Vikings players come home to ‘Beat Green Bay’ T-shirts

“We’re making way too big a deal out of that”. The reason we stopped at the Rams game was because after that stretch of the Chiefs, Lions, Bears, and Rams, the thinking was that the rest of Minnesota’s schedule would get exponentially more hard.

The advice to stay hungry and avoid complacency, analogous to a mouse sniffing a trap set with a tasty snack, will be especially pertinent now that they’ve moved past the Green Bay Packers in the NFC North.

HOWEVAH, the script has really been re-written for these two teams over the last month or so.

Green Bay could be in trouble in its journey to Minnesota on Sunday, and at a time where they’re trying to stop a free fall. In that stretch, the Packers have fallen short to 6-3 and now they are currently sitting a game behind the NFC North-leading Minnesota Vikings, who have won five games in a row. Undoubtedly, the way the Green Bay Packers have been playing, they should be the underdogs in that one.

Success starts with the aggressive defense that now leads the National Football League with an average of just 17.1 points allowed per game. When he struggles, the Packers struggle. I think they’ll understand.

-RUSHING OFFENSE: D-minus. After demoting him from the starting lineup coming out of the last game, the Packers surprisingly scratched Eddie Lacy from Sunday’s matchup. “You can go down to the store and print them up”. Surprisingly, the Packers are only 22nd in passing yards, and the uncanny ability Rodgers has of elevating the play of his receiver group doesn’t seem to be at the level it has been in past seasons.

Green Bay’s defense is, once again, a fairly mediocre bend but don’t break product.

While the Packers are not considered a struggling team or anything, they are not considered one of the league’s best at the moment.

Nov 8, 2015; Minneapolis, MN, U.S.; Minnesota Vikings defensive tackle Linval Joseph (98) smiles while speaking with a reporter after the game with the St. Louis Rams at TCF Bank Stadium. The Packers are not playing well, but Rodgers has usually done alright against the Vikings.

The road ahead just looks like it is not going to get any easier for Green Bay either. Let’s say, for example, the Vikings only go 2-3 against the five remaining opponents besides the Packers. A split with Green Bay gets them a 10-6 record, and a probable playoff spot, maybe even a home wildcard game. “It’s not one game we’ve been in where I’ve seen guys hanging their heads, or where you feel the vibe that guys have quit”, running back Adrian Peterson said. They are also now second in the NFC North behind the surging Vikings, who sit at 7-2 and are on an absolute roll of late. The great Calvin Johnson (team-high six catches, 81 yards in nine targets) also had a big third-down conversion earlier in that touchdown drive, picking up 13 yards on a third-and-9 pass. Stafford completed 24 of 38 passes for just 242 yards and two touchdowns.