For the first eight games of their 2026 season, the Minnesota Vikings’ offense struggled to put points on the board while their defense made life miserable for offenses around the NFL. On Sunday afternoon at Lambeau Field, it appears that the tide might be turning for the Minnesota offense, thanks to the addition of one man.
Kirk Cousins threw a pair of touchdown passes and, more importantly, allowed the Minnesota defense to actually get some rest after two straight weeks of getting overworked. The
defense responded by sacking Jordan Love eight times and shutting down an offense that had scored 45 points the previous week in a thoroughly dominant 30-10 win over the Green Bay Packers in Week 10 action at Lambeau Field.
The Packers won the opening coin toss and deferred to the second half, putting Kirk Cousins and the Minnesota offense on the field first. The Vikings went three-and-out, as Cousins’ first pass was too high for Justin Jefferson and his second, a screen to Myles Price, was dropped for a loss of yards. Brett Thorson blasted a 64-yard punt, and the Packers started their first possession inside their own 10-yard line.
On the Packers’ second play from scrimmage, Andrew Van Ginkel made his presence felt, as Jordan Love completed a pass to tight end Mark Redman, and Van Ginkel stripped it away, recovering the fumble at the Green Bay 10 for a turnover.
The Vikings’ offense capitalized on the turnover with. . .a false start and a sack of Cousins that moved them back 14 yards in two plays. After an Aaron Jones run on third down, the Vikings called on Will Reichard, who connected on a 34-yard field goal to give the Vikings a 3-0 lead just under five minutes into the contest.
Green Bay got some help on the ensuing kickoff, as Jay Ward committed a 15-yard penalty to put the Packers near midfield to start their next possession. The Packers moved the ball into Minnesota territory inside the 30-yard line, but the drive came to a screeching halt when Dallas Turner dropped Love for a sack. The Packers brought on Trey Smack to attempt a 53-yard field goal, but his attempt sailed wide to the right to give Minnesota the ball back near midfield, still leading 3-0.
Minnesota started their next drive with a first down into Green Bay territory, as Cousins found Gavin Bartholomew to move the chains. The Vikings then got a look at a familiar connection, as Cousins found Justin Jefferson for a 13-yard gain to convert on third down and keep the drive moving. The Vikings were then called for a face mask penalty to push themselves back to the edge of field goal range. . .but Cousins decided that the Vikings didn’t need a field goal, as he hit Myles Price for a 38-yard touchdown that saw Price bounce off of a Green Bay defender and make his way into the end zone.
The first receiving touchdown of Price’s NFL career increased the Minnesota lead to 10-0 with just over two minutes left in the first quarter. And in the ninth game of the season, that was the Vikings’ first offensive touchdown in the first quarter of any game this season.
Green Bay got off to a quick start on their next drive, as Love found Marshawn Lloyd on a quick pass for a big gain to near midfield, and Lloyd then took a handoff into Minnesota territory for another first down. The Vikings then got called for a couple of 15-yard penalties, one on Eric Wilson for roughing the passer and another on Dallas Turner for. . .something. . .to help move the Packers into the red zone. But when it looked like the Packers might get on the scoreboard, Harrison Smith decided to put an end to all that.
The Hitman picked off Jordan Love in the end zone to end the drive and bring the ball out to the 20-yard line for the Vikings’ next possession. Unfortunately, the Vikings’ offense couldn’t do anything with it, as a loss on first down stalled the drive early as they went three-and-out again. Thorson’s punt put the Green Bay offense at its own 25 to start their next possession.
The Vikings’ defense went to work again, as they registered back-to-back sacks of Love to force a three-and-out, one from Levi Drake Rodriguez and one from Eric Wilson. Green Bay’s punt gave the Vikings good field position at their own 45-yard line to start their next possession. The Vikings marched the ball down the field with a nice mix of passes before a run by Jordan Mason put the ball into the red zone.
The Vikings then dodged a bullet when it looked like Cousins had thrown an interception, but it was ruled by replay that his knee was down before he threw the ball, allowing the Vikings to keep possession. Cousins then hit Tai Felton on a big third-down throw to make it first-and-goal. On the next play, the former Packer, Aaron Jones, took a pitch and went around the left side for a 2-yard score to extend the Minnesota lead to 17-0 with just over six minutes left in the first half.
