4 Bold Predictions: Minnesota Vikings vs. Green Bay Packers – Week 12
By Adam Patrick
There will be no ignoring the run game this week
Last week in their loss to the Bears, the Vikings gained an embarrassing 22 yards on the ground.
For a team that used to have a run-heavy offense, Minnesota has already had two games this season with less than 25 rushing yards. The Vikings haven’t done this more than once in a single year since 1996.
The problem hasn’t even really been Minnesota’s ability to run the ball this season (higher yards per average than 2017). It has been the team’s inability to stick with their rushing attack no matter how well or how bad it performs during the first portion of their games.
Last season, the Vikings ran the ball more than any other team in the NFL not named the Jacksonville Jaguars. In 2018, Minnesota has the third-fewest rushing attempts in the league.
On Sunday, Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer is not going to let his team shy away from running the ball. Especially against a Packers’ defense that is giving up the seventh-most rushing yards per game this season.
Expect Minnesota to hand off to their running backs at least 30 times this week against Green Bay and finish with at least 130 rushing yards.