The Green Bay Packers’ 30-10 loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday had a little bit of everything: the offensive line getting their butt kicked, the rest of the offense having crucial errors, special teams woes and a small window of hope where it looked like the team was going to piece it together — just to let down the fans at Lambeau Field again.
Pre-game, it was revealed that not only was guard Kevin Zeitler, who played pretty solid last week against the New England Patriots, not going to start,
but he wasn’t going to play at all today. Zeitler, who came into the weekend listed as questionable with ankle and triceps injuries, was inactive.
Instead, the offensive line was comprised of Jordan Morgan, Laken Tomlinson, John Williams, Travis Glover and Anthony Belton (left to right), while Aaron Banks, previously part of the three-man guard rotation last week, watched from the sideline. That offensive line didn’t give the Packers the shot in the arm that the Packers probably expected, as the team only ran for 56 yards on Sunday and surrendered an astonishing eight sacks.
From the jump, this game was off the rails for the offense.
On the opening drive for head coach Matt LaFleur’s offense, tight end Mark Redman fumbled the ball. The defense held the Vikings to -2 yards over the first two drives, but Minnesota came away with three points on the board due to their starting field position.
Then rookie kicker Trey Smack, who came into the week as the second most costly kicker in the league this year behind only Harrison Butker, missed a field goal. After that, the Packers declined a penalty to attempt to push the Vikings out of field goal range on their next drive, allowing Minnesota to not only to convert but to score a touchdown to go up a quick 10-0.
Jordan Love later threw an interception in the red zone, where it was unclear whether or not tight end Tucker Kraft was expecting the football, which halted the offense’s momentum.
The next score again came from Minnesota, which converted a long third down when the Packers played dime defense — a package the team rarely uses. The second slot in these looks is usually cornerback Carrington Valentine, who had to play right cornerback for the injured Brandon Cisse on this play — forcing Kamal Hadden into this role. That conversion set up a touchdown for former Packers running back Aaron Jones to score to go up 17-0, and in the stands at Lambeau Field for what might be his final leap in the stadium.
Xavier McKinney intercepted Kirk Cousins late in the first half, but the Packers weren’t able to do anything with the possession because they took multiple sacks on the drive. Coming out of halftime, the offense posted just 57 yards and was averaging 2.2 yards per play.
The first play of the second half was fitting: Yet another sack. A bad snap from third-string center John Williams led to the Vikings recovering the ball just outside of the red zone. The Packers’ defense held Minnesota to a field goal, making it 20-0.
This is when momentum started to change for Green Bay. After playing multiple tight end sets for the majority of the game (they average 1.8 tight ends played in the first half), LaFleur began to spread out the offense with three-receiver looks regularly. Undrafted rookie receiver J. Michael Sturdivant, who played just one snap in the first half, caught the first touchdown of his NFL career to put the Packers on the board 20-7. Shortly after, another field goal cut the lead to 20-10.
From there on out, it was a game against the clock. Minnesota realized this, draining the clock starting in the mid-third quarter. The Vikings had a long sustained drive that took nearly seven minutes of time off the clock in just 11 plays.
They were able to punch in a touchdown when linebacker Isaiah McDuffie dropped out with an injury. For one play, and one play only, Nick Niemann, a core special teamer, had to play the Mike position in place of McDuffie. On that one play, Kevin O’Connell’s offense cooked up all sorts of eye candy to isolate Niemann on a tight end, who ended up in the end zone to put Minnesota up 27-10.
Before the Packers’ offense got the ball again, Sturdivant, the spark that started Green Bay’s offense earlier in the game, fumbled on a kickoff and the ball was recovered by the Vikings. Sturdivant was put into the game on kickoff returns because two other receivers-returners, Bo Melton and Skyy Moore, left the game with injuries.
You really can’t make this stuff up.
Minnesota kicked another field goal in garbage time, but the game ended on the Sturdivant fumble. The whole game, outside of a two-game stretch on offense, it looked like this team wanted to be put out of their misery.
Four turnovers. Eight sacks. 56 yards rushing. Special teams still not being fixed. Reserves on defense getting picked on because they’re forced into the game due to injuries. Your 2026 Green Bay Packers!
