That One Team Is Creeping Closer to the Vikings
Josh Frey
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Just a couple weeks ago, the Minnesota Vikings were riding high after their fifth consecutive victory.
They had beaten the New Orleans Saints in Week 10 to improve to 6-4 and held a comfortable cushion for the No. 7 seed in the NFC. However, they’ve now lost two consecutive games by a total of three points, and they now sit just half a game above that one team in the NFC North: the Green Bay Packers.
That One Team Is Creeping Closer to the Vikings
Right as the Vikings have come back down to earth, the Packers have gone on their own hot streak to get back into the playoff hunt. They’ve won three of their past four games and now sit at 5-6 for this season, tied with the Atlanta Falcons, Los Angeles Rams, and New Orleans Saints in the NFC.
The first of these wins came against the Rams, and while they played well, there was an asterisk around this win considering that Los Angeles started Brett Rypien at quarterback. Still, Green Bay won 20-3, and it got them off a four-game losing skid.
Following a tough loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Green Bay has now won two straight games in the same timeframe as Minnesota lost two in a row. Those wins came against the Los Angeles Chargers and Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving Day.
A big reason for this turnaround has been improved play from QB Jordan Love. The Packers quarterback struggled to start the year, throwing 11 TD passes compared to 8 INTs over the first seven games of the season. He also completed fewer than 60% of his passes in five of those seven games.
Over the past four games, Love has totaled 1107 passing yards along with 8 TDs compared to just a pair of interceptions. His completion percentage has skyrocketed as well, completing at least 67.5% of his passes in three of the four games during this stretch.
The recent stretch has set up an interesting closing stretch to the season for both teams. The Vikings are on bye this weekend, so if the Packers are able to pull off another road upset against the Kansas City Chiefs, they would move into a tie with the Vikings for that No. 7 seed.
Luckily, the Vikings do hold a tie-breaker over Green Bay at the moment because of their Week 8 victory at Lambeau Field, so it isn’t do-or-die time for Minnesota quite yet. However, the two teams will meet again in Week 17 at U.S. Bank Stadium, and that game looks much more important than it was just a couple weeks ago.
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Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho and managing editor of PurplePTSD.com. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh enjoys running, gaming, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. Check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken.