Minnesota Vikings vs. Green Bay Packers: Full Report Card Grades for Minnesota
On the bright side, the Minnesota Vikings don't have a quarterback controversy to worry about.
Things began getting ominous early on Thursday as reports began to trickle out of Green Bay that Vikings rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater wasn't going to play.
It became official about 90 minutes before kickoff:
"Ponder starts, Bridgewater inactive http://t.co/rijNeLnwtF
— Access Vikings (@AccessVikings) October 2, 2014"
It didn't go well.
The Vikings played pretty well in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, Aaron Rodgers might as well have been home on his couch by then, because Minnesota was trailing by six touchdowns.
Yeah, six—42 rip after three quarters.
Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder, filling in for the injured Bridgewater, finished with a 45.8 quarterback rating, but he was in the teens for most of the first three quarters.
Aaron Rodgers threw three touchdowns. Eddie Lacy ran for two, and Julius Peppers returned an interception for a touchdown as the Packers blew out the Vikings 42-10 to move to 3-2 and send Minnesota to 2-3.
Yes, Ponder was bad, but so was the offensive line, receivers and defense. This was a complete team meltdown.
"Mike Zimmer: "It's hard to find a silver lining after tonight." #Vikings
— VikingUpdate.com (@VikingUpdate) October 3, 2014"
The Vikings now have 10 days off before they host the Detroit Lions in Minneapolis.
Quarterback
1 of 10
Look, I don't think anyone in their right mind is laying all of the blame for this loss on Christian Ponder.
He got thrown into a terrible situation and made the worst of it. If you want to put this loss on any one person, it should be Rick Spielman, who drafted Ponder and put the label of "first-round quarterback" on a guy who never should have been one in the first place.
The offensive line was bad. The receivers dropped balls. Everyone was bad, including the quarterback.
As usual, Ponder showed zero pocket presence. He takes way too long to survey the field and make a decision. He's athletic, but he moves awkwardly in the pocket and doesn't know how to buy himself any extra time.
We've been here before, way too many times.
It might be a little unfair after a game like Thursday night's, but football teams often take on the personality of their quarterback. There's a reason you hear about how it's the most important position in sports. You saw last week how the Vikings responded to the performance of Teddy Bridgewater.
CBS analyst Phil Simms, who arguably had a worse night than Ponder, gave a ridiculous monologue near the end of the game, telling all the viewers that Ponder hadn't lost this game by himself. We know that, Phil. We also know that he sure as hell didn't help the Vikings win it either.
Ponder's final numbers were shined up a little by garbage time, and he finished 22-of-44 for 222 yards and two interceptions and no touchdowns. His quarterback rating, which had been as low as 14 at one point in the game, finished at a dismal 45.8.
We've always said that Ponder is a good guy. He's just not a good quarterback.
Grade: F
Running Back
2 of 10
Keep in mind that the Packers ranked dead last in the league against the run heading into Thursday night.
Matt Asiata probably had his best game running the football this season, picking up 72 yards on 15 carries for a 4.8-yard average.
He dropped a couple of passes, though, and really didn't establish much in the running game that might have taken a bit of the onus off Ponder. He had a costly fumble that ended up not meaning little in the grand scheme of things, but you never like to lose fumbles.
Jerick McKinnon was used sparingly, only getting seven carries for 24 yards a week after going for more than 130. He caught three passes for 22 yards but was not really a factor.
You know how sometimes you get out of a car awkwardly and stumble a little as you try not to fall as you get your feet under you?
That's how the Vikings offense looked all night long.
The entire offense.
Grade: D
Wide Receiver and Tight End
3 of 10
Did they catch the wrong flight and end up in Chicago?
The Vikings' top trio of receivers, Greg Jennings, Cordarrelle Patterson and Jarius Wright caught six passes for 66 yards. Ponder threw two interceptions that were returned for 75 yards.
Jennings is getting precariously close to being an official free-agent bust and huge waste of money. After a disappointing first year with the Vikings, he's been even worse this year, with 17 catches for 235 yards and one touchdown. He's supposed to be the main threat at wideout.
Patterson might be on the back of a milk carton pretty soon. After he lit it up running the ball against the Rams in the first game of the year, the Vikings have decided to never give him another carry, and he apparently doesn't know how to get open running routes.
Wright obviously missed Bridgewater more than anybody, because he reverted back to being a non-factor, catching three passes for 27 yards.
Adam Thielen and Chase Ford had decent evenings, but most of their damage was done long after the outcome had been decided.
The quarterback was bad, but the receivers didn't do him any favors.
Grade: F
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Offensive Line
4 of 10
Was the offensive line on the same flight as the receivers?
The linemen didn't show up in Green Bay either.
The Packers were ranked dead last in the NFL against the run heading into Thursday night's game, and the Vikings could only muster 111 yards rushing. The Pack were giving up 176 yards rushing per game heading into Thursday.
The Vikings offensive line made Letroy Guion look pretty good.
Ponder was sacked six times and flushed out of the pocket on numerous other occasions.
Yes, Ponder hangs onto the ball for far too long and is incredibly awkward in the pocket, but his blockers didn't do him any favors on Thursday night.
When a team faces adversity like the Vikings did on Thursday night—and things like that happen every week in the NFL by the way—the only way to win is for everyone to step up and play out of their minds.
The Vikings did the opposite.
