The Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers will meet for the NFC North Division championship on Sunday.
For years the Packers and Vikings had one of the most even rivalries in NFL history, but recent history has been different and it’s the Vikings who have found themselves on the short end of the stick more times than not.
Since 2010, the Vikings are 1-10-1 against the Packers, their only victory came during Week 17 of the 2012 season and put the Vikings in their last post-season game – which turned out to be a loss to the Packers the following week.
So the question has to be asked: are the Vikings scared of the Packers?
Veteran linebacker Chad Greenway appeared on Pro Football Talk Live last month and admitted there’s an intimidation factor when they are playing the Packers.
“I think there’s some truth to that honestly. Really since [Aaron] Rodgers has come in and taken that role over and actually during the time of [Brett] Favre as well. But we just haven’t played that well against them. … So I think it’s just the old adage of, you know, the division goes through Green Bay. We have to go there and prove that we can win, we have to prove that we can beat that football team. … [We] have to get over that hurdle and that’s something we didn’t do and we played uncharacteristically in that game [on November 22] and it just kind of goes to show that fact that we need to play better against them specifically. … But again there’s some truth to that for sure.”
There is one thing the Vikings should be very afraid of – Aaron Rodgers.
ESPN’s Kevin Seifert reports that Rodgers owns the Vikings. Since 2010:
- The Packers have won 10 of the 11 games Rodgers has started against Minnesota, including all five at Lambeau Field.
- He has completed 69.9 percent of his passes against the Vikings
- Rodgers has thrown 28 touchdowns to just three interceptions
Even in the meeting earlier this season, 10 of Rodgers’ 16 completions were for first downs – two others were for touchdowns.
