The Minnesota Vikings (4-6) will take on the Green Bay Packers (7-3) on Nov. 23 at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, attempting to halt Green Bay's unprecedented offensive hot streak.
Green Bay has been a powerful force on the gridiron, with Aaron Rodgers leading the Packers offense to six wins out of their last seven games. According to an article on CBS Sports, Rodgers commented on how Green Bay makes their plays look almost effortless at times.
"This is not easy. There's a lot of preparation that goes into it," Rodgers said. "It takes 11 guys to win, to do the job to make something like that happen."
Although Rodgers, the Packers' quarterback, has totaled 656 yards and has thrown nine interception-free touchdowns, coach Mike McCarty notes that there are other factors that have led to Green Bay's success so far.
"Obviously Aaron is having a great season and has done so many things, but I think you can't lose sight of the fact that this is a team sport," McCarthy said. "I just think it's a group that's a year better and has hit its stride a little bit."
What makes Green Bay's achievement significant is that they have reached the 50-point mark in back-to-back contests for the first time in franchise history, including the Week 11 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles with a score of 53-20. According to CBS sports, only six NFL teams have scored 50 points in consecutive games, but excluding the Packers, none of the other teams have accomplished that feat in three straight games.
The Vikings will have to play against the Packers without running back Adrian Peterson. That's because the NFL suspended him for at least the rest of 2014 after he pled no contest on Nov. 4 to "misdemeanor reckless assault for injuries to his 4-year-old son," according to CBS Sports.
Although Peterson may be sidelined out of the Vikings roster for now, Darren Page of Bleacher Report thinks that Minnesota can still put up a challenge against Green Bay on Sunday. He outlined several strategies on how to take out Green Bay that includes quarterback Teddy Bridgewater and Norv Turner working together.
"Instead of trying to bombard coverages with various iterations of four verticals, Turner and the Vikings need to tailor the attack to Bridgewater's strengths," Page wrote. "Those strengths are pocket manipulation and making short to intermediate throws over the middle of the field."
Page also recommends that the Vikings use wide receiver Charles Johnson and Ben Tate in their gameplay, along with countering rushing attacks from Eddie Lacy and the Packers. However, Page thinks there is a more obvious way to clench a Vikings victory.
"The final key to a Vikings victory comes from the department of obvious information," Page wrote. "To beat the Packers, you better score points and then score more points after that."
Sunday's game will be broadcast at 1 p.m. ET on Fox. While the game won't officially be streamed live, viewers can also watch it online via NFL Game Rewind (subscription required).
