Mike McCarthy on Vikings and the playoff push

The Green Bay Packers know they can beat the Minnesota Vikings, but they could use some improvements on the offensive side of the ball as they head into the 2016 playoffs. This is precisely why the National Football League has moved to preserve the last week on the schedule for division games.

The Packers are more concerned about momentum going into the playoffs.

The game will decide the NFC North champion. On November 22nd, the Packers defeated the Vikings 30-13 in Minneapolis, but this time around it may not go as well for the Packers. That’s because the wild card teams in that scenario would be Green Bay and Seattle, and even if they both finished 10-6, the Packers would occupy the #5 spot due to their head-to-head victory over the Seahawks. Green Bay would go to Washington. Aaron Rodgers has one more shot to tune up the sluggish Green Bay offence.

A better hope would be the 2012 season finale.

“We’ve got to try to contain this guy with pass rushing, cubing the pocket and making him step up”, Munnerlyn said. “It’s a game that’s attractive”. That sent the Packers into the playoffs on the ultimate high, although they crashed the next week against the San Francisco 49ers at Lambeau. Also a factor could be how the Vikings deal with the pressure of the moment. The biggest loss of the reigning MVP’s career came right before Bridgewater and the Vikings drowned the Giants 49-17 as 6-point favorites, and the two results together rearranged sports books’ betting boards. “Don’t have to do anything extra, don’t have to put any “S” on our chests, capes on our backs. We just have to do our job and do our job well”.

“We could play on a basketball court, and I’ll be ready to play for this one”, Vikings running back Adrian Peterson said.

There are plenty of other games with playoff implications. “We feel like we’re capable of getting this win”. “They lost pretty bad last week”. It’s simple enough for the Jets, but with their former coach Rex Ryan on the opposing sideline, it won’t be easy.

If he can do so, the Steelers couldn’t find a better opponent than archrival Cleveland against which to take advantage of the opening. “Rodgers, you’ve got to rush under some control because those guys can get out of the pocket and he can kill you”, Patterson said. It was the formula for their most impressive win of the second half of the season, the 17-point victory in Minnesota when they ran and passed 34 times each.

More intriguing are the coaching futures.

An NFL source said the injury likely affected Luck’s performance after he returned from a two-game absence that the Colts attributed to a shoulder injury.

The game comes down to a Hail Mary to a large, athletic tight end.

Seattle will be the six seed if the Vikings and Packers tie, regardless the outcome of Seattle’s game in Arizona.

A Carolina loss also would place plenty of doubt about how good the Panthers really are despite their gaudy record. Don’t forget the Packers are coming off an absolute woodshed beating from Arizona as well. Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers was sacked eight times in the game against the Cardinals and the once-vaunted Packers offense gained just 178 yards.

Calling Vikings-Packers are seven-time Emmy Award-winner Al Michaels (play-by-play), in his record 30th season as the voice of the NFL’s premier primetime package; 16-time Emmy Award-winner Cris Collinsworth, who has won the Emmy for Outstanding Event Analyst in each of his six seasons in the “SNF” booth; and two-time Emmy Award-winning sideline reporter Michele Tafoya.