Minnesota Vikings 34, Green Bay Packers 31: Vikings hang on for wild win in Week 11

For the most part, games between the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers are never boring, and Week 11’s contest at U.S. Bank Stadium was no exception.

Greg Joseph drilled a 29-yard field goal with no time left on the clock, and the Vikings escaped with a 34-31 victory over their division rivals.

Green Bay struck first, getting a 54-yard field goal from Mason Crosby on their opening drive to take a 3-0 lead. Minnesota then answered with a long field goal of their own, a 51-yarder from Greg Joseph to tie the score at 3-3 a little less than six minutes into the game.

On the Vikings’ second possession, the Vikings punched the ball into the end zone, keyed by a huge 56-yard bomb from Kirk Cousins to Justin Jefferson.

That took the ball to the 1-yard line, and Dalvin Cook pretty much walked it in from there for the first touchdown of the afternoon. Greg Joseph missed the extra point, and the Vikings had a 9-3 lead.

After Crosby missed an easy 32-yard field goal attempt by bouncing it off of the left upright, the Vikings scored again, this time on a 10-yard touchdown pass from Cousins to Adam Thielen. The drive was extended after what appeared to be an interception from Cousins that was negated by a roughing the passer penalty on Green Bay, leading to the score. With Joseph’s extra point splitting the uprights, the score was 16-3 in favor of the Vikings midway through the second quarter.

The Vikings’ two-minute defense struck again at the end of the first half, as they allowed the Packers to get into Minnesota territory and Rodgers made them pay, finding tight end Joseph Deguara for a 25-yard score to cut the Minnesota lead to 16-10 just before halftime.

Minnesota took the first possession of the second half and marched right down the field, with Cousins connecting with Jefferson for a 9-yard score on a play that saw Jefferson actually line up in the backfield for a bit of a different look. Greg Joseph made the extra point, and Minnesota’s lead was back to 13 at 23-10 nearly halfway through the third quarter.

Green Bay answered with a touchdown of their own on the ensuing possession, as Rodgers got his second touchdown pass of the afternoon. This one was a 10-yard strike to Davante Adams after he escaped pressure, and with Mason Crosby’s extra point it cut the Minnesota lead to 23-17 with three and a half minutes left in the third quarter.

After a sack of Cousins forced a Vikings’ punt, Green Bay took the lead on another touchdown pass from Rodgers to Adams, this one an 18-yarder, and the Packers jumped back in front by a score of 24-23 midway through the fourth quarter.

The Vikings needed a big play and they got it from. . .who else. . .Justin Jefferson. Cousins dropped back to pass on a 3rd-and-2 from the Green Bay 23-yard line, took a huge hit, and still found Jefferson for a 23-yard touchdown! The Vikings got the two-point conversion on a run by Dalvin Cook, and with just over two minutes left in the game, the Vikings took the lead back at 31-24.

It took the Packers just one play to pull even, as Rodgers found Marques Valdez-Scantling on the Packers’ first play from scrimmage after the touchdown, and just like that it was tied at 31-31 with just over two minutes remaining.

On the Vikings’ first play of the ensuing drive, Cousins went deep for Justin Jefferson again and instead found Darnell Savage again. But, much like in the first half when Savage was denied an interception, a review of the play said that the ball hit the ground before Savage picked it off, giving the ball back to Minnesota at the two-minute warning.

The Vikings then pushed things down to Green Bay territory, setting themselves up with a first-and-goal at the Green Bay 7. The Packers had just one timeout remaining, and the Vikings set Greg Joseph up for a 29-yard field goal attempt. He put it through the uprights, and the Vikings escaped with a victory.

The Vikings move their record to 5-5 on the season and will travel to play the San Francisco 49ers next week. The Packers fall to 8-3 and will host the Los Angeles Rams next week at Lambeau Field.

The Minnesota Vikings got the W over a division rival in Week 11 at U.S. Bank Stadium, defeating the Green Bay Packers in a wild one, 34-31. Thank you to everyone that got their coverage of this week’s game right here at The Daily Norseman!