Packer Central

What’s Packers-Vikings Score? Live Updates From U.S. Bank Stadium

The Green Bay Packers (11-4) and Minnesota Vikings (13-2) will battle on Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium. Follow along for updates from this huge NFC North rivalry showdown.

Bill Huber

The opening kickoff at U.S. Bank Stadium for Packers-Vikings.
The opening kickoff at U.S. Bank Stadium for Packers-Vikings. / Bill Huber/Packers On SI
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MINNEAPOLIS – The Green Bay Packers are looking for their first victory this season against an elite team. The Minnesota Vikings are looking to stay in the race for the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs.

Follow along all day for updates from U.S. Bank Stadium.

Final Score

Vikings 27, Packers 25

Fourth Quarter

Vikings 27, Packers 25 (2:18 remaining)

Jordan Love’s 3-yard touchdown pass to Malik Heath, improbably, has the Packers within two points. They have all three timeouts if they can get a stop.

Love had consecutive completions of 18 and 13 yards to Romeo Doubs, and Dontayvion Wicks got free on an extended play for 18 yards to the 1.

Vikings 27, Packers 18 (4:37 remaining)

We’re not done yet. Arron Mosby almost had a sack/fumble, but Sam Darnold’s arm was going forward. Lukas Van Ness drew a hold on the next play. The Packers will start at their 38.

Vikings 27, Packers 18 (6:12 remaining)

The Packers are going down swinging, which is a positive. On third-and-10, Jordan Love ripped a 13-yarder to Bo Melton. On the next play, Tucker Kraft was open for a catch-and-run of 35 that included 15 yards after the catch. Josh Jacobs scored on a vicious 19-yard run on the next play, but Sean Rhyan was flagged for holding when he tackled Ivan Pace. The Packers scored anyway. Emanuel Wilson had a 14-yard catch, a 4-yard run and a 5-yard touchdown. Love hit Romeo Doubs for the two-point conversion.

Vikings 27, Packers 10 (9:18 remaining)

Will Reichard’s 43-yard field goal hit the left upright. Highlighted by a 37-yard completion to Justin Jefferson early in the drive, Sam Darnold has 349 passing yards to Jordan Love’s 64.

Vikings 27, Packers 10 (13:22 remaining)

The Packers had avoided third-and-long for the first three quarters. However, illegal formation on Zach Tom turned a first down at the Vikings’ 46 into second-and-13. Love almost was sacked on second down and was sacked on third down when Green Bay missed Blake Cashman’s stunt.

Third Quarter

Vikings 27, Packers 10 (51 seconds remaining)

So much for a rally. The Vikings answered Green Bay’s touchdown drive with an easy 70-yard scoring drive. Darnold ripped a 20-yarder to Jordan Addison against Keisean Nixon, Aaron Jones ran for 13 after Carrington Valentine missed a tackle and Cam Akers scored on a 9-yard screen when Edgerrin Cooper missed a tackle.

Sam Darnold has 312 yards in less than three quarters. Jordan Love has 59.

Vikings 20, Packers 10 (5:07 remaining)

The Packers turned Carrington Valentine’s interception into a big touchdown. After a 9-yard catch by Romeo Doubs made it first-and-goal at the 4, Josh Jacobs powered to the 2, then ran through Jonathan Greenard’s tackle attempt for the touchdown.

Vikings 20, Packers 3 (7:03 remaining)

The Packers have a pulse. Carrington Valentine got underneath a deep out intended for T.J. Hockenson and made a leaping interception. He returned it 33 yards to the 17 before he fumbled, but Karl Brooks saved the day. Packers ball at the 16.

Vikings 20, Packers 3 (7:55 remaining)

The Vikings are beating the Packers and the Packers aren’t helping themselves. They turned second-and-6 into second-and-11 when they had too many in the huddle. On third-and-9, Jordan Love was flushed from the pocket and threw incomplete to Jayden Reed. Cornerback Byron Murphy might have hit Reed early but there was no penalty.

Vikings 20, Packers 3 (9:44 remaining)

The Packers are getting smoked. They have no offense and no pass defense. The Vikings converted a third-and-3 on a short pass to Aaron Jones and a third-and-8 to Jalen Nailor, who was wide open on a deep in-breaker vs. Eric Stokes for 22. After a pair of short passes to Justin Jefferson produced gains of 7 and 15, Jordan Addison smoked Javon Bullard for an 18-yard touchdown. Addison stopped his route around the 13, then blew past Bullard.

The Packers have 45 passing yards. The Vikings have three players with more, including Nailor’s five catches for 81 yards.

