For such an unhappy triumvirate of Cheeseheads, Brian Gutekunst, Matt LaFleur and Aaron Rodgers sure do get to smile a lot on game days.
Just ask their usually frowning victims from Detroit, Chicago and the Twin Cities.
Since 2019, when Gutekunst, the general manager, paired Rodgers, the great and temperamental quarterback, with LaFleur, the young hot-shot coach, the Packers are 13-1 with a seven-game road winning streak against their NFC North counterparts.
Next up: Sunday's trip to U.S. Bank Stadium, where 73,000 fans and three key pieces of Vikings coach Mike Zimmer's defense (Patrick Peterson, Harrison Smith and Anthony Barr) will return to action in a border battle that was eerily quiet without fans in attendance last year. Rodgers, the reigning league MVP, did practice Friday and said he's definitely playing despite missing practice Wednesday and Thursday because of a toe injury.
Beat the 8-2 Packers, and the Vikings are 5-5, 2 ½ games out with seven to play and eyeballing a potentially electric prime-time rematch at Lambeau Field on Jan. 2. Lose, and the Packers go 4 ½ games up in the division and coast to a 12th title in the NFC North's 20th season.
The key, of course, is making Rodgers uncomfortable. Simple plan. Not so simple to execute.
"Every play against him is a fight," said Zimmer, who has had 14 full-game skirmishes with Rodgers, two as Bengals defensive coordinator (2-0) and 12 as Vikings coach (4-7-1). "You're fighting, scratching, the entire game."
Rodgers has led the Packers to seven division titles, including the past two en route to a pair of NFC Championship Games. Zimmer's defense wrenched one title away from Rodgers at Lambeau Field in Week 17 of the 2015 season and another one in 2017 when it broke Rodgers' collarbone on a season-ending hit by Barr in the first quarter of the teams' Week 7 meeting.
"Every time we play them, they present something new," said Rodgers, who has posted 24 touchdown passes, three interceptions and six 100-plus passer ratings in 12 full games against Zimmer's Vikings.
"It helps that they have a lot of the same guys over the years. Harrison and Barr and [Eric] Kendricks have been in that system for a long time now, so they throw a number of different things at you. They always have some special wrinkle. Coach Zim is a great coach, and he always has something special for us."
Divisional dominance
Zimmer spent part of his 2021 offseason actually rooting for his nemesis as 24-hour-a-day speculation played on and on — and on — in the media during the spat between the Packers and Rodgers, who feels disrespected because he isn't consulted on personnel matters.
"I might have kept track of all that," Zimmer cracked.
Like most NFC Northers outside of Green Bay, Zimmer was pulling for the disgruntled Rodgers to goad Gutekunst into trading him to Denver or Cleveland or anywhere outside the division.
No such luck. Rodgers and Gutey are stuck with each other for at least one more Super Bowl run. They'll just have to soldier through it while sitting atop the NFC, admiring their No. 3-ranked scoring defense and sporting that 34-8 regular-season record since LaFleur arrived.
When it comes to division games, Rodgers is unlikely to find a greener pastures outside of Green Bay. In games he has started and finished, he is 23-4 against the Bears, 18-3 against the Lions and 15-8-1 against the Vikings.
During the current 13-1 run against the NFC North, Rodgers has thrown 34 touchdown passes and three interceptions and posted a 118.0 passer rating. Eleven times, the Packers haven't trailed in the fourth quarter. Nine times, they have trailed for fewer than 17 minutes.
But, yes, there is that one lonely loss. Nov. 1, 2020, at Lambeau Field.
The Vikings were 1-5 that day. They had just traded their sack leader, Yannick Ngakoue, during the bye week. They were beat up and undermanned.
"I remember it was a tough week of practice," said co-defensive coordinator Andre Patterson. "We were signing guys off the street because we were so hurt in the secondary."
The Vikings made six transactions involving defensive backs that week. One of them sent cornerback Mike Hughes to injured reserve.
The starting corners were rookies Jeff Gladney and Cameron Dantzler. Fourteen snaps later, Dantzler was carted off because of a head injury.
"I know [rookie backup] Harrison Hand came into the game late," Zimmer said.
Yes. He played 29 snaps.
"Another corner, his dad played for me," Zimmer said.
Yes. Mark Fields II. His dad played linebacker at Washington State when Zimmer was the Cougars defensive coordinator.
Fields II played 20 snaps. The only 20 defensive snaps he has played in the NFL.
"He got hurt," Zimmer said.
Indeed, he did.
The lasting image of that 28-22 Vikings upset might be running back Dalvin Cook doing the Lambeau Leap in an empty stadium. Just sitting there on that barren throne enjoying a day that saw him become the first player to reach 200 yards from scrimmage and score four touchdowns against the Packers at Lambeau.
But the more unpredictable part of that day, beyond the swirling winds, was Zimmer piecing together a win over Rodgers while using seven rookie defenders, a career high he hopes never to repeat.
Zim reached that unlucky seventh rookie defender when Kris Boyd went down with three minutes left. Yes, he is a cornerback.
'We don't fear him'
Somehow, the Vikings led 28-14 against a 5-1 Packers team that had opened the game with two long, methodical touchdown drives of eight and nine minutes.
"We went up there a couple years ago and I think they scored on their first three drives and then didn't score after that," Zimmer said. "Sometimes it's just getting a feel for what they're doing, the new things they're doing, and how we can adapt to it."
When Boyd went down, safety Anthony Harris moved to slot corner. Rookie Josh Metellus took Harris' spot. Harris had never played slot corner. Metellus had played only three defensive snaps in the NFL.
Two snaps later, Metellus was covering Davante Adams in man coverage in the end zone. He did OK with tight coverage until Rodgers dropped a 7-yard pass into the only tiny spot in which Adams could catch it for a touchdown.
"He can put the ball wherever he wants it," Patterson said. "Sometimes he is going to make a play just because of who he is."
The Vikings offense couldn't run out the clock. Rodgers got the ball back at his 28-yard line with 47 seconds left and no timeouts.
He moved the Packers to the Vikings 41 with 12 seconds left. The Vikings rushed three and had only four defenders within 9 yards of the line of scrimmage.
Rookie end D.J. Wonnum got great leverage on the outside shoulder of right tackle Rick Wagner. He had control of Wagner but appeared to rush too far upfield, allowing Rodgers to move out of the pocket in an effort to set up one of his vintage Hail Mary throws.
"D.J. had an idea of what Aaron was going to do," Patterson said. "And he made Aaron go where we wanted Aaron to go. So that's why he was able to execute the sack."
Wonnum circled back and clobbered Rodgers from behind, knocking the ball 13 yards downfield. Eric Wilson recovered to end the only NFC North game that didn't end with Gutekunst, LaFleur and Rodgers smiling.
"We have a great deal of respect for Aaron and his talent," Patterson said. "But we don't fear him. That's the difference, right? You got to respect his talent, respect who he is. But you got to go out there and fight with him."
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