The Minnesota Vikings have been among the most disappointing teams in the NFL this season. The Vikings were overachievers a year ago when they went into the final game of the regular season with a chance to earn the top seed in the NFC. They lost that game and the Wild Card game that followed, and the 2025 season has seen them sink to last place in the NFC North.
As bad as things have been for the Vikings (4-6) with the unproven J.J. McCarthy at quarterback, there is is still at least a slim chance the Vikings can turn things around. If that is going to happen, it must begin with their Week 12 game at Green Bay against the archrival Green Bay Packers (6-3-1). Head coach Matt LaFleur's team is one-half game behind the Chicago Bears for the top spot in the division, but the Packers have been anything but consistent.
As head coach Kevin O'Connell and defensive coordinator Brian Flores prepare their game plans against the Packers, they know that there have been several aspects for the team to build off of. However, the Vikings were counting on McCarthy developing into a dependable and winning quarterback this season, but it has not happened to this point.
This is particularly troubling to O'Connell, who has developed a strong reputation as a coach who can develop excellent quarterbacks. He has had success with Kirk Cousins and Sam Darnold with the Vikings, and he helped Matthew Stafford develop into a Super Bowl-winning signal caller when he was the offensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams.
While O'Connell is not about to give up on McCarthy, it may be difficult for him to turn things around this season. Sill, he has to do better this week than he did against the Bears in Week 11.
McCarthy will thrown for 200 yards, 2 touchdowns and just 1 interception
McCarthy's biggest problem to this point has been his inaccuracy throwing to open receivers. He made multiple poor throws against the Bears when Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison and tight end T.J. Hockenson were open. Making matters worse were the drops by those receivers on six other passes by McCarthy.
There are no guarantees that the performances of McCarthy and his receivers will improve, but the always-encouraging O'Connell is doing everything he can to put his players in a winning position . The key may be McCarthy getting off to a sharp start and delivering accurate passes early in the game. He could not do that against Chicago and his confidence appeared to take a significant dip.
Hitting a couple of medium- or long-range passes to Jefferson and Addison early in the game could give the Vikings the jump start they need to compete with Jordan Love and the Packers.
The Vikings have had some success on the ground with Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason, but not enough to overcome the mistakes made in the passing game. If the second-year quarterback from Michigan can start the game in calm fashion and lead with confidence and accuracy, the running game has a chance to be effective against Green Bay's sixth-ranked defense. The Packers and Micah Parsons are allowing 292.1 yards and 19.6 points per game.
McCarthy has completed 74 of 140 passes for 842 yards with 6 TDs and 8 interceptions. He has to know that Jefferson is capable of an explosive game if he can deliver the ball accurately. Jefferson has caught 56 passes for 747 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Packers need Love to pick apart Vikings defense with 2 TD passes
After starting the season with a 5-1-1 record, the Packers lost 2 of their last 3 games. The losses to the Panthers and Eagles were both at Lambeau Field, and they lost at home last year to the Vikings. They would like to have a strong effort behind Love against the Vikings.
Love has certainly had his moments this year, but the losses to Carolina and Philadelphia were troubling. The Packers did not dominate in their 27-20 victory over the Giants in Week 11, either.
Love has completed 210 of 310 passes for 2,421 yards with 15 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. He is depending on wideouts Romeo Doubs and Matthew Golden to slice through the Minnesota secondary.
The Packers are also hoping to have power back Josh Jacobs in the backfield with him. Jacobs suffered a knee injury last week that looked bad, but LaFleur said the training and medical staff is trying to get him ready to play Sunday. Vikings linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel is capable of causing problems for Love as well as the Packers' ground game.
Jacobs can be a major difference maker when he has the ball in key situation. He has run for 648 yards and while his 3.8 yards per carry mark is not impressive, he has scored a team-leading 11 touchdowns.
Vikings will come close but Packers will prevail
The Vikings can play significantly better than they did against the Bears in their 19-17 loss to the Bears. However, that does not mean they are going to beat the Packers on their home turf.
The Packers can turn up both the offensive and defensive pressure on the Vikings. The expectation is that Green Bay will prevail at home as a result of a late fourth-quarter touchdown pass from Love to Doubs.
