Plenty of blame to go around for the Packers in the loss to the Vikings
The Green Bay Packers nearly pulled off a miraculous comeback after trailing the Minnesota Vikings 28-0 on Sunday, but they ultimately fell 31-29, and largely due to self-inflicted errors.
This was a high-profile matchup coming into this weekend's slate of games. The Vikings were one of the surprising teams of the season so far, coming into the matchup at 3-0, while the Packers were looking to get their first divisional win on the season and prevent Minnesota from going up two games on them in the standings.
The Vikings ended up coming out on top, but the Packers did show that if they play a clean game, they could possibly come out on top against perhaps the best team in the NFC so far this season. Reality is though, they are two games behind the Vikings in the standings now, having already lost one of the two games with them, and the remaining game against them on the road in the second to last week of the season. Green Bay will have to gain ground in the division over the course of the rest of the season.
There are some players who deserve the most blame for this loss, and let's get to the three that stick out the most.
Jordan Love, QB
While Jordan Love made some great plays to get the Packers back into this game, it was in large part due to his turnovers that the Packers were in such a big hole in the first place. He threw three interceptions on the day, and all of them hurt a lot.
Jordan Love's first interception was maybe a little bit of bad luck, as Christian Watson likely could have at least broken up the pass. Still, it led to the Vikings going up 21-0. The next interception was a really tough one, as it was over the head of Romeo Doubs, who was open. That set up the Vikings inside the Packers five yard line, and Sam Darnold hit Justin Jefferson to put Minnesota up 28-0.
The last interception thrown by Jordan Love was a back-breaker. As Green Bay was down 31-22 with a chance to make it a one-score game with plenty of time to spare, Love threw a deep pass intended for Dontayvion Wicks. It never had a chance and was intercepted, helping the Vikings maintain their two-score lead at the time.
Love is not afraid to take chances, but he will have to play cleaner games in the future. There were too many mistakes from the Packers' franchise quarterback to win this matchup.
Dontayvion Wicks, WR
In the third quarter, there were a couple of chances for the Packers to cut the Vikings' lead to two scores, but they could not do so. There were a couple of plays thrown to Dontayvion Wicks that could have made a difference.
The first was with just under 10 minutes to go in the third quarter. Safety Xavier McKinney had just intercepted Darnold to prevent the Vikings from scoring. The Packers then had a 3rd-and-6, and Wicks missed a pass that would have gone for a first down and extended the drive.
Later on in the quarter, the Packers found themselves going for it on 4th-and-8 from the Vikings' 32. Love bought time and floated a pass up to Wicks in the end zone. It was a jump ball, but Wicks had a shot to bring the ball in. If he had done so, that could have made the difference in the game.
Wicks is not at the top of the blame list, but he could have made a difference with these chances he got in the third quarter. The Packers might not have been scrambling as much at the end if not for those missed opportunities.
Brayden Narveson, K
This is another obvious one, but Brayden Narveson's two missed field goals in the first half of the game were huge. There is no knowing how the rest of the game would have played out if Narveson had made even just one of the kicks.
Brayden Narveson's first miss came on the Packers' first drive, as they were trying to respond to the Vikings' opening-drive touchdown. Narveson missed on a 37-yard field goal attempt. The second missed field goal was on a 49-yard attempt, which is more understandable, but still tough given the first miss. It would have made the score 21-3.
