine is “50 percent” of the Spartans team. “The Gophers can beat them,” he said, while cautioning Michigan State will give its best effort to avoid an 0-2 Big Ten start.
The Gophers opened their Big Ten season with a 78-63 loss at Ohio State on Wednesday night. Inside play, on both offense and defense, was problematic as it was during the nonconference games. Dutcher likes the team’s perimeter play but problems defending, scoring and rebounding inside prompt him to forecast a 12th place finish in the Big Ten, and perhaps a 4-14 record.
Dutcher said if the Gophers (now 6-7 overall) get “lucky” they could win more than four games. “Six would be a lot but that can happen,” he said. “There are not a lot of great teams in the Big Ten.”
Twins president Dave St. Peter speaks to the CORES luncheon group on Thursday, January 7 at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Bloomington, 1114 American Blvd. CORES is an acronym for coaches, officials, reporters, educators and sports fans. Reservations and more information are available by contacting Jim Dotseth, dotsethj@comcast.net.
It will be interesting to see if former Twins Michael Cuddyer, Justin Morneau, Joe Nathan and Torii Hunter all retire during this offseason. Cuddyer and Hunter have already announced they will. Morneau and Nathan seem like candidates, too, after long careers that included being core players on the Twins’ division championship clubs several years ago.
The December 28 issue of Sports Illustrated includes pages of farewells to American sports figures who died in 2015 including former Twins pitcher Dean Chance, ex-Minneapolis Laker guard Hot Rod Hundley, former Gophers and Detroit Lions tight end Charlie Saunders, and Flip Saunders who played guard for the Gophers and coached the Timberwolves. Noticeably absent from the pages was wrestling icon Verne Gagne.
Niklas Backstrom, the Wild’s 37-year-old goalie who reportedly earns $4 million, hasn’t played in a regular season game January 13, 2015. He is an emergency goalie behind Devan Dubnyk and Darcy Kuemper.
The Wild play the Lightning tomorrow night in Tampa Bay. In a November game in St. Paul, the Wild shut out the Lightning 1-0. Dubnyk stopped all 31 Lightning shots and defenseman Jared Spurgeon scored the lone goal for the Wild.
Spurgeon, 26, recently signed a four-year, $20.75 million contract extension that begins with the 2016-2017 season. He is probably a top 20 NHL defenseman who can help the Wild for several more years.
With fall sports ended, results are compiled for the MIAC All-Sports competition, and St. Thomas and Saint John’s are the leaders. The annual MIAC All-Sports competition takes a comprehensive look at each institution’s performance within the league to award an overall champion for each gender. The fall update includes final results for golf, cross country, soccer, volleyball and football. Saint John’s leads the men’s standings, while the Tommies are atop the women’s rankings. Final standings for the 2015-2016 school year will be announced in the spring.