Purple Reign once more: Vikings beat Packers, take NFC North

With a 20-13 win over the Green Bay Packers, the Vikings won the NFC North title.

The Vikings (11-5) won a third consecutive game to earn the No. 3 seed in the NFC playoffs, and they will host the sixth-seeded Seattle Seahawks (10-6) this Sunday. They had been to the penultimate peak with the 2009 NFC Championship Game and endured the ensuing lean years, which included a 5-10-1 season in 2013 and a 7-9 record last year.

McCarthy has said he does not plan to use the team’s 2010 run as an example for this team – too many players are different, for one, and this year’s opportunity is, as he said, “unique”. “That drought is over”. The Redskins are 1 point favorites over the Green Bay Packers in their wild card home matchup according to Oddsshark.

“We’ve got to come in here, we’ve got to get back to work”, James Jones said, who had 4 catches for a season-high 102 yards. It is Peterson’s third rushing crown and, at age 30, he is the second-oldest rushing champion behind Curtis Martin, who was 31 when he won it for the Jets in 2004. We’ve got to figure out the root of that and fix it quickly.

“We were gassed. We had a couple guys throw up on the sideline, they were so out of juice”, Zimmer said.

That’s a topic that can be dissected in a few months.

FRANTIC FINISH: Lambeau Field in prime time is not an ideal place for any opponent to play. Perhaps this Packers team may be struggling more than any of the previous seven postseason entrants. They ranked fifth in third-down defense, allowing teams to convert just 34.5 percent of the time, and fourth in keeping teams out of the end zone when inside the 20-yard line.

There was Tramon Williams’ interception in the end zone in the final minute to seal the wild-card win at Philadelphia and his interception return for a touchdown a week later at Atlanta to blow open the divisional playoff game; B.J. “Stating the obvious. And frankly we didn’t do enough of the things we need to do, especially in big games, to come out on top”.

Zimmer smiled and raised both arms in the air after Rodgers’ final pass fell incomplete.

That defense kept bailing them out Sunday night.

Kicker Mason Crosby added a field goal later in the fourth quarter to get Green Bay within a score, but it was the play he made on the next play that could have changed the game.

Griffen had two sacks, and the Vikings held on at the end after being left out of breath defending the Packers’ late no-huddle attack. “You want to see teams compete and be close and that’s what’s fun about it. You never know what’s going to happen”.

They ran the ball down Minnesota’s throats successfully and kicked a field goal…then only scored 10 more points on offense the rest of the game. And he has second-year quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, who didn’t play well against the Packers but has shown overall an ability to remain poised in big games during the Vikings’ playoff-clinching stretch run.

Rodgers finished 28 of 44 for 291 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) – The joy that Adrian Peterson felt following the Minnesota Vikings’ victory over the Green Bay Packers to win the NFC North overshadowed the tightness that the NFL’s leading rusher felt in his lower back. This time around, the Packers have lost two straight and have not been able to solve the major offensive funk that they’re in. They will be afterthoughts in the playoff discussion, to be sure. Essentially, he says that we are better than the Packers, with the only caveat being QB play. “We have a lot of pride in this locker room and I’m just looking forward to getting out to Washington”. Seattle’s ground game has been a bit unpredictable lately, as starting running back Marshawn Lynch underwent abdominal surgery and has not played since November 15.