The Green Bay Packers return home to Lambeau Field today for their first divisional game taking on the Minnesota Vikings. Kickoff is slated for noon CST as the 2-1 Packers, coming off their 30-14 victory against the Titans in Nashville will be looking to hand the 3-0 Vikings their first loss of the season. The Vikings are coming off an impressive 34-7 victory at home against the Houston Texans and will be looking to prove that they are the threat to the NFC that they look like as they face their division rival. 

This is game number one of the teams' yearly two-game series. Last year they split the series 1-1 with each team picking up a road victory as the Vikings defeated the Packers 24-10 at Lambeau Field on October 29th, and then the Packers returned the favor when they met at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on New Year's Eve, defeating the Vikings handily, 33-10. Each game was split between the Packers' very two-faced 2023 season as the loss was Green Bay's fifth of the season during a very lackluster start to the year and then their victory was at the tail-end of their push to the playoffs. The last meeting saw Jordan Love throw for 256 yards and three touchdowns, two of which ended up in the hands of Jayden Reed. The Packers also had their way on the ground with Aaron Jones rushing for 120 yards on 20 carries. The Vikings were without their starting QB Kirk Cousins and had Nick Mullens and Jaren Hall split time at QB throwing for a combined 180 yards, a touchdown for Mullens but an INT for Hall, and a fumble lost. The Packers were one game closer to stamping their ticket to the playoffs and the Vikings had their hopes knocked down a peg with the loss.

Last week's 30-14 victory against the Titans was nothing short of another Matt LaFleur game-planning masterclass as the Packers dialed up even more success with backup QB Malik Willis on offense against a Titans defense that was supposed to be a bit more challenging than Indy's.  It was a perfect mix of run and pass with Malik Willis putting up 202 yards and a touchdown through the air and 73 yards and a touchdown on six carries. Jeff Hafley's defense also showed us a big glimpse of what they're capable of getting to Titans QB Will Levis for eight sacks forcing a fumble on one and also intercepting the young QB three times. One of which, Jaire Alexander took back for six.

The Packers definitely looked impressive putting up such a concrete victory in the absence of Jordan Love, but today will offer a bit more of a challenge whether Love is at the helm or not. 

What to see on Offense

Well, all signs are pointing towards Jordan Love returning today and making his 2024 Lambeau Field regular season debut. He is still listed as questionable but according to most Insider reports, he should be ready to go for the first time since suffering an MCL sprain in week 1. But he'll surely need the rest of the offense to help him out today if they're going to emerge 3-1 at the end. 

The Packers' running game was effective last week against the Titans putting up 188 yards on 37 runs, but 73 of those yards were from Malik Willis either running designed runs or having to just keep it and make something happen. If Jordan Love returns, I wouldn't expect him to be as mobile as Willis so the running game will rely on Josh Jacobs and Emanuel Wilson. The Vikings though have been stout against the run thus far only giving up 3.6 yards per carry.  Much like the Titans though, the run-stopping comes from the Viking's defensive line with Harrison Phillips and Jonathan Bullard being the main run-stoppers. But the Vikings also have linebacker Blake Cashman who leads the team in tackles and can run down those runners to make the stop. Last week I talked about the Packers having to establish the running game on the outside first, taking away the effectiveness of those linemen. It will be more of the same this week but they'll have to be a little better at it to get around the linebackers. I wouldn't be surprised to see more Jayden Reed or Bo Melton in the running game today to keep the Vikings' front seven on their heels. 

When it comes to the pass, the Packers are going to have to do everything they can to keep Jordan Love upright. The Vikings have been great at getting to the Quarterback this season thus far with Patrick Jones and Jonathan Greenard each having four sacks on the season and Andrew Van Ginkel holding three already. I would look for a lot of quick passes to get the ball out of Love's hands as I don't imagine he's all that mobile at the current moment. Luckily this seemed to often be the Packers' game-plan with Malik Willis at the helm when throwing, so it should be nothing new for the receivers. If the need does arise for Love to hold on to the ball for longer to allow routes to develop, I'd look for running backs and tight ends to stay back and block to help stifle that great pass rush and allow Love to find his target. 

If the Packers do limit the Minnesota pass rush, I think Jordan Love could scorch their secondary. Corners Stephon Gilmore, Shaquill Griffin, and Byron Murphy are surely names to be recognized but they haven't been putting up many impressive performances so far this season. Safety Harrison Smith and Nickel corner Josh Metellus have an interception each though and could be the effective ones if the Minnesota secondary has players to stay away from. I don't know what Jordan Love's limitations will be in this game, but I would take Green Bay's compliment of receivers to get the job done today, hopefully, Love will have the ability to get the ball to them anywhere on the field.

On offense, I think this game is going to come down to stopping Minnesota's pass rush and creating a spark in the run game. If these can be accomplished, the Packers will have a good day. 

What to See on Defense

Aaron Jones will be welcomed back to Lambeau Field today. Or will he return to a chorus of boos? Either way, it was obvious that Jones wanted to make nice with the Packers faithful before his return after he released a love and gratitude letter to the Packers and their fans on Wednesday. But all of that love is going to take a break today as soon as the ball is kicked off. As Matt LaFleur said earlier this week when asked about him, Jones is a problem. It's no surprise that after three games Jones has 228 yards and 1 touchdown on the ground and 97 yards off 12 catches and a touchdown through the air. Jones is doing exactly what he did in Green Bay and today the Packers are going to have to prevent that from happening. 

