Upon Further Review: Packers humbled in 28-22 loss to Vikings

The Green Bay Packers’ biggest weaknesses were exposed Sunday.

On a blustery afternoon at Lambeau Field, Green Bay was blown away by Minnesota running back Dalvin Cook.

In his first week back from a groin injury, Cook totaled 227 yards and four touchdowns while averaging 7.1 yards per touch, as the Packers were upset 28-22 by Minnesota and dropped to 5-2 on the season.

Green Bay began the game with a commanding eight-minute drive that resulted in a Davante Adams touchdown. But the Vikings responded with a 10-play, 78-yard scoring drive to knot it up at 7. And when the Packers drove down the field to score again — this time for nearly nine minutes and 76 yards — Minnesota countered with a game-tying 62-yard drive on 12 plays.

At halftime, the game was tied at 14. Both offenses were cruising. It seemed like the Packers would be able to slice through Minnesota’s defense all afternoon long and hold out for the inevitable Vikings choke job.

But the mistake never came. Quarterback Kirk Cousins, who entered Week 8 as the league-leader in interceptions, attempted just 14 passes, his second-lowest mark since joining the Vikings in 2018. Minnesota kept pounding the ball on the ground with Cook, and he couldn’t be stopped.

When Green Bay was behind, its other weakness was exposed – depth at wide receiver. Equanimeous St. Brown had a pair of costly drops in the third quarter and Marquez Valdes-Scantling, the apparent No. 2 receiver with Allen Lazard on the sidelines, was nowhere to be found yet again. He was targeted once and had one catch for 19 yards.

Good NFL teams typically have one or two bad losses in a season. This was definitely one of them.

Here’s a recap of Sunday’s game (Game story | Photo gallery):

PLAYER OF THE GAME

Where, oh where would this offense be without Davante Adams? Adams set a franchise record with 14 catches on 17 targets against Minnesota in Week 1. He didn’t light up the box score Sunday but was efficient with seven grabs for 53 yards and three scores. Seven of Adams’ 12 targets came in the red zone, further proving that he’s Rodgers’ only go-to option when it counts.

DON’T FORGET ABOUT ME

It’d be difficult to highlight any defensive player after the Packers surrendered 5.1 yards per carry and four touchdowns on the Vikings’ first four drives. So, we’ll stick with offense. Tight end Robert Tonyan had himself a game, hauling in five of seven targets for 79 yards. Three of those five catches resulted in first downs. Entering Week 8, Tonyan was averaging 1.8 receptions for 20.5 yards in contests with a healthy Adams on the field. But on Sunday, he was still a favorable option for Rodgers.

THAT MOMENT

The Packers trailed 21-14 midway through the third quarter and were inside Vikings territory after a massive 45-yard connection from Rodgers to Tonyan. Two incompletions later, Green Bay faced a third-and-10 from the 37-yard line. Rodgers perfectly threaded the needle 15 yards down the field to St. Brown, who put two hands on the ball but dropped it. On the very next play, Rodgers heaved a fourth-and-10 pass to St. Brown, who was in single coverage in the end zone. Again, the football hit both of his hands and fell to the ground. Minnesota took over on downs and scored four plays later on Cook’s 50-yard touchdown reception — his fourth score of the day.

THIS NUMBER

0 — The Packers defense did force a turnover against the Vikings, who entered Week 8 with the sixth-most giveaways in the NFL. Through seven contests, the Packers have just four takeaways — two fumble recoveries and two interceptions. That ranks dead last in the league, tied with Houston and Las Vegas.

WHO SAID IT

“I think we’ve all got to look at ourselves and we better figure out a solution quickly. Because the formula has been written.” — head coach Matt LaFleur

“It’s a lot harder to tackle when it’s one on one in the open field. Watching the film tomorrow or watching it later today, I will see more of where we can avoid being in those one-on-one situations. We need more guys getting off of blocks and more guys running to the ball.” — safety Adrian Amos

“This definitely qualifies as one of those games where if you want to be a great team, you’ve got to handle business at home. Look, it’s not the same type of home environment (without fans). I get it. But it’s 2020 and we’re in a different NFL this year. It’s still a game we should win, a team with the trade deadline coming and questions about their coach during the week. Yeah. These are one of the games we need to win. Hopefully it’s just a reality check for us.” — quarterback Aaron Rodgers

WHAT’S NEXT

Green Bay has a chance to avenge last year’s season-ending loss to San Francisco when it travels to face the 49ers on the road Thursday night. The 49ers lost 37-27 to Seattle on Sunday, a game in which quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo left with injury after completing 11 of 16 passes for just 84 yards with no touchdowns and one interception, adding up to a passer rating of 55.2.