Minnesota Vikings: 7 Keys to the Loss to the Green Bay Packers

No one should be surprised that even with Christian Ponder leading the Vikings offense, the Green Bay Packers with Aaron Rodgers at the helm would be too much for Minnesota.

Another first-half lead would disappear and result in another Vikings loss—33-27—to the Vikings' biggest rival.

The Vikings opened the game with a 72-yard completion from Ponder to Micheal Jenkins, setting up Ponder's first touchdown of his career on the Vikings' third play from scrimmage—a two-yard pass to Visanthe Shiancoe.

With only 1:02 gone in the game, the Vikings had already scored more points than the previous meeting with Green Bay.

While the result was the same, this time the game and the Vikings effort were much more palatable than when their cheese-head nation from the east crossed the St. Croix River and invaded the Metrodome—a 31-3 blowout, with Rodgers throwing four touchdowns.

Working in the favor of the Vikings, after opening the season 1-5, the expectations against the last undefeated team in the NFL were lower this season.

The game probably marked the end of Donovan McNabb's career as a starter, even though he still feels he has a a lot of football left in him.

Here are seven keys to the Vikings' loss.

Christian Ponder Still Needs Some Time to Develop into an NFL QB

Christian Ponder finished his first NFL start completing only 13 of 32 passes for 219 yards.

He threw two touchdowns but also made two ill-advised throws that were picked off by Charles Woodson.

His quarterback rating for the game was a lowly 59.2. 

However, Ponder seemed to do a better job of evading the rush, getting sacked only twice, and was able to make some big passes, keeping a touchdown drive alive in the fourth quarter.

With the Vikings trailing 33-20, he led the offense to their longest touchdown drive of the season—a 10-play, 97-yard drive that took only 4:41.

Ponder converted three third downs, one by running on a 3rd-and-7 and two by passing on a 3rd-and-6 and a 3rd-and-13, with completions of 22 yards to Visanthe Shiancoe and 16 yards to Greg Camarillo to keep the drive alive. 

Unfortunately it was his last three passes—all incompletions—that forced the Vikings to punt with 2:37 left in the game. 

For the Vikings to Win, A. P. Needs to Score Touchdowns

Adrian Peterson had a great game against the Packers.

The 175 yards on 24 carries were the most this season for Peterson and increased his average yards per carry from 4.40 before the game to 4.87.

The problem is that the Packers were able to limit him to one touchdown.

The Vikings needed another multiple-touchdown game if they had any chance of upsetting the Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers.

The Vikings Need Percy Harvin

The rib injury that limited Percy Harvin this past week during practice limited him in the game to only two rushing attempts for eight yards, two kickoff returns and no receptions.

With Harvin on the bench for most of the game, the Vikings were missing their most dynamic weapon on offense, putting a little more pressure on Christian Ponder and his first start.

No matter whom the Vikings have at quarterback, without Harvin in the lineup, the task becomes that much more difficult.

The Vikings Need a Deep-Threat Receiver

While Christian Ponder connected with Micheal Jenkins on a 72-yard pass play to open the game against the Packers and the offense took more shots downfield than in any other game this season, they are still missing that deep threat.

This was supposed to be the year that Bernard Berrian resurrected his career—instead, he has been the Vikings' biggest disappointment and was inactive against Green Bay for the second time this season.

The Vikings need to find another wide receiver like they had in Sidney Rice during the 2009 season. Rice led the Vikings with 83 receptions and a 15.8-yard average.

Ponder and the Vikings will need a big-time receiver to complement the running game of Adrian Peterson and the threat of Percy Harvin to run or catch the ball.

Antoine Winfield Misses His Third Straight Game

The Vikings were without their best tackling and blitzing cornerback when Antoine Winfield was held out for the third straight week.

Going against the best passing attack in the NFL, this left a big hole in the Vikings' defensive backfield.

Aaron Rodgers had three touchdowns and 300 yards passing with a little more than five minutes gone in the third quarter.

No Chris Cook Left the Defensive Backfield Even Thinner

The Vikings were without a key piece of the defensive backfield when cornerback Chris Cook was arrested early Saturday and was being held without bail on fifth-degree domestic assault charges.

The Vikings were already hurting with cornerback Antoine Winfield missing his third straight game.

That left the Vikings with Asher Allen and Cedric Griffin as the starting cornerbacks, leaving Eric Frampton and Marcus Sherels as the nickel backs.

Cook was just starting to live up to the expectations the Vikings had after drafting him in the second round in 2010.

With this mess hanging over him, there's a chance that his career will take a huge setback.

Aaron Rodgers Proves He Is the Best

Aaron Rodgers came into the Metrodome with the NFL's highest passer rating of 122.5 and leading the NFL with 17 touchdown passes.

All Rodgers did against the Vikings defense was to complete 24 of 30 passes for 335 yards and three touchdowns—an incredible 146.5 passer rating for the game.

It's obvious that the Packers organization knew what they had when they traded Brett Favre to the New York Jets before the 2008 season.

Rodgers has a 33-20 regular season record. He extended the Packers' unbeaten streak to 13 games, including six straight wins to close out the 2010 season, going 3-0 in the playoffs and winning the Super Bowl.

At 7-0, the Packers remain the NFL's only perfect team and the favorite to repeat as Super Bowl Champions.