How many times have the Vikings had the opportunity to destroy the Green Bay Packers’ playoff hopes? In the 30 years of having Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers from 1992 to 2022, the Packers have missed the playoffs just eight times.
The Vikings can take credit for keeping the Packers out of the playoffs in three of those eight seasons, and they can do again with a win at Lambeau Field on Sunday.
The Packers will be eliminated from playoff contention with a loss to the Vikings coupled with the Lions beating the Bears in Detroit. The Lions are favored by 6 points against a banged up Bears team that has 3 wins all season.
And since the Lions and Bears play at noon, there’s a chance (if the Lions win) that Green Bay will literally be in a must-win situation by the time their game against Minnesota starts at 3:25 p.m.
Winning the division was Minnesota’s No. 1 goal. Beating the Packers at Lambeau to kill their playoff hopes would be a feather in the cap and the 2022 Vikings could join the teams from 1992, 1999 and 2017 as the only teams in the Favre-Rodgers era to be solely responsible for their mortal enemy’s death.
The 1992 Packers finished 9-7 and lost the tiebreaker to Washington for the last wild card spot. Guess who beat the Packers in Week 17? It was the Vikings in a 27-7 rout. Favre was intercepted three times and Sean Salisbury threw touchdowns to tight ends Steve Jordan and Mike Tice.
The Vikings’ 24-20 win over the Packers in Week 15 of the 1999 season dropped Green Bay to 7-7 and they finished 8-8, losing tiebreakers to the Lions and Cowboys to miss the playoffs. That game came down to the wire, with Robert Griffith intercepting Brett Favre in the end zone on the final play of the game.
The 2017 Packers started 4-1 and then Aaron Rodgers broke his collarbone when Anthony Barr slammed him to the turf at U.S. Bank Stadium. Green Bay melted without Rodgers and finished 7-9, so the Vikings can take some credit for killing their season.
Three decades of Favre and Rodgers and Minnesota is staring down a rare opportunity to bury their rival in the frozen tundra for the rest of the winter.
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