Packers vs. Vikings: Three key matchups in Week 16

The Green Bay Packers travel to Minnesota to take on the Vikings in Week 16. These will be three important matchups as they look to clinch the NFC North.

Monday night, the Packers will travel to U.S. Bank Stadium, a place that has been very unpleasant to them. They are 0-3 all-time at the Vikings’ new venue. Aaron Rodgers and company will look to break that streak this week and clinch the NFC North for the first time since 2016 when the Packers went 10-6.

While it seems like it should be a huge game on paper, it’s really not. Don’t get me wrong, it would still be a big thing for the Packers to win this game and they should come into it looking at it as a must-win, even if it’s not. But, if the Packers lose, they still only need to beat the Lions in Week 17 to clinch the division, giving them home-field for the wild-card round of the playoffs.

For the Vikings, they need a win or the Rams to lose to the 49ers on Sunday. So going into this game, they may have already locked up a playoff spot. With reports about the Vikings possibly shutting running back Dalvin Cook down until the playoffs coming out, they may be content rolling with the team they have and taking a wild-card spot in the playoffs, rather than rush Cook back to win the division. Plus, they can still clinch in Week 17 with a win over the Chicago Bears, who Green Bay eliminated last week.

Either way, nothing really changes immediately after this week as far as the playoffs and the division goes, thus making this game less important than it may seem. With all that in mind, let’s take a look at three matchups that could potentially determine the outcome of this game.