Packers at least made it look "close" in another loss to Vikings

 

Another close but no cigar game would seem to be suggested by the Packers once more falling by a “whisker” to a good team, losing to the Viking 27-25 on the road, and falling to 0-4 against their top-two division rivals. The Packers needed to win this game to prove doubters wrong that they were not in the top-tier at least in the NFC, but the Packers now fall to 0-5 against the “elite” teams in the NFC, their other loss to the Eagles. They have not beaten a team that has at least 10 wins this season (well, OK, the Rams won their 10th game today); last season, despite finishing only 9-8, they beat two teams that won more games than they did during the regular season, the Chiefs and Lions, and another in the playoffs, the Cowboys.

This game really wasn’t that close. The Vikings dominated the Packers through 3.5 quarters of game, leading 27-10 and narrowly missing adding a field goal to that total. With 9 minutes to play in the game, the Packers had been out-gained a shocking 417-142, with Love throwing for just 78 yards passing at that point. Alright, so the Vikings laid down on defense and the Packers managed to score two touchdowns late in the game. But with 2 minutes to play, the Vikings awoke from their slumber, and Sam Darnold, who finished with 377 yards passing and 3 TD passes, managed to complete another pass for a first down and insured the game as the Packers ran out of timeouts.

Next week the Packers play the 4-12 Bears and that should be win number 12 for the season, which is an obvious improvement on paper over last season, but it is difficult to say the team is actually “better” than the one that entered the playoffs winning 6 of 8 games including those over the Chiefs and Lions. The Saints were easily handled by a 3-12 Raiders team this week, so last week’s win was somewhat less impressive. The Packers will not get a home playoff game in the wild card round, and will most likely play a rejuvenated Rams team that has won 9 of 11, although depending on what the Commanders do, they could fall to the seventh seed and face the Eagles again.