T-Pain wasn’t the only one making music in Minneapolis on Sunday. The singer was the halftime entertainment, but the home crowd was treated to stellar first game effort, knocking off their border rivals 23-7. The Vikings opened the game with a 78 yard touchdown drive, capped with the first of Justin Jefferson’s two scores. The Vikings third year receiver had 158 receiving yards on six catches to go along with his pair of touchdown catches in just the first half. He finished the game with 184 yards on nine catches. Two field goals by the Vikings pushed their lead to 17-0 at the break.
In the second half, Green Bay started with the ball in the second half and picked up a first down before a bone crushing Jordan Hicks jarred the ball loose from Aaron Rodgers’ hands. The Vikings recovered at the Packer 33 yard line. Minnesota turned that into three points to make the score 20-0 early in the third quarter. The Packers finally put together a scoring drive, capping a 75 yard drive with a two yard run by AJ Dillon at the 5:16 mark in the third quarter. The Vikings would nail a third field goal later in the fourth quarter, pushing their lead to 23-7. The Packers put up a fight in the fourth quarter, with two drives that made their way into Viking’s territory, but that was all she wrote. The Vikings got the ball back with 3:45 to go in the 4th and were able to ride their running game to close out the game.
The Vikings hit the road for a date with the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football. The Packers return home against longtime rival Chicago on Sunday night football. Both games start at 7:20 on their respective nights.
