Saturday, December 23, 2017

Role reversal

On Saturday of Week 16 in the 2016 NFL season, the Minnesota Vikings traveled to Lambeau Field to take on the Green Bay Packers. After a nice start to the '16 season (5-0 in their first five games), the Vikings limped into this matchup having lost 7 of their previous 9 games and thus were reduced to playing little more than spoiler to the Pack's playoff aspirations. Alas, Green Bay won handily.

Fast forward 364 days where the Vikings once again find themselves playing the Packers on Saturday of Week 16 in Lambeau. After a nice start to the 2017 season (4-1 in their first five games), the Pack limps into this matchup having lost 6 of their previous 9 games (due in large part to QB Aaron Rodgers missing eight of those contests) and are reduced to playing little more than spoiler to the Vikings' aspirations of having a first round bye in the NFC playoffs. And with Rodgers again being placed on the I-R list (this time for the remainder of the season), the task is that much more formidable for Green Bay.

One aspect of this game which has me genuinely curious is how many Vikings fans will be in the Lambeau Field stands. With the Packers missing the playoffs for the first time since 2008 and the prospects of watching Brett Hundley play QB with the temperature in the single digits, will the home fans just call it a season and make their tickets available to the highest bidder? I have a hard time believing that the opportunity for Packers' faithful to spew more invective towards Anthony Barr is going to provide extra motivation, particularly when it isn't coming from a keyboard within the comforts of one's home.

Anyhow, I believe the Vikes' defense will be the difference in this game. I'm going with the Vikings prevailing 21-10.

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