Week 2 Ups and Downs: Minnesota Vikings vs Green Bay Packers

The Bad Things

1. Giving away points. I don’t know if you guys know this, but Aaron Rodgers is a good football player. He commands an offense well, usually putting up some high scoring performances. Minnesota can’t afford to make mistakes on offense or on special teams if beating Green Bay is on the menu.
2. Protection. Whether it was giving Kirk Cousins time on third down or making sure the punter can do his job, the protection by Minnesota this game was not good at all. If the team wants to compete with some of the best squads in the league, they will need to do MUCH better in future contests.
3. Silly penalties. Whether it is obvious holding, not reporting eligible, or any other avoidable mental error, these kinds of silly penalties put the Vikings in really tough situations, including hard to convert 3rd down and long situations. Smart football wins football games!
4. Treadwell’s mistakes. Laquon Treadwell may have scored his first touchdown this week, but he dropped two big passes, one drop that should have been a 3rd down conversion, another on what could have been a game-winning drive that was intercepted after bouncing off his hands, and some bad hands in overtime. One step forward, two steps back.
5. That kicking! I’d love to defend Daniel Carlson and say that fans should give him time to find his groove. However, between his struggles in preseason and this performance tonight, there is starting to be too much evidence that the Minnesota Vikings kicker cannot be trusted in any situation, clutch, far, or close.