Packers Vs Vikings Take 2

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It’s like Hulk Hogan turning from hero to heel. Or maybe it’s like bizarro Luke Skywalker turning on the Rebel Army, but instead of a tow-headed kid from a small desert town it’s a graying country boy from Mississippi. Following a 16-year career in Wisconsin, followed by brief and unmemorable (accept for how his teammates turned in him after the season) affair with the Jets, Brett Favre jumped the Mississippi River and joined the dark side. The dark and purple side.

Never has a move of such little distance created a rift of such epic proportions. Brett Favre returns to Lambeau Field for what will be the most-watched regular season game in NFL history. Love him or hate him, probably never has one player engendered so much emotion from a fan base in a league known for its passionate and devoted fans.

If Favre thought it was hard to breathe standing in the tunnel before the Green Bay Packers-Minnesota Vikings game in Minneapolis, he may need an oxygen tank with him before he takes to the not-quite-frozen tundra of Lambeau.

"If you're a true fan, you're a true fan. The people that have jumped ship or whatever completely, what can I do?,” Favre said this week. “There was always Brett Favre haters out there, and that will never change."

I think Favre underestimates the resentment he left behind. Choosing to continue his career is one thing, but doing it for The Enemy is another entirely.

Once the fans get out their sporadic cheers and lusty booing, however, Favre and the Vikings have a football game to play against their divisional rivals that could go a long way to deciding the NFC’s Black and Blue division. If the Packers win, they will keep pace with the Vikings, if Favre and Co. can pull out a win in a hostile environment, they will have a commanding 2 ½-game lead on the Pack, but if they lose, only ½ a game will separate the teams, with a tie-breaker still undetermined.

The Vikings took the first match of these two teams earlier, this year, with a 30-23 win at home. But the weather will be as chilly as his reception, and the Packers defense is hotter than it was four weeks ago.

One thing that should be repeated from the last meeting is the close nature of the game. The last three meetings between these two teams have been settled by an average of about four points, and this one will probably be no different.

The teams offensive numbers are almost identical, with Green Bay averaging 376 a game while Minnesota is putting up 353 a game. The defense has been the difference thus far, with Minnesota being able to outscore opponents while giving up 330 yards a game. Green Bay, on the other hand, is only giving up 272 yards, and only 175 through the hair. They are gelling at the right time under defensive coordinator Dom Caper’s 3-4 scheme, and between the noise and their pass rush, should give Favre a few fits, as he scrambles around looking to pull out more Lambeau miracles.

With the emergence of receivers Sidney Rice, Percy Harvin and Bernard Berrian, the Vikings have been passing the ball more than expected, but they will have to find more balance than they have shown of late, using All-World Adrian Peterson to help set Favre’s beloved play-action passing.

On the other side of the ball, Packers QB Aaron Rodgers has looked like an apt player to follow in Favre’s massive footsteps, and the Vikings will try and equal the pressure they put on him earlier in the month when they sacked him eight times and made him look downright pedestrian.

Rodgers will need his below average line to provide protection and good run blocking as it did last week when Ryan Grant got loose for almost 150 yards.

As much as the focus will be on the returning and disgraced hero and his former protégé, the ground game will likely be the key in this game. Favre will look to get his scores, but expect him to rely on Peterson to carry the lion’s share of the load.

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