Minnesota Vikings Best and Worst: Week 1 vs. Green Bay Packers

More Bad Things

Davante Adams absolutely tore up the Vikings this week. His excellent route running, his great hands, and his ability to stay in bounds tested a young Minnesota secondary that was obviously not ready to deal with one of the NFL’s elite pass catchers. Of course, Aaron Rodgers is great as well and he can make all the tough throws to get the ball to Adams.

Young corners typically will take their lumps in the NFL and use them to learn and grow as they acclimate to the pro level. Hopefully, this is the case with the Vikings young defensive backs, because there is a lot of room for improvement.

Other bad things from Week 1

• Getting played by Rodgers: The quiet sound from U.S. Bank Stadium was gold for Rodgers, who was able to manipulate Minnesota’s defense using a hard count due to the lack of fans. He is an expert at that with a loud crowd, so this was just like candy for the Packers quarterback.
• Inability to stuff the run: It was obvious that Minnesota was missing defensive tackle Michael Pierce on Sunday. Green Bay’s rushing attack targeted the Vikings defensive tackles and they had quite a bit of success running the ball toward Jaleel Johnson and Shamar Stephen.
• Tackling mistakes: Minnesota came out looking extremely unprepared on defense. They missed tackles that could have stalled Packers drives or made picking up third downs much more difficult.
• No pressure: A Vikings pass rush seemed non-existent against a Packers offensive line that was struggling a bit due to injuries on Sunday. Not even the newly-acquired defensive end Yannick Ngakoue could get to Rodgers during this game. Minnesota definitely missed Danielle Hunter this week.

What did you think were the best moments from the Vikings Week 1 matchup with Green Bay? And which parts of the game absolutely made you grind your gears? Let us know in the comments.