Green Bay Packers at Vikings: Week 1 Staff Predictions

The Dairyland Express staff gives their Week 1 predictions for the Green Bay Packers divisional matchup with the Minnesota Vikings.

Green Bay Packers’ football is just one day away! And to kick off the 2020 season, they will be at their divisional foe, the Minnesota Vikings.

Both teams have aspirations of taking the NFC North this season, but each team has its own questions to answer as well. For the Packers, many out there do not believe that they improved this offseason and are expected to regress. Meanwhile, the Vikings had quite a bit of roster turnover, and in an unusual and shortened offseason, how will they look early on this season?

This year, Brian Sampson, Kenny Jilek, and myself will give our predictions for each Packers’ game, giving our reasoning along with our best guesses at what the final score will be. We will also be keeping track of our individual records, so we can crown our own champion at the end of the season.

Now with that out of the way, Week 1 is here, so let’s dive into some predictions.

Brian Sampson (0-0)

LET’S GOOOOOOO! The Packers are finally back and kick off their season in one of the most exciting ways possible–with a divisional game against the Minnesota Vikings. Both of these teams project to claw tooth and nail for an NFC North championship, which means this Week 1 contest carries some extra weight.

Green Bay’s biggest challenge on offense will be protecting Aaron Rodgers. Even without Danielle Hunter, the Vikings acquisition of Yannick Ngakoue puts pressure on the Packers’ questionable right side of the line. Equally questionable are the Vikings’ cornerbacks, which Rodgers and company will work hard to exploit.

Defensively, Green Bay has a tough test against the Vikings’ Dalvin Cook after being one of the worst run defenses a year ago. I don’t think they’ve improved enough in that category, and I expect Cook to have a huge day and lead Minnesota to a victory over the Packers.

Prediction: Packers 17 – Vikings 23

Kenny Jilek (0-0)

Offensively, for the Green Bay Packers, this game will be about finding their new identity and getting the chemistry rolling early. After last season being a hybrid offense between McCarthy’s and LaFleur’s, this season will be more of LaFleur’s stuff.

The run game will be very important, and players like Robert Tonyan and Josiah Deguara will look to step into big roles as blockers and receivers off of play-action. I don’t expect this offense to be clicking on all cylinders, but Davante Adams should have a big game against Minnesota’s corners and do enough damage to win.

Defensively, containing Dalvin Cook from running all over them will be the big key. The main addition made this offseason to the run defense was replacing Blake Martinez with Christian Kirksey, and we’ll get our first look at how big of a difference his sideline to sideline speed will make.

If they can manage to contain Cook and make Kirk Cousins throw the ball, the most interesting matchup will be the new starting slot corner Chandon Sullivan against rookie first-round pick Justin Jefferson. The Vikings have enough weapons with Cook, Thielen, and Rudolph to score points, but the Packers will have the same bend don’t break defense as last season and give up mostly field goals.

Prediction: Packers 20 – Vikings 16

Paul Bretl (0-0)

As I mentioned in my intro, both teams have questions to answer, but in my eyes, the Vikings have far more than Green Bay. This is a questionable Minnesota offensive line that has to deal with the likes of The Smith Brothers, Kenny Clark, and Rashan Gary. I imagine it’s going to be tough sledding for Kirk Cousins when he’s passing.

Stefon Diggs, who always seemed to have a big game against the Packers, is now in Buffalo, and this is a young Vikings’ secondary that will have to contend with the one-two punch that is Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams. The Packers also don’t have to face Danielle Hunter, one of the best pass-rushers in the game.

Oh, and did I mention that Green Bay has Aaron Jones? In 2019, Jones totaled 270 rushing yards on nearly six yards per carry against Minnesota, and I still don’t believe they have an answer for him.

Dalvin Cook will certainly provide a challenge for this Packers’ run-defense that looked like swiss cheese at times last year. However, while his 154 yard game in Week 2 last season is impressive, if you take away his 75-yard run, he averaged just over four yards per carry on his other 19 attempts. That’s good, but not great. If the Packers can slow Cook, the Week 16 matchup between these two teams is a prime example of what this Viking offense could look like with an ineffective run game.

Now Having said all of that, I think this is still a hard-fought game as it usually is and despite me just picking Minnesota apart, they will likely be contenders for the NFC North crown. But the Green Bay Packers are simply the better team.

Prediction: Packers 20 – Vikings 13