Sunday Afternoon – Green Bay Packers at Minnesota Vikings

There’s not a better way to spend this Sunday afternoon than watching the two NFC North juggernauts battle it out. These two have combined to win 6 straight NFC North titles (5 going to Green Bay), 9 of the last 10 and 13 of 16. Talk about dominance. The race for the division title always makes their head to head matchups that much more meaningful, too. Whoever loses typically finds themselves playing catch-up the remainder of the season. Time to see how their first matchup in 2017 will shake out.

Keys to the Game
Packers
The key for Green Bay is going to have to be their defense. They’ve got to find a way to limit Minnesota’s production and force turnovers. That will give Aaron Rodgers more opportunities to score against the stingy Minnesota defense. As good as Rodgers and Jordy Nelson are, you can never have too many opportunities when you’re playing a defense this good. Getting 30 points on the board is the way to seal this one up and get a nice win on the road.

Vikings
Obviously, having Sam Bradford go shot for shot with Aaron Rodgers probably won’t go well for Minnesota, so they’re going to need their defense to come up big this Sunday. Xavier Rhodes will need to slow down Jordy Nelson while the rest of the squad gets pressure on Rodgers and forces Green Bay to try and run the ball — something they’ve struggled with mightily. Toss in a solid running game to eat up some clock and keep the ball out of Rodgers’ hands and you’ve got yourself a Vikings win.