Tonight one of the best rivalries in the NFL will take place in front of a sold out U.S. Bank Stadium. The Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings have turned into primetime football no matter when or where they meet during the season.

I will admit the Vikings defense is pretty salty, but Vikings fans have been slightly delusional since last week. Sorry guys but your defense is not going to have two touchdowns every week, nor are they going to face crappy teams each week. Let's all be honest here. The Tennessee offense is not good, I literally just watched them get stuffed in their endzone for a safety.

With the Packers offense and Vikings defense both being one of the best in the league, there's no doubt that it's going to be a great game. However, tonight's matchup is going to be decided between the Green Bay defense and the Minnesota offense.

Last week the Vikings offensive line had trouble opening up running lanes for Adrian Peterson who only had 31 yards on 19 attempts. Ouch. The Packers defense MUST load the box like the Titans did last week or AP will easily go for 100 plus yards. Especially with how inexperienced and light the Packers are at inside linebacker.

Now that Bradford has been named the starter, the Packers must make him beat the defense through the air. I would much rather have the Minnesota offense try and pass than let Adrian Peterson run against only five or six people in the box.

 

Which means Green Bay will need to stay away from their favorite nickel defensive sets and play their safeties closer to the line of scrimmage. But the problem with bringing safeties HaHa Clinton-Dix and Morgan Burnett up to the line of scrimmage is that leaves young cornerbacks on islands.

With veteran Sam Shields out, Dom Capers is gambling with his second year corners Damarious Randall and Quinten Rollins going man-to-man against the Vikings speedy receivers. A gamble yes, but the odds of the Vikings receivers exploding for multiple touchdowns is a lot lower than AP running wild against the nickel defense.

However Green Bay does it, they need to contain Peterson and make the Vikings throw against them. With Clay Matthews, Julius Peppers and Mike Daniels coming off the edges, Bradford is bound to rush some throws and make some mistakes.

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