Green Bay’s offense went three-and-out on its next possession after a third-down catch by Matthew Golden that had been ruled a first-down completion was ruled incomplete after Kevin O’Connell challenged the call, as replay showed that the ball hit the ground before Golden controlled it. Minnesota took over again and pushed into Green Bay territory before the two-minute warning, but on the first snap after the two-minute timeout, Cousins’ pass for Tai Felton was overthrown and intercepted by Xavier McKinney for a turnover.
The Packers took the ball after the interception and got the ball close to midfield, but then the Vikings’ defense turned things up again and collected two more sacks of Love: one that was split between Van Ginkel and Kyle Van Noy, and one that Van Noy got all by himself. That concluded a five-sack first half for the Vikings, and they went into the locker room with a 17-0 lead.
Green Bay got the ball to start the second half, and pushed their first possession to near midfield. However, they turned the ball over again when a shotgun snap flew right past Jordan Love for a fumble that Dallas Turner recovered at the Green Bay 27-yard line for the third turnover of the game for Green Bay, setting the Vikings up nicely.
The Vikings got the ball into a goal-to-go situation, but the offense stalled, and they had to settle for another field goal from Reichard, this one a 32-yarder to make it 20-0 with ten minutes left in the third quarter.
The Packers got the ball back and once again moved into Minnesota territory, but the sack parade continued again, with Jalen Redmond and Elijah Williams taking Love down to add to the total. The Packers faced a 4th-and-11 from the Minnesota 44-yard line, and they converted on a pass from Love to Matthew Golden to stay on the field. On the next play, Green Bay finally got on the scoreboard, as Love found J. Michael Sturdivant for a 32-yard score to make it 20-7 with just over five minutes remaining in the third quarter of play.
Minnesota went three-and-out on its next possession, putting Green Bay at their 14-yard line to start their next drive. Love and company went back to work and started to heat up, working the middle of the field with passes to Christian Watson and Tucker Kraft to push the ball towards the red zone. But their drive stalled out, and they settled for a 40-yard field goal attempt from Smack, who put it between the uprights to make the score 20-10 with just 19 seconds left in the third quarter.
The Vikings took over on offense and put together one of their best offensive drives of the season, mixing runs and passes while getting a few key third-down conversions, pushing the ball into the red zone and eating six and a half minutes off the clock. The drive ended with the first NFL touchdown in the career of tight end Gavin Bartholomew, who took a pass from Cousins and turned it into a 20-yard score to put the Vikings up 27-10 with eight and a half minutes remaining in regulation.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Packers gave up turnover number four, as Jakobe Thomas. . .who was active for the first time in his NFL career today after giving his #8 to Kirk Cousins. . .forced a fumble on the return from Sturdivant, and the ball was recovered by Jake Golday at the Green Bay 35-yard line.
Minnesota got the ball down to the 2-yard line, but wound up giving Will Reichard another field goal attempt, a 20-yarder that split the uprights to extend the Vikings’ lead to 30-10 with just under four minutes remaining in regulation.
The Packers officially raised the white flag on their next drive, taking Love out of the game and putting Tyrod Taylor into the game at quarterback. For the afternoon, Love was officially sacked eight times by Minnesota defenders, the most by a Vikings team ever in a game at Lambeau Field and two off of the franchise record for the most sacks in a game.
Cousins was solid, if not spectacular, which is really all the Vikings need at this point. He completed 21-of-31 passes for 207 yards, a pair of touchdown passes, and an interception. More importantly, the Vikings held on to the ball for over thirty-five minutes after two weeks where their opponents were able to keep the Minnesota defense on the field for extended periods of time and wear them down
The victory snapped Minnesota’s two-game losing streak and put them into a three-way tie atop the NFC North with the Chicago Bears, who had Week 10 off, and the Detroit Lions, who thumped the New England Patriots in Munich, Germany, earlier in the day. All three teams have 7-2 records. It won’t get any easier for the Vikings next week, as they’ll make a trip to Mexico City to face another of the NFL’s best teams, the San Francisco 49ers, on Sunday Night Football.
The Vikings sweep the 2026 Border Battle from the Green Bay Packers, taking it home with a thoroughly convincing 30-10 win at Lambeau Field in Week 10. Thank you to everybody who got their coverage of this week’s game right here at The Daily Norseman!
