Here’s how you can tell that the 131st edition of the Border Battle between the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings is lacking a little juice. It’s the first time in around 25 years that I wasn’t invited to Paul Allen’s Friday Football Feast at a metro area Buffalo Wild Wings.
I can’t really blame him. It’d be hard to jaunt into the place in my usual smug manner, ready to take on a sea of Vikings fans, singing the praises of Clayton Tune and his upcoming first NFL start. Or just trying to figure out which starters are sitting out and which are being asked to lay it on the line in a game the team is trying to just get through unscathed.
By now, you know Jordan Love has cleared concussion protocol, but will sit this one out to get ready for next weekend’s likely Wild Card showdown in Chicago. Last year in this spot, the Packers played everybody to keep their momentum going, only to lose Christian Watson for around 12 months and see Love get banged up as well.
I say, take no chances this week. The injury gods have not been kind to Green Bay over the last couple of months. A healthy Love, Watson, Josh Jacobs, and hopefully Zach Tom will give this offense a chance to get some revenge on the Bears. By the way, the Packers are projected to be 1.5-point favorites if that matchup happens in Chicago next weekend.
Meanwhile, J.J. McCarthy and the Vikings will be motivated to close the season on a five-game winning streak and finish with a winning record. McCarthy will target Justin Jefferson all afternoon, making sure the superstar receiver surpasses the 1,000-yard mark for the sixth straight year — he needs 53 yards.
Brian Flores will have plenty in store for Tune, unleashing his usual arsenal of blitzes and disguised looks to confuse the young QB. Tune will likely have a couple of backup linemen in front of him and a bevy of practice squad RBs and WRs at his disposal.
It will be interesting to see if the Pack features Matthew Golden in the passing game — Tune was his quarterback before he transferred from Houston to Texas. With Watson, Romeo Doubs, Jayden Reed, Savion Williams, and Dontayvion Wicks all likely out, he should finally see the lion’s share of targets. Either way, it’s tough to see Green Bay moving the ball consistently with this lineup.
On the defensive side, we can assume most of the big names will take the day off, but we could see the debut of newly signed CB Trevon Diggs, a low-risk move to give the Pack a little depth at a spot where they lost Nate Hobbs and Kamal Hadden for the season last week. Diggs was teammates with Xavier McKinney at Bama, and his secondary coach there was Packers defensive passing game coordinator Derrick Ansley, so he should feel right at home. Micah Parsons is already whispering in his ear that he’s going to like it in Titletown.
It may turn out to be a rental arrangement through the postseason only, or the two sides could agree to work out a new deal, somewhere south of his current bloated contract. The past two seasons, he’s looked nothing like the ball-hawking All-Pro he was previously, but maybe a change of scenery kicks him in the butt. He can’t be worse than what the Pack has on the depth chart behind Keisean Nixon and Carrington Valentine.
Green Bay also brought back DL Jonathan Ford this week, a former draft pick who the Bears waived. He’ll likely get some snaps to see if he can provide better run support than the guys who seemed to have no interest in slowing down Derrick Henry last week.
For Packer fans, this game will serve as a chance to see some of the young guys and practice squad players get a chance to show that they belong in the team’s plans in 2026. Beyond that, it’s about staying healthy and quickly turning their attention to next weekend.
Vikings 23
Packers 10