Aaron Rodgers and Packers put together best offensive showing in LaFleur era in road win over Vikings

 

The Packers 43-34 season opening victory over the Vikings had some major positives, and some things not so positive. First, it was a significant road win against the team that is supposed to be its principle division rival this season; the Vikings defense, despite losing experience on the front line, is still supposedly the class of the division (which doesn't actually say much for the rest of the division) and many expect the Vikings to be the favorite to win the division, especially given the fact the Packers did little obvious to improve their offense in the off-season or in the draft.

Secondly, despite the lack of obvious upgrades in the offense, this game could be said to be the Packers best overall offensive performance thus far in the Matt LaFleur era. The Packers should have scored on all but one offensive possession, the exceptions being when they failed to punch it three straight times from Vikings’ one-yard line on their second possession, and even on their only punt of the game they still managed a couple first downs. Aaron Rodgers looked like a man on a mission with something to prove, playing two halves of football for a change. After starting out somewhat tentatively, Rodgers went on a tear, completing his last 15 of 19 for 232 yards and 2 TDs, and finishing with 364 yards passing and 4 scores. Most impressively was unlike last season when he avoided throwing in tight windows, three of his TD passes were of that variety, indicating he may be more “trusting” of his receiver group.

The Lafleur system is still supposedly a “run-first” offense, and it appears, at least in this game, the Packers’ running game is by committee, with Aaron Jones’ team high 66 yards out of 158 yards total. The Vikings defensive line, though talented, is still young, and perhaps it was believed that the passing game could take advantage of that, and this was born out by the fact that Rodgers was not sacked even once in the game, and the lack of pressure gave him time to pick-on a couple of youthful corners.

Defensively there are issues, having given up those 34 points, and making the game more “interesting” than it should have. Though the Packers largely stifled the Vikings offense through three quarters, a certain amount of laziness crept in during the fourth quarter, with the Vikings scoring three times in three long drives that just barely covered five minutes total. The defense also failed to stop the Vikings on three consecutive two-point conversions. It was fortunate that in between the Packers mounted their own scoring drives to keep some distance on the scoreboard, and Vikings certainly have their own game play issues to fix.

Overall, a good win for the Packers, and Rodgers had the kind of game he needed to have to keep the skeptics on the sidelines. It remains to be seen if the level of play of both sides on the ball was more indicative of the lack of full-contact preseason play than reality, but then again that could be said about every other team this season.