Minnesota Vikings vs. Green Bay Packers: Breaking Down Green Bay's Game Plan

The Minnesota Vikings and the Green Bay Packers meet for the second time this season. With the Packers winning the first matchup in Minnesota by a score of 44-31, Green Bay is going for a season sweep over the Vikings.

Coming away with a win will be quite a bit more difficult for the Packers this time, as quarterback Aaron Rodgers will be missing his third straight game. However, Minnesota isn't exactly a juggernaut this year, as its 2-8 record clearly shows.

With that said, the Packers can't walk into this game expecting it to be a cakewalk. They've shown the past two weeks that they can only win games without Rodgers if they play nearly perfect football.

We're going to break down the game plan that will give Green Bay the best chance of winning this week and ending its three-game losing streak.

The Competitive Edge

Quarterback

This matchup is just disgusting. Really, who wants to watch Christian Ponder and Scott Tolzien battle it out? Neither quarterback is good enough to have the edge, so it's a push.

Advantage: Push

Running Backs

While Eddie Lacy has been great this year, he's still far from the player Adrian Peterson is for the Vikings. The only question is whether Minnesota will give Peterson the ball enough to impact the game.

Advantage: Minnesota

Wide Receivers

With Jarrett Boykin continuing to develop for the Packers and Jordy Nelson and James Jones still great receivers, it's hard not to give the advantage to Green Bay. However, the Vikings are closer than you think, as rookie Cordarrelle Patterson is quietly getting more involved with the offense.

Advantage: Green Bay

Tight Ends

It seems that Andrew Quarless and Brandon Bostick have become more involved for the Packers since Tolzien became quarterback, but neither player has the overall skill set of Kyle Rudolph. He's an elite red-zone target and can be a major impact player for the Vikings when they get him the ball.

Advantage: Minnesota

Offensive Line

If you could combine Green Bay's pass blocking and Minnesota's run blocking, you'd have quite the offensive line. But you can only do that in Madden, unfortunately, and the Packers offensive line is starting to get hit hard by the injury bug.

Advantage: Minnesota

Defensive Line

It's been hard to watch the Packers defensive line for the past few weeks. In fact, the only decent member of the unit has been rookie defensive end Datone Jones, who is starting to play up to his potential. The Vikings, on the other hand, continue to get decent production from their unit, especially when they need to get pressure on the quarterback. That's ultimately why Minnesota has the slight edge here.

Advantage: Minnesota

Linebackers

Last week was the first week the Packers linebackers were able to get any type of pass rush during a game. The linebackers combined to record four sacks against the New York Giants. They are still struggling in pass coverage, but this group is still quite a bit better than the Vikings linebackers.

Advantage: Green Bay

Secondary

The Vikings secondary has really been quite bad this year. The Packers secondary hasn't been world-class or anything, but it has been much better than Minnesota's unit. This is especially true with cornerback Tramon Williams finally playing like an elite cornerback last week.

Advantage: Green Bay

Packers Offense vs. Vikings Defense

Since Rodgers' injury, the Packers offense hasn't quite been the same. The good news for Green Bay is that a struggling Vikings defense is coming to town this weekend.

Minnesota simply hasn't been good at slowing down either the run or the pass this year. It currently has the sixth-worst overall defense and seventh-worst run defense and is the third-worst defense in pass coverage, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required).

The past few weeks, the run game has needed to be the focal point of the offense, but this week, the aerial game needs to be dominant for Green Bay. The Packers have a huge advantage with their receivers against the Vikings cornerbacks. Guys like Jordy Nelson, Jarrett Boykin and James Jones will be able to exploit their matchups all game.

That means Tolzien is going to need to be at the top of his game this week. He's going to need to take care of the ball and find his open receivers. He is also going to need to trust his receivers to make plays and not try to do too much himself.

That doesn't mean Lacy, James Starks and the ground game won't be important, because they will be. The Packers will need Lacy and Starks to take some of the pressure off the passing attack, and they will need them to do it consistently throughout the game.

However, where the Packers offense can really beat the Vikings defense is through the air. If the Packers want to win on Sunday, they'll need Tolzien and Co. to have a great game.

Packers Defense vs. Vikings Offense

Had this game taken place a few weeks ago, the Packers defense would have likely felt much better about this matchup. However, the Packers have allowed 100-yard rushers in two of the past three games, and the run defense has been struggling mightily.

Green Bay knows the Vikings are going to want to feed the ball to Peterson as much as possible this game. With the run defense playing as badly as it has in recent weeks, there's a chance Peterson has an absolutely huge game this week.

The key for the Packers will be stopping the run and forcing the Vikings to beat them through the air. This means we'll likely be seeing eight men in the box all game for Green Bay. 

As long as the Packers can slow down Peterson, they should be able to keep the Vikings offense in check. However, if Peterson has a 200-yard game (like he did last year against Green Bay), the Vikings will have won on offense and will likely walk away with a road win.

Special Teams

When these two teams met earlier in the year, special teams were huge. Patterson had a kickoff returned for a touchdown to start the game, and cornerback Micah Hyde had his own 93-yard punt return.

If you're looking for an advantage, it has to go to the Vikings. Patterson is such a dynamic playmaker that he has the ability to impact the game every single time he touches the football.

The Packers, on the other hand, have seen their special teams unit struggle in recent weeks. While it's unlikely that either special teams unit is going to win the game outright, the Vikings unit is much more dangerous than the unit in Green Bay.

Wednesday's Injury Report

Player	Position	Injury	Practice Status
Don Barclay	OL	Knee	Did Not Practice
Evan Dietrich-Smith	OL	Knee	Limited Participation
Casey Hayward	CB	Hamstring	Did Not Practice
Johnny Jolly	DL	Groin	Did Not Practice
Clay Matthews	LB	Thumb	Full Participation
Andy Mulumba	LB	Ankle	Limited Participation
Mike Neal	LB	Abdomen	Limited Participation
James Nixon	CB	Knee	Did Not Practice
Nick Perry	LB	Foot	Did Not Practice
Ryan Pickett	DL	Knee	Limited Participation
Aaron Rodgers	QB	Collarbone	Did Not Practice
Sam Shields	CB	Hamstring	Did Not Practice

A staggering 12 players are listed on Wednesday's injury report. Even worse, only one player, outside linebacker Clay Matthews, fully participated in practice on Wednesday.

The biggest concern for Green Bay on this injury report revolves around the offensive line. Last week, the Packers were forced to start offensive tackle Marshall Newhouse in place of Don Barclay, and that simply wasn't pretty for the Packers.

If Barclay can't play again this week and Evan Dietrich-Smith also faces a setback, the Packers offensive line could get dominated by the Vikings pass rush.

The other injury to keep an eye on is the one to cornerback Sam Shields. He was a surprise scratch from last week's game, and the Packers secondary could certainly use Shields back there to help slow down the pass.

The Packers Will Win If...

...they can take care of the football. That's obviously a pretty basic concept for winning in the NFL, but it's truer now than it ever has been for the Packers.

For example, had Tolzien not thrown three interceptions last week, including a pick-six to defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul, who knows whether the Packers would have lost to the Giants.

What Tolzien is going to need to do this week is trust his receivers to make the big plays and not rely on his arm. Nelson, Jones and Boykin are all capable of making plays after the catch, so all Tolzien needs to do is get the ball to them in stride and let them do what they do best.

Tolzien needs to realize he isn't capable of making the same plays or throws Rodgers does. He simply needs to play within himself and take care of the football.

As long as he can do that, the Packers will have a great chance of ending their recent losing streak this week.