Halftime

Vikings 13, Packers 3

The Packers entered the game with five consecutive games with 30-plus points but have only a field goal to show for the first 30 minutes.

Sam Darnold has badly outplayed Jordan Love. Darnold is 17-of-22 for 184 yards and one touchdown while Love is 7-of-12 for just 45 yards. T.J. Hockenson (five catches, 68 yards) and Jalen Nailor (four catches, 59 yards, one touchdown) have more yards than the entire Packers passing game.

The Vikings will get the ball to start the second half. Green Bay, obviously, needs a stop.

Injury update: Packers DT Devonte Wyatt is being evaluated for a concussion.

Second Quarter

Vikings 13, Packers 3 (0:00 remaining)

The Vikings tacked on a field goal to take a 10-point lead at halftime. Making matters worse, they’ll get the ball to start the second half. Starting at their 16 with 1:16 to go, Sam Darnold hit T.J. Hockenson for 28, 5 and 12 yards. After the 5-yarder, Karl Brooks sacked Darnold. On the next play, Darnold hit Hockenson, who was wide open over the middle, to put the Vikings into field goal range. Will Reichard’s 55-yarder was wide right but Edgerrin Cooper was offside. It was a 5-yard – and three-point – penalty.

Vikings 10, Packers 3 (1:16 remaining)

The Packers really needed some sort of score with the Vikings set to get the ball to start the second half. Instead, they went three-and-out. On third-and-1, Josh Jacobs plowed ahead for an easy first down but Dontayvion Wicks was flagged for illegal formation. On the re-do, Jordan Love’s bomb to Bo Melton didn’t have a prayer.

Brandon Powell muffed the punt but recovered at the 16.

Vikings 10, Packers 3 (2:16 remaining)

Will Reichard kicked a 25-yard field goal, setting up a huge drive for the Packers to end the first half. On third-and-6, Sam Darnold all day – a statement that’s been true throughout the game – and hit Jalen Nailor for 16. On the next play, Cam Akers broke Isaiah McDuffie’s tackle and ran for 16 more. On third-and-goal from the 7, Keisean Nixon had good coverage on a post-corner by Justin Jefferson to force the field goal.

Vikings 7, Packers 3 (7:29 remaining)

On fourth-and-2 from the 23, Jordan Love had Jayden Reed open against Byron Murphy for the first down but Love’s pass was a bit too far in front of him, so the Packers wasted a good drive. The big play on the drive was Josh Jacobs’ 13-yard run – Sean Rhyan had a key block – and he’s up to 58 yards on 12 carries. However, he was stuffed on second-and-4, a crossing route to Romeo Doubs gained 2 and Love misfired on fourth down.

Vikings 7, Packers 3 (11:52 remaining)

Justin Jefferson isn’t killing the Packers. It’s Jalen Nailor. Nailor streaked right through the middle of the defense and was wide open against a befuddled secondary for a 31-yard touchdown. Eric Wilson passed him off but neither of the safeties, rookie Javon Bullard or Xavier McKinney picked him up. The Vikings overcame second-and-14 and second-and-12 on the drive. Nailor has three catches for 43 yards.

Injury update: Packers S Zayne Anderson, who was injured on the kickoff, is being evaluated for a concussion. Anderson’s injury forced Bullard to safety.

First Quarter

Packers 3, Vikings 0 (1:47 remaining)

Brandon McManus made a 22-yard field goal for the first points of the game. Starting with great field position after the Vikings missed a 57-yard field goal, Josh Jacobs got a great block by Sean Rhyan to gain 7 on third-and-3. Next, Jordan Love and Tucker Kraft for a gain of 18, with an additional 10 yards tacked on for Harrison Smith’s low block on right tackle Zach Tom, who was leading the convoy. The drive stalled, though. On third-and-8 from the 9, Love connected with tight end Luke Musgrave but Josh Metellus made the tackle at the 4.

Packers 0, Vikings 0 (6:02 remaining)

A huge sequence for the Packers. On second-and-3, Jordan Addison had Keisean Nixon beat for what could have been a 39-yard touchdown but Nixon showed great recovery skills and pried it loose from Addison as they tumbled to the turf in the back of the end zone. On third-and-3, Nixon’s late rush forced a throwaway. Will Reichard’s 57-yard field goal hit the crossbar, so the Packers will start at their 47.

