Packers-Vikings: Aaron Rodgers Passes Big Test on Monday Night Football

An incredibly competitive and unbelievably sloppy game ended with a 24-19 victory for the Green Bay Packers over the Minnesota Vikings, as new quarterback Aaron Rodgers passed a huge test on his road to replacing the legendary Brett Favre.

Rodgers didn't dazzle with daring passes as his predecessor did, but instead played within the Packers' offense, as expected, and led his team on several scoring drives.

Perhaps the most telling fact in the game was the play of Rodgers' counterpart, Tarvaris Jackson. Jackson played sloppy most of the game, only padding his stats with several passes late in the game when the Vikings were attempting a comeback.

It was said before the game that this would be a huge test for both Rodgers and Jackson, two young, emerging quarterbacks looking to lead competitive teams. Rodgers passed with flying colors, putting up very respectable numbers and leading his team to victory.

Jackson, however, did not. He completed only 45 percent of his passes for 178 yards with one touchdown. He had one interception, which was to Packers' safety Atari Bigby during the Vikings' final drive.

While Rodgers and Jackson are the obvious story lines from the game, the most impressive factor in the Packers' victory was the play of their defense.

The Vikings were able to drive down the field a number of times, but in the "bend but don't break" fashion that the they played with last season, the Packers' defense often held the Vikings to field goals. The only exceptions were a touchdown pass from Jackson to Sidney Rice early in the fourth quarter, as well as a touchdown run by Adrian Peterson very late.

Peterson finished with 103 yards on 19 carries, a good game statistically. But Peterson was prevented from having a huge impact on the game, with 34 yards being his longest run on the game.

The Packers' linebackers, specifically A.J. Hawk and Nick Barnett, played incredibly well throughout the game, providing good coverage in the zones and making tough open-field tackles in several crucial moments of the game.

Although it was only the first game of the season, this was still a telling game for both the Packers and the Vikings. The Packers proved that they are still the class of the NFC North and a team to reckon with in the NFC, even without Favre.

Their defense was able to put an enormous amount of pressure on Jackson for most of the game, and the secondary was solid for the most part.

At the same time, the Vikings should worry about the fact that their passing game was still suspect, and their passing defense has a great deal of question marks, as Rodgers was able to find open receivers down field on a pretty regular basis. Additionally, $31 million defensive end Jared Allen was shut down by Packers' offensive tackle Chad Clifton, finishing the game with zero sacks and zero tackles.

Jackson had supposedly improved leaps and bounds over the offseason and was ready to lead the Vikings on a Super Bowl run. Unfortunately for the Vikings, he didn't show any of that promise in this game.

Instead, it was Rodgers who proved he had the skills to play within a very capable offense and lead his team to a victory.