The Packers looked much better last week against the Titans against the run as they held Tony Pollard and the Tennessee running game to only 33 yards rushing. This is undoubtedly impressive, especially for a defense that was gouged by Saquon Barkley and Jonathan Taylor the weeks prior, but it can't go without notice that the Titans were down 10 early in the game in the first quarter and never caught up. So, there was less need for running and more need for passing. Regardless, the Packers' front seven are going to have to remain stout if they're going to keep Jones from running all over them. Kenny Clark has gotten off to a slow and disappointing start to 2024. I would love to see him step up today and stifle his former teammate in the backfield or at the line of scrimmage to limit Jones' effectiveness. 

After the Packers pass rush got to Will Levis last week 12 times resulting in 8 sacks with one being a sack-fumble, I'd imagine Levis didn't buy his offensive line dinner at all this week. More like he made the line buy his Tylenol.  The Vikings line may not be as prone to letting their Quarterback get beat up but they're not immune to it either. Sam Darnold has been sacked 8 times this season, with four of them coming last week against Houston. On the edges, the Vikings boast a good tandem in Christian Darrisaw and Brian O'Neill. Together they've allowed a total of 12 pressures and two sacks this season. The Vikings line's weakness though comes between the tackles where the majority of the pressure on Sam Darnold this season has come from. Devonte Wyatt is out to a great start to the season with three sacks, I'd expect him to get some good pressure on Darnold, and the Edge rushers may get a bit creative today running stunts to draw those interior linemen so they too can get in on hunting the Quarterback. Darnold has looked like he's having a career resurgence so far in 2024, but in the past, he's often been prone to mistakes. Getting that pressure on him could do just that.

When Darnold doesn't have pressure the Packers' secondary will have to be on its A-game to prevent getting carved up through the air. The Vikings will be without tight end TJ Hockenson, but receiver Jordan Addison has been on track to return from injury and could be in the lineup today. The biggest concern lies in whether or not Jaire Alexander will play. He is listed as questionable with a quad/groin injury. Signs are pointing towards him possibly not playing with two corners being brought up from the practice squad for today's match-up. This would be a bit of a problem as Justin Jefferson would normally draw Jaire Alexander as much as Jaire could get him. That would be a battle for the ages with Jaire off to the best start to a season in perhaps his entire career. But after Jefferson, the Packers corners will have to stop Addison who's been effective against them in the past.

With Carrington Valentine out, if Alexander is out as well, that would leave Eric Stokes, Keisean Nixon, Corey Ballentine, Robert Rochell, and Kamal Hadden to cover the Vikings receivers. Stokes improved last week against the Titans limiting receivers despite giving up a TD to DeAndre Hopkins. I've held out hope that he can return to the Eric Stokes we saw earlier in his career before injuries took him out and I'm hoping perhaps last week was just a taste of the improvement he's made and he could get back to his full potential. Today would be an excellent time for that to occur. Ballentine has done well against Vikings receivers in the past so will hopefully repeat that success today. Nixon hasn't been the most impressive in coverage this year but today would be an excellent time for him to become a force. Rochell and Hadden are unknown but will hopefully hold their own if called on. I have to say I'm a little let down that Hadden and Rochell were called up from the PS but not rookie Kalen King who was very sticky in coverage during camp but coaches know better than I do I guess, so I will yield to their opinion. 

It could be a perfect time for us to see Javon Bullard in coverage a little more in nickel and dime situations with Evan Williams filling in the safety position next to Xavier McKinney. 

The Packers' secondary has been a turnover machine with 8 interceptions already this season led by Xavier McKinney and Jaire Alexander. They could dictate the game if they can force Sam Darnold into some mistakes early and keep tight coverage on Justin Jefferson. 

Extra Notes

Brayden Narveson was 3/3 on extra points and 3/3 on field goals last week in his return to Tennessee. Granted two of the field goals were inside of 30 yards with only one being 47 yards, Hallelujah! Our kicker was perfect! Those are words I don't think we've been able to say for a long time. Hopefully, Narveson will be able to keep it up today. 

I've said it once here and I'll say it again, let's keep our home-field advantage and get loud Lambeau! Unfortunately, I've already heard of Vikings fans being on their way to Green Bay today. Even though it deeply annoys me how many season ticket holders dump their tickets off to the highest bidder allowing rival fans in the stands, I know that it's hard to prevent or honestly blame them if they can't make the game themselves. But let's defend our home turf and make sure the Green and Gold are much louder than the Purple today. 

In the End

I've talked about Matt LaFleur having to be in his bag against the Colts and the Titans the last two weeks to help Malik Willis pull off a victory. He did just that in both games. This week, his star QB is back. Jordan Love is expected to start. However, LaFleur is still going to be called upon to be in his bag yet again. Minnesota, as much as it makes me cringe to admit, is a good football team so far this season. So LaFleur is going to need to put his QB in the best position possible to keep him safe as well as successful. 

Jeff Hafley's defense has made us think we're finally saved from the Joe Barry days. But to be honest, I'm not satisfied until the defense looks good against a formidable opponent. I consider the Minnesota offense to be a formidable opponent so today will be a heck of a test to see where this defense is at. All in all, I think the Packers could still emerge victorious in their first NFC North match-up and will be looking towards their trip to Los Angeles by late tomorrow. Go Pack Go.