How the Vikings can defeat Aaron Rodgers every time

There is one verifiable way for the Minnesota Vikings to defeat Aaron Rodgers.

For 12 seasons, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has statistically eviscerated the Minnesota Vikings. This is inarguable and the mayhem goes two ways.

In terms of in-game numbers against the Vikings, Rodgers is the best quarterback they have ever faced. And then he has also played better against Minnesota than he has in matchups with the Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions (and about 25 other NFL teams).

Rodgers is the holder of a 43 touchdown to seven interception split against the Vikings in 23 games which has resulted in a deadly 107.2 passer rating. He’s led the Packers to victory in 14 of these 23 regular-season matchups with Minnesota and over half of these contests are ones in which the Vikings have featured a decent-or-better defense.

Eight of these 14 wins have occurred at Lambeau Field while the other six came at various Minnesota venues. This is worth mentioning because the discrepancy is minimal.

Quarterbacks generally struggle on the Vikings turf. Rodgers and Green Bay have broke even in Minnesota since 2008.

Most of the statistical metrics that typically point to a Vikings win tend to not apply in their games against the Packers or they are substantially diminished.

For example, Minnesota has won 65.7 percent of their games since 2008 when they are the first team to score. In the same time frame, the Vikings only won 54.5 percent of the time when they scored first against Green Bay.

Since 2008, Minnesota has won 70.8 percent of their games in which one of their running backs has rushed for at least 100 yards. During their matchups with the Packers since 2008, this dips to 31.3 percent for the Vikings which is both flabbergasting and poor.

How can the Minnesota Vikings consistently defeat the Aaron Rodgers-led Green Bay Packers?

The answer is pretty simple. Sack Rodgers and sack him often. When Minnesota has sacked the Green Bay quarterback at least four times, their record against the Packers is 8-2-1. When they’ve notched less than four sacks against Green Bay, the Vikings are totally winless (0-10).

The kneejerk reaction to this might take you to, “of course, when you sack a quarterback you’re going to win more often.” This is true, but this type of variance in regards to Rodgers is abnormally and overtly drastic.

Take, for example, Minnesota’s win percentage against every other NFL team when they register fewer than four sacks in a game during the last 12 seasons (53-65-1 or a .449 win percentage).

In layman’s terms, the Vikings beat the other teams around the league 45 percent of the time when failed to accumulate at least four sacks.

Rodgers turns 37-years-old in December, so there is a possibility that he might soon arrive on the cusp of the proverbial cliff where he deteriorates or gets hurt. That would perhaps alter the sack necessity discussed above.

But overall, if history is any indicator, Minnesota must sack Rodgers at least four times to beat him and the Packers.