Packers 0, Vikings 0 (9:00 remaining)

A terrible drive for the Packers, who failed to flip the field position. Three consecutive passes resulted in three consecutive incompletions. Jordan Love was off-target on a deep out to Romeo Doubs, just missed Dontayvion Wicks at the 45 and overthrew Jayden Reed and was almost intercepted by Harrison Smith.

Packers 0, Vikings 0 (9:23 remaining)

The Packers got a key stop after the Josh Jacobs turnover. The Vikings gained one first down but Edgerrin Cooper stopped Aaron Jones on first down and Sam Darnold had to throw it away on second down. On third-and-8, Rashan Gary missed a sack but the best Darnold could do was check it down to fullback C.J. Ham. Xavier McKinney’s excellent tackle forced a punt.

Packers 0, Vikings 0 (12:08 remaining)

A disastrous start for the Packers, who won the toss and wanted to make an early statement. After a third-and-2 conversion from Jordan Love to Dontayvion Wicks, Josh Jacobs made a nice cut to find some daylight but had the ball punched loose by Jerry Tillery. Cam Bynum recovered. The Vikings will start at their 38.

Big Game for the Packers

This is a big game for the Packers from a couple perspectives.

One, they’d like to prove they can beat an elite team after going 0-4 against the Lions, Eagles and Vikings.

“Badly,” quarterback Jordan Love said when asked how badly the Packers need to win this game. “Obviously we only have one more chance here this week, so definitely, like I’ve talked about before, we’ve got to be able to go win these games against the really good teams in the league and set ourselves up for the situation we’ll be in for the playoffs – on the road playing good teams. So, definitely a good test this week.”

Second, a win would improve their chances of moving up to the No. 5 seed but a loss could doom them to the No. 7 seed.

That’s a huge difference. The No. 5 will play the worst of the division winners. The No. 7 probably will wind up playing their first game at Philadelphia.

“All the motivation is right there,” Love said. “Division opponent. Obviously, they beat us first game, so we’re going into their place and we want to get some of that revenge that we’re looking for.”

Beyond all of that, this is a battle between division rivals with great records. The Vikings (13-2) have a chance to win the NFC North and the Packers (11-5) clinched a playoff berth last week.

“I view every game like a big game, just me personally, because they’re in front of us,” running back Josh Jacobs said. “They’re in the way. They’re competing for the No. 1 seed, if I’m not wrong, so we want to ruin that for them, too. We’re trying to ruin anything they got going.”

Added guard Sean Rhyan: “We know that winning is going to help us with seeding, but that’s not the main reason we want to win. We want to win for us.”

Packers-Vikings Inactives

The Packers are down four starters, including three on defense.

Aaron Jones Loves His New Team

Aaron Jones was a beloved member of the Packers during his seven seasons with the team, but he’s loving life with the Vikings.

“This is probably the most fun I’ve had playing football,” Jones told reporters this week. “Just being around a great group of guys. Everybody’s looking forward to coming into work every day. You’re away from them, you come back, you miss them.

“You might have been gone from them for 12 hours, 6 hours, but it’s just that bond that you guys, that we’ve created amongst each other. It’s crazy because it’s a lot of our first times together, but that bond, just time that you get to spend together and making those real connections that you know when you get into battle, that’ll really matter. Like, ‘Hey, this is my fox in the hole. I can depend on him.’ And vice-versa, he’s going to depend on me.”

Jones, who turned 30 earlier this month, has rushed for 1,046 yards this season. He’s got a chance to eclipse his career-high total of 1,121 with the Packers in 2022.

He knows many of the Packers’ defenders well, but he hasn’t seen the defense play this well as one of the best in the league in stopping the run.

“They’ve always played as 11, they’ve always ran to the ball,” Jones said, “but just the way they’re attacking, whether it’s them getting off the ball or when they’re sending a blitz, you can see their pin in their back and they’re coming with intentions.”

Vikings Add Weapon

While Green Bay will be down three starters on defense, the Vikings have a big weapon who was sidelined for the first matchup.

T.J. Hockenson missed the first half of the season while recovering from last year’s torn ACL. In eight games, he has 34 receptions for 378 yards.

“It makes it hard with the ball distribution, whether it’s going to Jefferson or whether it’s going to Addison or whether it’s going to Jones, and now you have the tight end to worry about,” defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley said. “He’s big, he’s athletic. It’s like having another big wideout out there, and he’s a great target for the quarterback to get the ball to.

“I think anytime you’ve got good wideouts and you have the element of the good tight end, kind of like we do [with Tucker Kraft], it’s a threat and you’ve got to be aware of it. You’ve got to get him down, too. He’s a strong runner. He’s a really good football player.”

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.