A Marauding In Minneapolis: Why the Green Bay Packers beat the Minnesota Vikings
By Kenn Korb
First-Half Takeaways
After turnovers were a struggle for most of 2016 for Green Bay, they have begun to show a much better aptitude for them in the past few weeks.
Through 12 weeks, Green Bay sat at just 12 total on the year; combined with their giveaways (17), they sat at an ugly -5 margin — a strange reality for Aaron Rodgers-led teams, which have tended to end up deeply positive.
Against Seattle and Chicago, that changed dramatically. Green Bay didn’t add any giveaways in those contests while their defense forced a stunning ten of them; almost instantly, that -5 turnover differential had been flipped into a +5 one instead. To continue their run to the playoffs, the continued flipping of the script in this matter would seem necessary, especially with the Vikings coming in as a top-5 team in terms of turnover differential (+9 prior to this game).
Fortunately for Green Bay, that’s exactly what happened. The Packers didn’t add to their recent interception splurge (8 in the prior two games), but they did come away with two fumble recoveries in the first half. More importantly, those turnovers came at decisive moments.
The first fumble recovery came on Minnesota’s fourth drive. The score was sitting at 14-6, with the past two drives for the Vikings resulting in field goals; another score there could have potentially tied up the game despite a pretty decent start by Green Bay’s own offense. Instead, Green Bay was given a dose of luck, with Sam Bradford unable to handle the snap properly before Kenny Clark came away with the ball.
The second fumble recovery was at least as important. Two drives after the first, with both teams having scored in between, saw Minnesota down just 21-13 and halftime fast approaching. A score there would have given them a potential tie score after two quarters — and they were set to receive the ball after halftime as well, lining up the eminent possibility of the Packers trailing despite touchdowns on three of their first six drives versus the league’s #8 DVOA defense. Instead, Green Bay managed to force that fumble four plays in, cutting short yet another possible problem before it could occur.
With the help of those fumbles, Green Bay jumped out to their big lead and did not have to worry much about Minnesota coming all that close the rest of the way.