Green Bay Packers vs. Minnesota Vikings Week 16 PIck

The Green Bay Packers come to Minneapolis to take on the Minnesota Vikings in a high-stakes NFC North matchup on Monday Night Football. Both teams won last week, as the Vikes and Packers vie to win the division. The Packers scored a nice 21-13 win over the Chicago Bears to stay one step ahead of the Vikings. Meanwhile, Minnesota served notice with a 39-10 road-win over the Chargers to keep within reach. These longtime rivals met in week two, with Green Bay scoring a 21-16 win at Lambeau. But a whole lot has changed since then.

How These Teams Match Up

In a word—well. Over the last few seasons, we’ve become accustomed to some closely-contested games with these teams, even with the Vikings being better in an overall sense the last few seasons—until this season. The Vikings team, the Packers, saw at Lambeau in week two has seen their offense do an about-face, with far fewer mistakes and a tremendous amount of firepower in the aerial and ground attack. But the Packers’ balance lends itself well to the more-explosive Vikings.

The Metamorphosis of the Packers

Earlier in the season, we saw a Green Bay defense playing at a record-setting clip. This was the defense the Vikings struggled against early this year. Over the weeks, we saw the Green Bay defense let up considerably, with the offense and Aaron Rodgers picking up the slack. Over recent weeks and especially in the Packers’ three-game winning streak, we’ve seen the Packers a more balanced team. We see a defense that is back on track, having allowed a total of 41 points in their last three games, with an offense that has been doing just well enough.

Can the Packers Compete in Terms of Firepower?

We’ve seen some wildly different ranges from the Vikings’ defense this season. After a collapse against the Seahawks that followed a series of some alarming point-allowances from the defense, the Vikings have allowed a total of 17 points in their last two games. Those games coming against the Lions and the Chargers contributed to the equation, but after allowing 21 to the Packers in their first game and seeing some modest outputs by the Packers in recent weeks, maybe this defense can thrive against Green Bay at home.

For all their success this season, the Packers’ offense leaves a lot to be desired at times. Having Rodgers in there gives a Packers’ backer a leg-up, as he is as clutch as it gets and late in a game, there is no one you want with the ball more than him. But with Aaron Jones leading the run-game and the stars of the aerial attack being Davante Adams and erratic Marquez Valdez-Scantling, it’s not a group that you would consider to be very bankable, particularly not on the road against a team where they’ve struggled before.

Looking Better Than They Are?

With Green Bay coming off games against the Bears, Redskins, and Giants and with the Vikings having just beaten the Chargers and the Lions, maybe some more-recent impressions need to be thrown out the window, with each team’s weaknesses more likely to resonate in this spot. For Green Bay, it’s an issue of if they can succeed when the opposing offense isn’t half-dead like it was with the Bears, Redskins, and Giants in recent weeks. For Minnesota, it’s a question of if their defense will go back to looking like it did before they ran into the dysfunctional duo of the Lions and the Chargers.