Packers vs. Vikings: 6 things we learned from a crucial game for NFC North

The Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers desperately needed a win to keep the playoff hopes alive. For the Vikings, this was achieved with an impressive victory of 24-17.

With this victory, the Vikings are 6-4-1 and appear in the forefront of the Wild Cards of the NFC. They are also in the shooting range of the Chicago Bears, who occupy the top spot of the North NFC at 8-3.

The Packers have not been so lucky and that means their chances of playing in January have been reduced to nothing.

Here are five things we discovered at the Viking ceremony. Sunday evening football to win:

Kirk Cousins ​​can play in prime time, after all

Hide Cousins ​​from national television with an hour in the afternoon AND kick off and it's still the case when you've seen him play his best football. Put it under the lights of a 20:20 ET send and it is at this time that the cousins ​​are fading.

This was not the case Sunday, however.

The cousins ​​finished with 29 assists in 38 attempts for 342 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. The score of 129.5 for the Cousins ​​is the highest recorded in a match since his arrival at the Vikings.

The Vikings lost each of their first three games in prime time in 2018, but it was all about fighting the Rams, Saints and Bears – the top three teams in the NFC. While Cousins ​​was fighting Chicago, he was doing well against New Orleans and Los Angeles.

He showed the Packers that his inability to play in the spotlight is probably a little exaggerated, even if he has only 5-12 years to play in prime time.

The Vikings have an incredible chance against the Packers

Minnesota went at half-time tied 14-14, but that could have been a lead for the Vikings if one or both of Dan Bailey's second-quarter field goal attempts were made.

Bailey missed the ball at 48 and 56 yards. It was enough for Vikings coach Mike Zimmer to threaten the game.

"After those two goals missed, Mike Zimmer said that when the Vikings would be in the scoring position in the second half, he would score halfway to clinch the fourth stop, saying:" I do not I'm not going to put the game in the hands of the kicker, "said NBC's Michele Tafoya before the start of the third quarter.

The Vikings have a notoriously bad luck dating back several decades. The match between Minnesota and the Packers was a huge part of the second week. Daniel Carlson missed the game three times and was released by the team a day later.

Thus, you can rely on the Vikings' curse when the replies to Bailey's second missed opportunity showed that the Packers should probably have been penalized for hitting or abusing the kicker.

Bailey is generally reliable since joining the Vikings in September as a replacement for Carlson. He scored 18 of his 19 extra points and came in the evening with 14 field goals and 17 attempts.

Zimmer did not keep his promise and gave Bailey the chance to score a 37-yard field goal and an extra point in the second half. Bailey did both.

The hopes of the Packers in series are doomed to failure

The chances of Green Bay to remain competitive in the NFC race were already outstanding. At 4-6-1, it is probably safe to close the book on the Packers' 2018 season.

Although the Packers have had four losses in their last five games to finish the year with five straight wins, they would only have 9-6-1. The Bears only need two more wins to ensure Green Bay does not win the NFC North. After that, there's the NFC Wild Card race led by the Vikings at 6-4-1, followed by a tie to three between Washington, Seattle and Carolina, who each have a 6-5 record.

The trip to Minnesota was a must win for the Packers and they failed.

Jaire Alexander is ready for the big stage

The Vikings' cousins ​​and offense did not have much trouble getting rid of the Packers high school, but Jaire Alexander was still a source of light for Green Bay. The first-round pick was one of the NFL's best defensive rookies all season and he brought the heat back on Sunday night.

He fought most of the night with Adam Thielen and undoubtedly left the receiver of the Vikings with some bumps and bruises. At one point in the game, he used Thielen as a human ram to defeat Stefon Diggs on a screen.

Thielen finished with eight yards at 125 yards, but much of that distance came when he was not covered by Alexander. When it was, the back-and-forth battle was one of the highlights of the game:

The Packers have found a good one in the first round this year.

Green Bay is struggling to convert into the big moments

Mike McCarthy has been increasingly criticized for wasting an offense that has a quarterback from another world in Aaron Rodgers. Sunday is not going to help his case.

The Packers were only two out of ten during the third run and failed to convert their only fourth try of the night.

That's not all for McCarthy, of course. The last failed conversion of the night was this third run that forced the Packers to settle for a goal.

But it was the lack of creativity that cost the Packers offense for most of the day.

With the playoffs now out of reach, McCarthy's seat is hotter than ever and the Packers may decide it's his last season as the team's head coach.

The Vikings are excellent celebrities

If the Vikings are not the best in the NFL to celebrate, they are definitely up there. I was impartial to their clumsy dead arm dance earlier in the season, but retaining Adam Thielen to play a limbo game is without a doubt one of the best NFL celebrations of the year:

The more Vikings can hit, the better. Because it is clear that they have prepared great things.