5 Vikings players to watch vs. the Packers in Week 16

Mike Hughes – CB

This season, the Vikings secondary has been downright awful. While the blame for this largely goes on the shoulders of Xavier Rhodes, there isn’t a single cornerback on Minnesota’s roster who should be feeling good about the way they’ve played this year. Mike Hughes is definitely one of them.

Hughes’ play this season has been erratic at best. Sometimes he’s in good position and he will make a play. Other times, he’s in good position and he won’t make a play. And then other times, he’s in bad position and he looks lost.

Hughes is learning on the fly and right now, even with its highs and lows, that is still better than whatever Rhodes has been doing.

Mike Zimmer has been rotating his corners more in recent weeks and this is probably being done to take some pressure and targets away from Rhodes. Hughes has been getting matched up against the No. 1 target on some teams and he hasn’t exactly done great.

He was schooled by Amari Cooper a few weeks back and just last week, Hughes was lined up against Mike Williams. Philip Rivers and Williams went after Hughes time and time again, as he couldn’t match up with the size of the Chargers receiver.

The Packers have Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams, which is a scary-good wide receiver/quarterback combo. They are surely going to test this Vikings’ cornerback group with repeated balls going the direction of Hughes and Rhodes. These two have to play better or Green Bay may get their first-ever win at U.S. Bank Stadium on Monday.