The personal attributes that many people love about Zimmer – his blunt assessments, his honest answers, his salt-of-the-earth demeanor – have not served him well this season as a head coach. “I’m the nickel back, so I have to cover him, or if he lines up at number three, [Xavier is] not going to play linebacker and cover him”. In second half, we fought and hung around but we didn’t do enough to win.
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The other Green Bay Packers playoff scenarios all depend on how other Week 17 games turn out as well. With the loss, the Vikes will miss the playoffs despite a 5-0 start to the season. It’s just another depressing footnote to a season of so much promise that ended in disarray and plenty of questions going forward. A team that may be even more risky than the one that won the Super Bowl six years ago.
Early in the fourth quarter, the Packers made it 31-13 with a 48-yard field goal from Mason Crosby. His quarterback rating was 136.
“I said in the first half we didn’t play good”, he said. His wife, Caitlin, knows, as well.
Well maybe not the Lambeau Leap.
Minnesota finally found the end zone when Adam Thielen got behind Quinten Rollins up the sideline. Christine Michael also ran for a 42-yard score last week, when the Packers amassed a season-high 226 yards rushing. The number is skewed somewhat by the Vikings’ over-reliance on the short passing game. If a championship is what he values over money, then he may continue to be a part of the team, but if he feels he deserves the contract he has, and a contender can afford him, then the era of All Day Peterson in Minnesota may be coming to a hard end.
The Vikes still were able to move the ball, piling up 446 yards, most of that through the air. The Vikings now have a much better strength of schedule (Minnesota:.510, Buffalo.472), so the Bills are going to need to have the better record to push the Vikings down.
“I don’t think he really felt like that’s what he meant to say”, Zimmer said. Kendricks in particular was an issue, accounting for two and a half of the 4 sacks with three quarterback hits.
Now, the story has changed some in the days since the loss, but that’s obviously due to players attempting to cover their asses and Zimmer being all too willing to oblige. As a result, the Vikings were officially eliminated from the playoffs.
Despite the score, there was some good stuff, bad things, and interesting occurrences that happened during the contest.
With the Vikings acting with defiance, Jordy Nelson performed with brilliance on Saturday. Aaron Rodgers hooked up with Jordy Nelson for a 21-yard score in the first quarter, the 58th such touchdown between the two players. They were actually showed up statistically by Bradford and Thielen, but the Rogers and Nelson came away with the win.
The Packers capitalized on the turnover with yet another scoring drive. And after taking a 28-13 lead into halftime, the Packers coasted from there.
The Vikings’ season is over.
Second, every other team has to figure out how to beat them when they’re underdogs.
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“I talked to them all yesterday”. Can they possibly top it with something else next week against Chicago?
