The Packers scored eight of nine times they had the ball at the Metrodome Sunday night, and Aaron Rodgers was nearly perfect in a 44-31 floor-mopping of the Purple.
The only time they didn’t score was when they ended the game with the ball, and the final score gives no indication of how much of a blowout this really was.
Green Bay’s drive summary looked like this: TD, FG, TD, TD, TD, TD, FG, FG, end of game, with Rodgers completing 24 of his 29 pass attempts, racking up 285 yards through the air and hitting Jordy Nelson twice for scores.
Despite that, Minnesota trailed by just seven at the half, with Cordarrelle Patterson returning the opening kickoff 109 yards, tying a NFL record for longest play, and Adrian Peterson getting into the endzone just before the end of the half.
Green Bay tightened things up in the second half though, eating up clock on two big third quarter drives, and putting up 17 unanswered points to seal the outcome and send the Vikings to their sixth loss of the season.
Minnesota’s defense looked overmatched and once again underwhelming, with safety Andrew Sendejo missing tackles on a 76-yard Nelson touchdown reception that would’ve limited the gain to 20, and on a James Starks 25-yard touchdown run in the third.
The rest of the defense did Minnesota no favors either, allowing Green Bay to convert on 13 of 18 third downs, leading to time of possession favoring the Packers by a whopping 464-243 margin.
As for Christian Ponder, who said earlier this week he wouldn’t be giving the starting job back, when we did see him he was the same quarterback we’ve come to know, missing open receivers and wildly overthrowing others on his way to completing 14 of 21 passes for 145 yards.
Quite simply, as has been the case the last three weeks, the offense was bad and the defense was worse. Or the other way around, it really doesn’t matter.
Minnesota back to action in a week, and thankfully for America, a continent that the punchless Purple still haven’t won on, it’s not a primetime game. Instead, a run of the mill noon start time against the Cowboys, a squad that has put up 30 or more points five separate times this year. Oh joy.