Grade: F
Defensive Line
5 of 10
As bad and as awkward as Christian Ponder is in the pocket, Aaron Rodgers is cool, calm and collected. Nothing going on around him ever seems to bother him in the least.
He makes decision quickly and rifles the ball where it needs to go. He uses his legs to buy time and makes defenders pay for that extra time by finding open receivers.
His numbers were completely pedestrian on Thursday night, but you'd be hard-pressed to ever find a better game by a quarterback who only threw for 156 yards.
He looked like a boxer who knew he could knock out his opponent whenever he wanted to.
All of which is to say, the Vikings defensive line didn't do its job on Thursday night. Sharrif Floyd and Everson Griffen each came up with a sack, but they were momentary pauses in Rodgers' march through the Minnesota defense.
And someone should introduce the Vikings defensive line to Eddie Lacy, because none of them saw him all night long.
The defensive line got dominated by a group that should have no business doing that to the Vikings.
Grade: D
Linebacker
6 of 10
A very nondescript game for the Vikings linebackers.
They did a good job of resuscitating Eddie Lacy's season, that's for sure. Last year's offensive rookie of the year had been brutal so far in 2014 but bounced back in a big way against the Vikings, rushing for 105 yards on 13 carries.
Anthony Barr and Gerald Hodges both had six tackles, and Jasper Brinkley had five. Too many of them were chasing people from behind.
The Packers only ended up with 320 yards, but every time they needed yards early on in the game, they got them. The Vikings defense did a horrible job of tackling.
The linebackers were a part of that.
Grade: D
Secondary
7 of 10
Captain Munnerlyn was burned for the first touchdown of the game on a simple out pattern by Randall Cobb.
Harrison Smith got toasted by a simple head fake to the right by Jordy Nelson, and 66 yards later it's 14-0, and the Vikings are almost counted out.
If you were told that the Vikings held Aaron Rodgers to 156 yards passing, you'd take that to the bank every single time. He only completed 12 passes. You'd take that to the bank too.
But he had a quarterback rating of 138.7. Uh oh, that doesn't really match up with those first two numbers.
Three touchdowns. Easy touchdowns. Taking-candy-from-a-baby touchdowns.
The Vikings defensive backs settled in and didn't play terrible for most of the game. Harrison Smith tackled well and got his third interception of the year.
Far too little, way too late.
Grade: F
Special Teams
8 of 10
Oddly, Vikings punter Jeff Locke only punted one more time than Packers punter Tim Masthay.
Locke didn't have a great night, averaging 43.4 yards per kick, more than seven yards less than his counterpart.
That's right, even the Vikings punter got killed.
Blair Walsh's clutch field goal cut the lead to just 32 points with just over 10 minutes left.
Cordarrelle Patterson had one return that got everyone excited, but it was called back because of a holding penalty on Jabari Price.
Pretty blah night for the special teams.
Grade: D
Coaching
9 of 10
"Mike Zimmer: "It's hard to find a silver lining after tonight." #Vikings
— VikingUpdate.com (@VikingUpdate) October 3, 2014"
Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer spent most of the night looking like a pissed off junior high principal who was staring out the window at his students rioting at recess.
It was an ugly game from top to bottom.
In the end, everyone has to hope that the Vikings did the right thing by not risking further injury to Teddy Bridgewater.
It was sort of like looking up and seeing an avalanche about 20 feet from you.
The Vikings looked terrified of Aaron Rodgers. They made Eddie Lacy look like he was playing in a high school game. How much of that is on the coaching?
Did the coaches think that they could beat the Packers with Ponder starting at quarterback?
This game was a complete disaster, and this grade should probably be an incomplete, as their most important "coaching" of the year will be in how this team shows up for its next game out against the Detroit Lions.
Coaches sometimes have to take the heat for how their team plays.
Grade: F
Overall Grade
10 of 10
| Positional Unit | Grade |
| Quarterback | F |
| Running Back | D |
| Wide Receiver and Tight End | F |
| Offensive Line | F |
| Defensive Line | D |
| Linebacker | D |
| Secondary | F |
| Special Teams | D |
| Coaching | F |
Overall Grade: F
Admit it, when you heard Christian Ponder was going to start at quarterback for the Vikings, you fooled yourself into thinking it might not be that bad.
It was worse.
You can't win an NFL football game when your quarterback has no idea what to do in the pocket. And that sentence is being way too kind to the Vikings offensive line, because there was hardly ever a pocket.
When Aaron Rodgers gets snapped the football, he looks like he knows exactly what he wants to do with it and knows he can make it happen.
When Ponder gets snapped the football, it looks like nobody called a play in the huddle—that the only thing they talked about was what count to snap the ball on.
One of the best things about Teddy Bridgewater's performance last week was his body language. He looked comfortable in the pocket and confident in his ability. Ponder looks lost in the pocket and struggles to make anything happen.
He misses on way too many passes. Yes, he had his arm hit on one of his interceptions, but he held onto the ball for way too long on the play and took too long to decide to throw it.
The team followed suit.
The body language was awful almost from the get-go.
The Vikings get four days off to forget this game ever happened. They'll have their starting quarterback back and better protect him at all costs.
The Vikings have hit the five-game mark at 2-3, and nobody really thought they'd be any better than that anyway, given their hard schedule. They faced three first-ballot Hall of Fame quarterbacks and didn't give up a 300-yard game to any of them.
They didn't beat any of them either, but it's a process.
The Vikings are a better football team than they were a year ago. But Thursday night is a reminder of how thin the ice they're standing on is.
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