The Green Bay Packers are taking on a red hot Minnesota Vikings team on Sunday. Not only have the Vikings won each of their first three games, they’ve looked dominant against two of the NFL’s best teams in the Texans and 49ers. Narrowing down a short list of keys to victory against a team like this isn’t exactly simple, because they’ve executed almost everything so perfectly thus far.

Nobody thought that a Sam Darnold led Vikings team would look this good, but here we are. Darnold’s first opportunity with a savvy offensively-minded head coach has turned out great so far, but can they keep it up? Here are three main ways that the Packers can hand the Vikings their first loss of the 2024 season.

Pressure Up Front

This is the biggest key for Sunday’s matchup. I’ll be honest and admit that the defensive side of the ball is going to be mentioned in all three of these major keys, but this is the big one. The Vikings have had one of the worst performing offensive lines in the league, but they’ve found success in spite of that fact.

Darnold has been able to get the ball out quick to his playmakers, especially Justin Jefferson and Aaron Jones, and they can buy time on the longer-developing plays on the back of their success in the quick game. The Packers defensive front will need to take advantage of the Vikings below-average protection all afternoon. Pressure is the name of the game here.

Jaire: Lockdown Mode

Jaire Alexander is regarded as one of the league’s best shutdown cornerbacks, but he’s got his biggest test of the season so far going up against Justin Jefferson. The Vikings have found success getting the ball to Jefferson against the 49ers and Texans, despite being without their preferred WR2 Jordan Addison in each of those games. Jaire needs to be able to limit Jefferson to a similar degree to what he did in week 17 of the 2022 season (griddy celebration preferred but not required).

If Jefferson is harder for Darnold to target he’ll need to look elsewhere to throw the ball, such as to Jordan Addison (who is hopeful to play for the first time since week one). The Vikings success despite missing Jordan Addison for two weeks, and TJ Hockenson all season (PUP list) has been nothing short of incredible thus far, but the Packers secondary will be the best the Vikings have seen this season. This is still no easy task for Green Bay.

Linebacker Play

We’re probably going to see a lot of screens, check downs, and short concepts over the middle of the field in this matchup. Quay Walker has had moments this season where he looks to be stuck in quicksand, and that can’t continue to happen. Big runs to the outside and easy completions on third and short to tight ends and running backs will get this Packers defense killed on Sunday.

Xavier McKinney has shown his ability as one of the best safeties in the league thus far, and Darnold likely won’t try to uncork too many deep shots downfield. So much of what Minnesota’s offense will want to do will end up being against Quay Walker, Isaiah McDuffie, and Edgerrin Cooper. They have a big task at hand.

Stopping the run will fall on the linebackers as well. Minnesota likely won’t want to send Aaron Jones up the middle towards Kenny Clark and Devonte Wyatt, so the sideline to sideline speed of Green Bay’s linebackers, as well as the pass rush’s ability to set the edge, will dictate much of what Minnesota will want to do on the ground. Minnesota’s offensive line has allowed a lot of pressure on the quarterback, but left tackle Christian Darrisaw stands out as one of the best run-blockers in the league. Aaron Jones will surely look to get after his old team on the ground during this matchup.

Final Thoughts

Of course Jordan Love is very likely going to be back under center for the Packers this week, and its also important for him to stay composed. He won’t need to be superman, though this Vikings defense has looked better than anyone thought it would. Scheme has more to do with that than defensive talent if we’re being honest, but the scheme is definitely daunting. Keeping up with a game plan that is designed for a defense that plays very little man coverage can be exhausting for a quarterback, and Love will have to take what he can get on each play.

Brock Purdy reportedly told Brian Flores “Your scheme is crazy,” after the 49ers week 2 loss to the Vikings, and he’s right. There’s a lot of disguised coverages, and they run the bulk of what they do out of similar looks. For an inexperienced quarterback like Purdy, and of course Jordan Love, this can be a nightmare. While I tend to think Love and the offense will execute LaFleur’s gameplan just fine, this is something to consider.

Overall, the defense for the Packers will need to overwhelm Sam Darnold in order to keep the Packers in this game. Keeping the Vikings offense at bay will be the key on Sunday, because they clearly have the ability to blow the lid off games with most of their playmakers.

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Zack is a college student and cheesehead from California. When he’s not in class or writing, you can find him talking about the Packers on Twitter at @Zack_Upchurch.

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