2022 NFL Week 17: Minnesota Vikings at Green Bay Packers

With their regular-season home schedule complete, the Minnesota Vikings will hit the road for their final two games of the 2022 season and get themselves prepared for the first playoff game at U.S. Bank Stadium since the 2017 Divisional Playoffs. The first of those two games, both against NFC North opponents, will take place on New Year’s Day at Lambeau Field when they take on the Green Bay Packers.

This is a rematch of the season opener these two teams played at U.S. Bank Stadium back in September. In that game, the Vikings struck early and often, with a big game from Justin Jefferson and a stifling defensive performance leading the Vikings to a 23-7 victory in Minneapolis. It’s worth noting that, of the Vikings’ 12 wins this season, that win over the Packers is the only one that has come by more than one score.

All eyes will be on Justin Jefferson in this game as he continues to chase NFL records. With 1,756 yards receiving on the season, he needs to average 104.5 yards over the final two games to break Calvin Johnson’s NFL single-season receiving yardage record (though, yes, it might take him one extra game to do it). He needs to average 122 yards/game over the next two weeks to become the first receiver in NFL history to reach the 2,000-yard plateau.

For the Packers, they need a victory over the Vikings to keep their postseason chances alive. Green Bay needs to win out and get some help if they want to back into the playoffs for this season. The Vikings, on the other hand, wrapped up a playoff spot two weeks ago and still have a very slim chance at the #1 seed in the NFC, though their bigger fight is with the San Francisco 49ers for the #2 seed. Minnesota can’t be worse than the #3 seed when the conference playoffs get underway.

The folks at the DraftKings Sportsbook have installed the Vikings as an early 3.5-point underdog in this one, with the over/under starting out at 45.5 points.

This game will be part of the late afternoon window on Sunday afternoon, with coverage slated to kick off at 3:25 PM Central time. This game will also be shown on the CBS family of networks, and it will likely be Jim Nantz and Tony Romo on the call for this one, though it hasn’t officially been announced yet.