Minnesota Vikings stay on track with victory over Green Bay Packers – Minnesota Vikings Blog

While the Vikings needed this win – a 24-17 victory over their divisional enemy – to remain the fifth favorite in the NFC playoffs while owning the tiebreaker on Green Bay.

The victory allowed the Vikings to increase their playoff chances from 51 to 71 percent, according to the ESPN Football Power Index. With consecutive road games in New England and Seattle, a decisive victory over the Packers is helping Minnesota playoffs to come true.

Throughout the week, the message repeatedly stressed in the Vikings' locker room was the sense of urgency they needed on the national scene. In prime time games this season against the Rams, Saints and Bears, Minnesota has gone blank. This is due in large part to the Los Angeles Vikings defensive failures and the red zone turnarounds, which led to missed opportunities against New Orleans and Chicago.

"Last week left us a bad taste and the chance to return to football on Sunday night against a rival of the home division was a great opportunity and I'm glad we made the most of it," quarterback Kirk said. cousins. It took a great team effort, a lot of people were involved to get there and I'm delighted with the result. "

The cousins ​​also overcame their prime-time difficulties after scoring a career 4-12 record in Sunday games, finishing with 129.6 for smugglers after completing 29 of 38 passes for 342 yards. three touchdowns, which earned him the match ball from coach Mike Zimmer.

"He handled very well what we needed," Zimmer said. "I thought that (offensive coordinator John DeFilippo) did a great job putting him in the right situations all night long. And some of the things we talked about, me and him this week, I thought he'd done it tonight. I was really proud of him and I thought he was playing exceptionally well. "

Sometimes, on Sunday, the Vikings looked shaky, unable to pack the Packers earlier than the third quarter. But Minnesota managed to rebound after a 14-14 draw at half-time and win a decisive victory before continuing on that brutal track.

The common denominator of the last two Minnesota losses? Figure of business. Too much of them. Sunday night, the safety of the ball was of the utmost importance and paid off in the form of zero escaped or interception.

"It has become very clear to me that the turnarounds really tell the story of this league," said Cousins. "The fact that we were a 5-4-1 team with a plus-one turnover margin. It was not really anything special, but we had five wins and we are in a position to be a playoff team because it was not less than five. Let's hope we can get that margin in the last five games of the year. Coach Flip has made it clear that when you hold the ball in your hands, you earn the livelihoods of many people in this building and their families. That must count for us. A trainer often told me that it was job security, yours and mine. It is very important to take the ball. "

The success of the Vikings against the Packers was predicted by what had worked so well for the Cousins ​​and the offensive in the past.

The Vikings have also been successful with screen passes for the backs, which has not been seen too often this season. A quick screen in the first quarter of Dalvin Cook was covered 26 yards for a touchdown. This screen passage was longer than all the Vikings back-up screens before Sunday night (15 yards on eight screen passes).

"Someone asked the question this week: should we be better at the screen? And we do it, "Zimmer said. "It helps to slow down the race. They had some screens on us and we have to keep being good at the screen game. Dalvin's screen was great. (Pat) Elflein did a great job blocking anyone on the perimeter and Dalvin had a good run. "

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Kirk Cousins ​​sends a pass to Dalvin Cook, who slices the defense and goes to the end zone to level to 7-7.

Defensively, Minnesota opened the game in the third quarter, limiting the Packers to 30 yards for 14 yards at halftime. Zimmer set up a handful of new looks in A-gap at the third drop, forcing Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers to try to understand the new look before the break.

The Packers experienced a 20% conversion rate in the third down, which is their lowest since the 17th week of the 2015 season, which coincided with the Vikings. Of Rodgers' eighth orders out of eight, he was sacked or coerced on five of them.

Sunday was the first prime-time prime time game for the Vikings this season, and in the first 12 weeks of the year, Minnesota defeated most of the teams they had planned to beat, without Buffalo. But none of their victories were won by teams with a record of over .500.

It's a feat that the Vikings hope to achieve next Sunday in Foxborough when they face the Patriots to try to tighten their grip on a place in the playoffs.