Packers Prove There’s Nothing Wrong, Routing Vikings 42-10

After a relatively slow start, the Green Bay Packers are officially back on track. Just in case that wasn’t clear after their 38-17 drubbing of the division rival Bears on Sunday, on Thursday the Packers beat up on the Vikings, easily defeating them 42-10 in a game that was over by halftime.

Also back on track is Aaron Rodgers, that’s assuming he was ever off. He completed 12-of-17 passes for 156 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. Not especially flashy numbers, considering the final score, but it was more than enough to beat the bumbling Vikings.

Rodgers received a lot of help on offense from second-year running back Eddie Lacy, whose production against Minnesota was more than his first three games of the season combined. Lacy averaged over eight yards per carry, rushing 13 times for 105 yards and two touchdowns.

If the Packers were firing on all cylinders, the Vikings were up on cinder blocks. Although you wouldn’t know it from glancing at the stats. They had more first downs, total yards, passing yards, third down conversions and dominated the time of possession.

Green Bay’s offense was extremely efficient at home, converting on all four trips to the red zone, with their only turnover coming from a Matt Flynn interception that was thrown when the game was already well out of reach.

Minnesota, on the other hand, was an absolute mess of mistakes. Filling in for an injured Teddy Bridgewater, quarterback Christian Ponder looked out of practice, throwing two interceptions and completing just 50 percent of his passes. They also lost a fumble and scored just once in three red zone attempts.

Penalties certainly didn’t help their cause either. The Vikings were penalized nine times for a total of 91 yards—triple the yardage ceded by the Packers.

It seems the reports of Green Bay’s demise were greatly exaggerated. At 3-2 they’re tied for first in the NFC North and have a much better track record at closing the deal down the stretch than the Lions.

As for the Vikings? Well, it’s gonna be a long season. The return of Bridgewater will provide a boost, but they’re just not ready to seriously compete for that division.