The Good, Bad And Ugly From The Green Bay Packers’ Loss To The Minnesota Vikings

All week long, Green Bay Packers’ head coach Matt LaFleur said the right things.

When asked about the Minnesota Vikings on Wednesday, LaFleur said: “It’s going to be a challenge. They play extremely hard. I don’t care what necessarily the numbers say. I think they’ve progressed throughout … the course of the year.”

On Thursday, LaFleur said: “Listen, this is a good football team. I don’t care what the record says. All you got to do is look at the last couple of performances, you know, Tennessee Titans and Seattle. I mean, two games that they had. So, if we look any further than that we’re going to be in trouble.”

During that same press conference, LaFleur said: “We have to make sure our minds are in the right place to go out there and put our best stuff out there on tape.”

Clearly, the Packers didn’t listen close enough.

Minnesota, a 6.5-point underdog, came to Green Bay Sunday and toppled the Packers, 28-22. Green Bay lost its second game in three weeks and fell to 5-2 overall, while the Vikings improved to 2-5.

Here’s the good, bad and ugly from Green Bay’s victory, starting with the ugly for obvious reasons.

THE UGLY

RUN DEFENSE: Green Bay’s rushing defense has been a problem since coordinator Mike Pettine arrived in 2018. And Sunday was no different.

Minnesota’s Dalvin Cook ran for 163 yards on 30 carries and had an eye-popping four touchdowns. Cook had three rushing touchdowns and turned a screen pass into a 50-yard score.

Under Pettine, Green Bay ranked 22^nd in rushing defense in 2018 and 23^rd in 2019. The Packers’ low point came in the 2019 NFC Championship Game against San Francisco, when the 49ers ran for 285 yards and four touchdowns.

Ironically, with Green Bay’s run defense still a mess, it heads to San Francisco Thursday.

DEFENSE: The Packers could use some help on this side of the ball when the NFL trading deadline arrives Tuesday.

Minnesota scored on its first four possessions Sunday and built a 28-14 lead that the Packers couldn’t overcome.

Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins finished with a passer rating of 138.1. Cook had a day for the ages.

And Green Bay’s defense once again looked like a unit that could hold this team back in 2020.

THE BAD

HELP WANTED: As good as Green Bay wide receiver Davante Adams is, this was the perfect example of why the Packers must find him some help.

Quality teams — and terrific defensive coordinators like Minnesota’s Mike Zimmer — can slow Adams down. On Sunday, Adams averaged 7.6 yards per catch, and when Rodgers couldn’t find his favorite target, his options were extremely limited.

The motley crew of Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Malik Taylor, Equanimeous St. Brown and Darrius Shepherd combined for just four receptions and 63 yards.

Adams might be as good as any receiver in football. If he doesn’t get some help, though, the Packers’ offense might have already reached its ceiling.

TACKLING: The Packers have had issues with tackling all season long. It might have hit a new low Sunday.

Minnesota’s Dalvin Cook had 226 total yards — 163 rushing and 63 receiving — as Green Bay defenders failed to bring him down time and time again. The low point came on a 50-yard screen pass to Cook that hemorrhaged into touchdown when a bevy of Packers missed tackles.

OFFENSIVE INEPTITUDE: Green Bay scored touchdown on its first two possessions — impressive marches that took a combined 28 plays, covered 147 yards and gobbled up 16 minutes, 53 seconds. After that, though, the Packers went more than 34 minutes without a point.

Green Bay’s next four possessions ended on downs twice, one resulted in a punt and another closed the first half.

The Packers entered the game ranked second in the league in scoring (32.8) and eighth in total yards (393.7), but couldn’t get much going after early success Sunday.

THE GOOD

FAST STARTERS: Green Bay’s offense has been terrific at the start of football games. On the Packers’ seven opening possessions this year, they’ve scored points seven times.

On Green Bay’s first drive Sunday, Aaron Rodgers hit Davante Adams for a 5-yard touchdown to cap a 13 play, 75-yard drive.

“There’s a lot of time that goes in throughout the course of a week in everything we do,” LaFleur said of opening drives. “Putting the openers together is a tedious process. It’s really a credit to our players because it doesn’t really matter what you call, it’s their ability to go out there and execute the play that was called. Not everything happens the way you draw it up. We’re lucky and fortunate that we have a lot of great players that are able to make plays when they present themselves.”

DAVANTE ADAMS: Green Bay’s Pro Bowl receiver continued his recent hot streak.

Adams took advantage of a depleted Minnesota secondary and had three touchdown receptions, giving him seven this season,

Last week in Houston, Adams had a career-high 196 receiving yards last week. Adams also joined Don Hutson (1942) as the only players in franchise history to record 13-plus catches, 195-plus receiving yards and two-plus touchdowns in the same game.

“He’s very good at the line of scrimmage in press,” Minnesota coach Mike Zimmer said of Adams last week. “He does a great job with the route combinations that he runs. At the top of the route, he’s excellent. Makes contested catches really well. He’s one of those guys that when you play those guys, they’re going to get their catches. You just hope that you can limit them to not being big plays.”