VIKINGS (7-7) VS. PACKERS (8-6)
SATURDAY, 1 P.M. ET, LAMBEAU FIELD, GREEN BAY, WIS. uTV: FOX, DIRECTV 711
Announcers: Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Erin Andrews
About the Vikings: Coach deemed their 34-6 home loss to the Indianapolis Colts “not a fighting performance,” and it’s tough to think of a worse defeat during his three-year tenure. About the only positive is they’ll enter Week 16 with at least a fighter’s chance to avoid becoming the sixth team since 1990 to miss the playoffs after a 5-0 start. But the Vikings need to not only win their two remaining games, Tampa Bay must lose its and Washington must lose at least one. The return of RB from a Week 2 meniscus tear clearly failed to spark a club that was held out of the end zone for the first time all season and ceded the highest point total since Week 13 last year.
A 60-yard heave from to with 30 seconds left, and subsequent 32-yard
field goal at the buzzer lifted them past the Chicago Bears 30-27 in one of the coldest, wildest games in the NFL’s oldest rivalry. Those heroics overshadow a dominant performance by wideout-turned-featuredback (162 rushing yards on 16 carries) and 17-point fourth-quarter collapse by the defense. Green Bay’s fourth consecutive win positions them for an NFL-best eighth consecutive postseason appearance and fifth NFC North title in the past six seasons with two more victories. Rodgers, whose mobility was hampered by his injured right calf, said he emerged “no worse for the wear.”
The former UCLA linebackers clash Ty Montgomery averaged more than 10 yards a carry against the Bears.
with the former Stanford receiver coming off his best professional game as a running back. Montgomery was a tackle-breaking terror and big-play specialist, and Barr and Kendricks contributed to a season-high 161 rushing yards allowed to a lackluster Colts ground game.
With his team trailing 17-0 but threatening for the first time in the second quarter, Peterson’s best carry of the season — for 13 yards — ended in a fumble.
WHO WILL WIN AND WHY
He carried it two more times en route to a six-carry, 22-yard outing. In perhaps Peterson’s penultimate game with Minnesota, he’ll seek redemption.
Rodgers’ crunchtime brilliance the past two seasons includes four 40-plus yard completions within the final two minutes — twice as many as the rest of the NFL, according to ESPN stats.
KEYS TO THE GAME
1. Affect Rodgers: He absorbed a seasonhigh five sacks in the first meeting, a 17-14 Vikings victory. Green Bay’s offensive line has improved, but with Rodgers’ mobility greatly diminished, a Vikings pass rush that didn’t muster a sack against the Colts’ leaky offensive line must dominate. Green Bay finished Sunday with LG (hip) and RG Lang (back) hurting.
2. Keep up: Since managing 14 points in Week 2, the Packers’ No. 7 scoring offense (25.9) has rolled. Minnesota is 25th in scoring (18.9 ppg). Receiver had a career-high 182 receiving yards in Week 2.
and the offense need to dig in, which starts with Peterson and their best playmaking wideout.
3. No letdown: The Packers are gaining steam toward a trip to Detroit with the NFC North title at stake. They nearly squandered it all with a poor fourth quarter defensively vs. the Bears. The Packers have increasingly looked like contenders, but a stumble, paired with a Detroit Lions victory in Dallas, could quickly undo the progress.
Arthur Arkush