Minnesota Vikings vs. Green Bay Packers Monday Night Football
The Packers look to add on to their 14-game win streak when they host 2-6 Minnesota on Monday night.
Sportsbook.com Line & Total: Green Bay -13 & 50
Opening Line & Total: Packers -14 & 51When the teams met in Minnesota in Week 7, the aggressiveness of Green Bay’s secondary actually worked against them in QB Christian Ponder’s first start. While Ponder was intercepted twice and completed just 13-of-32 passes in that game, he still racked up 219 yards and had a couple of long completions to WR Michael Jenkins. Aaron Rodgers and the Packers offense figures to do whatever they want against the Vikings defense. He has a 124.5 passer rating and 310.3 YPG against Minnesota over the past two years, and the Vikings’ injury-plagued secondary can’t match up with Green Bay’s receivers. Minnesota is 0-6 ATS in its past six road games following a victory, and the Packers are 16-4 ATS after 3+ wins in a row under head coach Mike McCarthy.
Rodgers has been amazing during his team’s 14-game win streak, throwing for 4,340 yards (310 YPG), 38 TD and just 6 INT. He has also enjoyed picking apart Minnesota in his career, tossing 15 TD and only three picks in seven career meetings with the Vikings. WR Greg Jennings has scored in each of the past four meetings with Minnesota, totaling 28 catches for 461 yards and six touchdowns. Green Bay’s running game is slowly, but surely, improving. The team has rushed for 57, 96, 114 and 136 yards in the past four games. RB James Starks had a strong 75 yards on 13 carries (5.8 YPC) in the October trip to the Metrodome, and also had 66 yards on 13 carries (5.1 YPC) in last week’s win in San Diego.
The Packers are still allowing 300 passing YPG (2nd-most in NFL), but have a league-high 16 interceptions. Charles Woodson (five picks) leads the way, followed by Charlie Peprah (4 INT), who picked off two Philip Rivers passes last week, returning one 40 yards for a touchdown. Tramon Williams also had a pick-six against Rivers, returning an INT for 43 yards for a score.
Although the Vikings haven’t won a whole lot of recent trips to Lambeau Field, they have an 11-9 ATS advantage in the past 20 meetings in Green Bay. Vikings monster RB Adrian Peterson has done all he can to carry this offense in 2011, with 795 rushing yards (fourth in NFL) on 166 carries (tied for most in NFL). His nine touchdown runs are also tied atop the league and Peterson has fumbled just once in the first half of 2011. And considering what he has done to Green Bay defenders over the years, you better believe he will get a heavy workload on Monday night. In nine career games against the Pack, Peterson has 982 rushing yards (109.1 YPG) and six touchdowns. Peterson’s presence alleviates the pressure on Ponder to perform, but the rookie improved his completion percentage fro 40.6% in his first start to 64.3% in the Vikings’ last game at Carolina, a 24-21 win.
