5 Bold Predictions: Minnesota Vikings vs. Green Bay Packers – Week 17

Green Bay will kill Minnesota’s playoff hopes

When previewing this week’s game, you have to go back to last week. The Vikings were in the same must-win situation, playing in front of their home crowd. If they won, their path to the playoffs could have been much easier, but instead, they came out with a lethargic effort.

Maybe it was the absence of Dalvin Cook or the Christmas hangover that Anthony Barr described, but this doesn’t look like a team that is about to come together for a last-minute playoff run.

The Vikings are a flawed operation and it starts from the top. If Mike Zimmer, who dove into the huddle before the Rams game to try to fire up his team, can’t get these guys going, what’s to say they’ll be fired up for a cold game at Lambeau Field?

That’s before realizing that they don’t have one of their top receiving weapons, Kirk Cousins isn’t available, Dakota Dozier is possibly starting at right guard, and the defense is one of the worst in the NFL.

This is a team that belongs on the outside of the playoffs and it’s one that is starting to play like it. Although they can blame the fans or each other for their shortcomings, the truth is that this just isn’t a good team. Playing against a Packers team that is motivated for another Super Bowl run, Lambeau Field could be the place where the Vikings are put out of their misery.

Prediction: Packers win 23-7