5 Big Questions Facing Green Bay Packers v. Minnesota Vikings
By Paul Bretl
How do the Green Bay Packers start and finish this game?
Slow starts and the inability to put teams away in the fourth quarter have led to several games being much closer for the Green Bay Packers than what they should have been–with the last two weeks being prime examples of this.
According to Team Rankings, the Packers rank 26th in first-quarter points this season. Now, the good news, and one big reason why Green Bay has won 12 games despite the slow starts, is that they have the best second quarter offense in football, averaging 9.9 points per second quarter.
"“At times the last couple years we’ve been so good in the first 15 to 20 plays that we script, and scoring on opening drives, touchdowns,” said quarterback Aaron Rodgers via Packers.com following the Vikings game. “Hasn’t really been the case this year. We’ve been a lot slower starting, so we gotta look at that.”"
The Packers rank 19th in fourth quarter scoring, although since they are oftentimes playing with a lead and trying to run the clock, that figure can be a bit misleading. With that said, the way that they are trying to go about running the clock out is the larger issue as this group tends to become very conservative.
With only two fourth quarter possessions against Cleveland prior to the kneel down, Green Bay would run three straight rushing plays on the first possession, including one behind Ben Braden as he was up against Myles Garrett–this resulted in a three and out. Their next possession began with an end-around to Equanimeous St. Brown that was blown up for a loss of 10 yards and essentially ended that drive.
"“In that situation, maybe we need to be a little more aggressive and just trust,” Rodgers said following the Cleveland game via SI. “That’s what I told Matt. ‘Just trust me. Put the ball in my hands and I’m going to make the right decision and get us in the right play.’ I think that was an opportunity there to turn the tide and get the momentum back on our side.”"
In a recent article of his, Bill Huber of Sports Illustrated pointed out that of the 10 teams with 9+ wins, only the Green Bay Packers and Indianapolis have been outscored in the fourth quarter this season. Of the seven teams with 10+ wins, the Packers are the only one who falls into that category.
Come playoff time and against better opponents, these slow starts or the inability to put teams away could very well cost Green Bay and send them home early.