Minnesota Vikings Preview @ Green Bay Packers
Nearly 14 months after the Minnesota Vikings (4-6) survived a 22-3 fourth-quarter loss to beat the Green Bay Packers (6-3-1) 31-29 at Lambeau Field, the teams find themselves with the visitors at the bottom of the NFC North and on a two-game losing streak.
The Packers are second after their 27-20 victory over the New York Giants last Sunday, including two touchdowns to Jordan Love, whose career sack rate among players with at least 50 plays is second only to Patrick Mahomes.
“I think he’s gotten better every year he’s been in the league,” Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores said of Love.
“Just watching him and his cadence and the way he keeps pace and tries to use it to find out what the defense is doing, really, the whole play; there’s not really a down where he’s not doing that.
“[Green Bay have] funky ball handling that is clearly practiced, and he does a great job with that too. Even the little things, the details of the quarterback position.
In contrast, Vikings quarterback JJ McCarthy is last in the NFL in completion percentage (52.9%) and touchdowns to interceptions (6:8), as well as the second fewest passing yards per game (168.4).
Vikings offensive coordinator Wes Phillips, however, saw signs of encouragement in the 19-17 loss to the Chicago Bears a week ago.
“I thought [McCarthy] “He handled the pass protection aspect really well,” Phillips said. “That’s been a real positive in his development – his ability, when we’re implementing a protection plan, to be able to get to the line, get the communication – the initial communication from the center – and then decipher whether he needs to make a call to adjust the protection.
“Everyone was on the same page. Pass protection in general was a big plus – over the last two games, these guys have really come together.
“We’re going to have a big, big test with this Packers front. But these guys gave [McCarthy] nice pockets, good times there.
