All three of the Minnesota Vikings’ NFC North divisional counterparts were in action during the first Sunday of the 2017 NFL regular season.
Even though the 2017 NFL regular season technically kicked off last Thursday, Sunday’s slate of games felt more like an official start to this year’s regular season.
Among the 12 matchups that took place on Sunday, three featured teams from the same NFC North division that includes the Minnesota Vikings. The Chicago Bears took on a tough Atlanta Falcons team, the Detroit Lions faced off against the Arizona Cardinals, and the Green Bay Packers had their annual matchup against the Seattle Seahawks.
How did each team fare in their Week 1 games and how will it impact the rest of the Vikings’ 2017 season?
Lions begin the 2017 season with a win:
Judging from their performance in the first quarter on Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals, it looked like it was going to be a very long day for Detroit. But after going down 10-0 early, the Lions finished the game outscoring the Cardinals by 22 points during the last three quarters and winning by a final score of 35-23.
Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford had an impressive day (292 passing yards, four touchdowns, one interception), but the Lions victory on Sunday had a lot to do with their play on defense. The Lions forced Arizona to turn the ball over four times (three interceptions, one fumble) and even turned one of those turnovers into a touchdown after Detroit defensive back Miles Killebrew snatched a pass out of the air thrown by Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer in the fourth quarter and returned it 35 yards into the end zone.
Lions rookie wide receiver Kenny Golladay also had himself a nice afternoon against Arizona. The young pass catcher hauled in four passes for 69 yards and two touchdowns in his very first NFL regular season game, including an incredible, diving 45-yard catch for a score in the fourth quarter.
Detroit is now 1-0 and will have to prepare for their Week 2 matchup in New York against the Giants on ESPN’s Monday Night Football.
Bears fall to the Falcons in Week 1:
Chicago actually ended up playing better than most thought they would on Sunday against the defending NFC champion Atlanta Falcons. The Bears even had a chance to win during their final offensive drive of the day, but the Falcons’ defense stepped up when it needed to the most and it lead to a 23-17 win over Chicago.
The Bears’ defense did a pretty good job containing Atlanta’s offense for the most part on Sunday. Chicago held the Falcons to just 64 rushing yards on the day and Atlanta wide receiver Julio Jones finished with only four catches for 66 yards.
However, the Bears did make a few mistakes on the defensive side of the ball and when they did, the Falcons took full advantage of them. Down by just three in the fourth quarter, Chicago forgot to cover Atlanta tight end Austin Hooper and it resulted in the tight end scoring a touchdown on an 88-yard pass play.
In his regular season debut with the Bears, quarterback Mike Glennon had a decent game, throwing for 213 yards, one touchdown, and zero interceptions. However, his day could have been better if Chicago’s offensive line did not allow the Falcons’ defense to sack the quarterback four times on Sunday.
Following their loss to Atlanta, the Bears also found out the unfortunate news that wide receiver Kevin White suffered a broken collarbone during Sunday’s game and will be placed on injured reserve. Chicago heads to Tampa Bay in Week 2 to take on the Buccaneers.
Packers squeeze out a Week 1 win over the Seahawks:
Going into this matchup, many thought that this could be one of the best games of Week 1. However, Sunday’s contest between the Packers and Seattle Seahawks featured some downright, ugly football.
The game started off with a controversial sequence of events that took a Seattle touchdown off the board and sent Seahawks corner Jeremy Lane to the locker room as a result of a punch that no one could seem to find any actual proof of. So instead of Seattle being up 7-0 in the first quarter, Green Bay caught a lucky break and eventually won the game by a score of 17-9.
Despite the stat sheet showing Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers finishing his day with 311 passing yards, it was actually the play of Green Bay’s defense that resulted in their win over the Seahawks on Sunday. The Packers’ defense was able to hold Seattle to just 225 total yards and a 25 percent conversion rate on third down.
Next: How to watch the Vikings take on the Saints
Green Bay will try to improve their 2017 record to 2-0 next Sunday night when they take on the Falcons in Atlanta’s brand new Mercedes-Benz Stadium.