Rodgers, Packers’ offense finds life vs. Vikings

While he hasn’t played poorly so far this season, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers hadn’t carried the team on his back like in previous seasons.

Despite a road loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Nov. 20, Rodgers still showed he could carry the team should the defense or special teams struggle — which they both did Sunday.

Rodgers completed 23 of his 33 attempts on the day for 385 yards and four touchdowns for a nearly perfect 148.4 quarterback rating.

What made the 37-year-old quarterback’s big day even more impressive was that he did it on a banged up toe.

“I was in a lot of pain,” said Rodgers. “Went in at halftime early to get it checked out, but it’s very, very painful. Got stepped on in the first half and that kind of activated all the symptoms I was having.”

He also said that his practice time might continue to be limited until the bye week, when he hopes some time off the injured toe might help him get closer to 100%.

The offense’s 31-point showing was its second largest output of the season, but Rodgers thought the team left points on the field.

“We just started a little bit too slow,” said Rodgers. “(We) Didn’t score enough points.”

Green Bay scored first on a field goal from Mason Crosby before Minnesota scored the next 16 points. The Packers played catch up for most of the rest of the contest.

Rodgers connected with second-year tight end Josiah Deguara to make it a one-score game by halftime.

After the Vikings scored to open the second half, Rodgers and the Packers’ offense responded with a touchdown drive capped with Rodgers connecting with star wideout Davante Adams.

After the defense made one of its few stops of the contest, Rodgers led a third-straight touchdown drive, hitting Adams for another touchdown to cap it.

After Minnesota scored and went back up seven. Rodgers went deep to Marquez Valdes-Scantling to tie it up in a hurry.

Unfortunately for the Packers’ offense, that was their final play in the game, as the Vikings ran out the clock before kicking the game-winning field goal.

Despite the end result being a team loss, there was plenty of positives, especially in the second half for the offense.

“We just found a flow at that point,” said Adams of the unit in the second half. “We were hurting ourselves in the first half (with) a lot with penalties, putting ourselves in first-and-long, second-and-really long situations. It becomes tough when you play a team like that with a really good defense at home. We shot ourselves in the foot a little bit with some self-infliction early, and then we just started gelling and figuring it out.”

Adams later added, “We still could have done a lot more, and I would have liked to start faster than we did. Once we look at the film, we can analyze it and see what led to the second half production.”

While the Packers’ offense had some success running it against the Vikings and averaged five yards a carry, it was the team’s passing that really stood out.

Adams and MVS each had over 100 receiving yards, with running back A.J. Dillon, wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown and Deguara all over 35 yards.

Typical starting wideout Allen Lazard missed the game with an injury, and starting running back Aaron Jones was also out, so the 467 yards of total offense and 8.6-yard average are positive signs for an offense that still hasn’t put together a complete game.

The Packers have also yet to play a well-rounded game on both sides of the ball, and the team’s special teams continues to struggle.

While there’s things to clean up in multiple facets of the game, there’s at least a glimmer of hope that Green Bay could be a well-rounded team. It’s just a matter of putting it all together at the biggest moments of the season.

Morgan Rode is the sports editor for NEW Media. Readers can contact him at sports@newmedia-wi.com.