Many things seem to be lining up in the favor of the Minnesota Vikings as they head into a Week 2 matchup with the Green Bay Packers.
Yes, it is only the second week of the 2018 season for the Minnesota Vikings. But many believe that this Sunday’s matchup with the Green Bay Packers is very vital to the Vikings’ success this year.
Many also think that this week’s game is going to be tough for Minnesota to come out with a win. But why though?
Because it’s on the road and the Packers are likely going to have Aaron Rodgers starting under center? Are there any other legit threats to the Vikings getting a victory on Sunday?
Minnesota Vikings
When taking a look at the current makeup and status of each team, it seems like it would be way more surprising if Minnesota didn’t get a win this week.
Green Bay is coming off a game where Rodgers suffered a sprained knee and needed him to deliver a miraculous performance to defeat a Chicago Bears team that won five games in 2017.
While the Vikings are coming off a matchup against the San Francisco 49ers where they ended up making Jimmy Garoppolo have the worst game of his career and suffer his first ever loss as a starting quarterback in the NFL.
Going into Week 2, Rodgers is going to be hobbled and Minnesota is going to bring a defense to Lambeau Field that pressured Garoppolo 26 times last Sunday. This is probably one of the worst possible scenario’s the Packers could have envisioned for their quarterback a week after suffering a knee injury.
The Vikings also have to the tools to exploit other aspects of Green Bay’s roster this week.
Minnesota’s talented receiving duo of Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen will be going up against a lackluster Packers pass defense that features two rookie defensive backs in Jaire Alexander and Josh Jackson.
With a veteran quarterback like Kirk Cousins, the Vikings will definitely be doing whatever they can to exploit the inexperience in Green Bay’s secondary on Sunday.
On the other side of the ball, Minnesota’s defensive backfield should have no trouble shutting down the Packers’ group of pass catchers.
Vikings All-Pro cornerback Xavier Rhodes will likely be tasked with shutting down Green Bay receiver Davante Adams and Randall Cobb and Jimmy Graham are far from the players they were during the early portions of their careers.
The underrated weapon for Minnesota this week could be running back Dalvin Cook. The Packers have never faced Cook before and Green Bay’s defense was certainly not known as one of the best at shutting down dual-threat running backs last season.
When looking at the matchups and everything that went down last Sunday, it really seems difficult to believe that the Packers are going to give the Vikings a tough game this week.
But at the same time, for anyone who has ever rooted for Minnesota, they know that even the stars aligning perfectly means absolutely nothing when it comes to how the team actually performs on the field.