Packers vs. Vikings: Quick Takes from Green Bay’s 24-21 Win

Quick takes from the Packers' 24-21 win over the Vikings in Week 12. 

The Green Bay Packers (8-3) were forced to grind out a 24-21 win over the Minnesota Vikings (4-7) Sunday, giving quarterback Aaron Rodgers his first meaningful snaps in the fourth quarter in over a month and running back Eddie Lacy a chance to showcase his closing skills at foggy, dreary TCF Bank Stadium. 

 

It was over when…

…Lacy picked up 10 yards on second-and-5 with under two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, giving the Packers an opportunity to kneel down twice and secure the win. 

 

Game Balls

  • Eddie Lacy: Rodgers has dominated the game balls recently, but he rightfully concedes the honor for one week to Lacy. The Packers second-year running back opened the scoring with a one-yard touchdown run, capped off Green Bay’s scoring with a 10-yard score off a shovel pass and ended the game with two first down runs when everyone in the stadium knew he was getting the football. Lacy ended his day with a season-high 125 rushing yards on 25 carries. He was the closer the Packers needed on a day nothing came easy. 
  • Micah Hyde: His day was far from perfect. Hyde was targeted a number of times in the passing game, and his dumb penalty on fourth down negated Morgan Burnett’s interception. But he also had a sack and interception of Teddy Bridgewater, which is more than anyone else on the defense can take credit for. Mostly an ugly day overall on that side of the football. 
  • Tim Masthay: He helped flip the field early on, when both teams were sparring over field position. He had two kicks inside the 20-yard line, and only one returned (for five yards). 

 

Stat of the Game 

55: Of Lacy’s 125 rushing yards, 55 came in the fourth quarter. He carried 10 times and averaged 5.5 yards. Lacy put the game away with his 27 yards on the final possession. 

 

Other Notes

-- Content to play with two-high safeties for most of the game, the Vikings all but dared the Packers to run the football. And they did. Lacy’s 25 carries were his most since November of last year. It wasn’t always pretty, but it was effective, winning football. The Packers will have games like this in the future, especially with three home games and a trip to Buffalo left on the schedule. The weather may not always cooperate, and the two-high shell isn’t going anywhere. Lacy is the answer to both problems. 

-- Concerning all-around effort from the defense. Maybe minds were on Tom Brady and the Patriots, but that’s simply not a viable excuse. Put Brady at quarterback for the Vikings and Minnesota wins the game. Instead, Bridgewater made rookie mistakes and struggled with accuracy, and the Vikings missed a bunch of opportunities. Receivers were running open in the secondary on every drive. There’s a lot of mistakes to clean up before the Patriots arrive in Green Bay next Sunday.  

-- The Packers weren’t sharp in any area. The offense produced just two passing plays over 20 yards, the defense had problems at every level and the special teams routinely gave away field position. That said, credit the Packers for going on the road, not playing sharp in any area and still beating a division opponent. Teams lose these kind of games all the time. The Packers didn’t. In the end, that’s all that really matters. 

-- Maybe a game like Sunday was needed for a team that has coasted to a bunch of wins this season. Blowouts are great, but they can also mask problems. Mike McCarthy’s staff will have plenty of teaching points available to them this week. And given the next opponent, that’s probably a good thing. 

-- The Packers are all alone in first place in the NFC North. But for how long? Week 13 brings the Patriots to Lambeau Field, which could be a Super Bowl preview. New England is playing better than anyone in football. There will be no bigger test for the 2014 Packers. 

 

Zach Kruse contributes to Cheesehead TV. He is also the Lead Writer for the NFC North at Bleacher Report. You can reach him on Twitter @zachkruse2 or by email at [email protected]. 

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Comments (15)

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Idiot Fan's picture

November 23, 2014 at 06:08 pm

Ugly, sloppy game. But against a division foe, on the road, the week before a huge game? I'm just happy to get the win and get out of there.

I loved Lacy on that last drive, just pounding straight ahead, decisively. Why doesn't he run that way all game?

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Deputy Weld's picture

November 23, 2014 at 06:28 pm

To be honest, it seemed to me like Lacy WAS running that way all game

So nice to have a legit pounder for our 4 minute offense, something the packers have been missing for a long time and it will win us a lot of close games as long as Lacy stays with us

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HankScorpio's picture

November 23, 2014 at 06:52 pm

The Packers went to the 4 minute offense for the entire 4th quarter. And it was very effective. A long, time consuming TD drive followed by the first downs required to not even let the Vikes have a chance for the tying FG.

Everyone knows they can throw the ball around as well as anyone. Being able to ice a close game when the pass game is off is something we didn't necessarily know.

But now we do know.

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4thand1's picture

November 23, 2014 at 07:14 pm

I think the concussions had him running safe . He seemed to be upright a lot, not willing to stick his head in there. When the games matter I think you'll see him banging a lot more.

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FITZCORE1252's picture

November 23, 2014 at 06:44 pm

http://www.americasline.com/Stats/Odds/Football/NFL

Pack open as 4 point favorites... for whatever that's worth.

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HankScorpio's picture

November 23, 2014 at 06:54 pm

Vegas trusts the Packers. I wonder why so many Packer fans don't seem to have that same level of trust.

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JimTaylor31's picture

November 24, 2014 at 07:31 am

I dunno and I hope they're right. But then again the oddsmakers haven't seen Hawk trying to cover Gronk either.

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Bearmeat's picture

November 23, 2014 at 06:56 pm

They won. No one will remember that it was ugly unless they go on a multiple game losing streak (probably not happening).

Let's not worry about it. They'll play MUCH better next week. Hoping for good weather. GB can throw better than NE can and NE runs more efficiently than GB does.

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DrealynWilliams's picture

November 23, 2014 at 08:20 pm

I'll say this -- the absence of Nick Perry was obvious.

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Imma Fubared's picture

November 23, 2014 at 08:35 pm

Two cents.
1. Dumb penalties will kill us down the road when the game really matters. Poor coaching and or having dumb players is the only excuse for some of this stuff. Lucky for us we won.
2. Mathews has no clue. Hey put him in the middle to drop back and cover tight ends and stop the runs and lets get someone else on the outside to rush. If were saying he is all we have at pass rushing and run stopping then this team is in trouble when we start playing against talent.
The two point conversion was pathetic. Did we really think its smart to rush everyone? That didn't work.

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zeke's picture

November 23, 2014 at 10:29 pm

"Lucky for us we won."

Look at the scoreboard again. You lost, 24-21. Maybe next year.

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Koostyroosty's picture

November 23, 2014 at 09:49 pm

I bet the Chiefs would have loved to win by 3 against a division rival on the road.

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Icebowler's picture

November 23, 2014 at 11:43 pm

Mama said there'd be days like this.

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RCPackerFan's picture

November 24, 2014 at 06:31 am

Packers didn't play their best game. But they played a tough physical battle and came out victorious.

This honestly was a good game for them to have to play coming off of 2 crushing victory's. This will provide the team a lot of game tape for areas to improve on. Especially for perhaps their toughest game of the year this week.

My biggest take away from this game though, was they had more penalty's then normal which really hurt them. The one drive they had a holding penalty which made it 1st and 20, then they do a screen pass which gets them 20+ yards, and there is a block in the back penalty which made it 1st and 27 or whatever. Those are penalty's we haven't seen them making.

Overall though, I will take a bad looking win over a good looking loss any day.

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murphy's picture

November 24, 2014 at 11:34 am

Agreed, though the officiating did register a solid 7.7 on the Triplette Scale.

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