For all intents and purposes, the competitive portion of the Minnesota Vikings’ 2025 season came to a screeching halt on Sunday afternoon at Lambeau Field.
After going into halftime trailing 10-6, the Vikings completely fell apart in the second half, with another special teams gaffe sending the team into a spiral that resulted in a 23-6 loss on Sunday afternoon at Lambeau Field.
The Vikings drew first blood in this one, getting a 52-yard field goal from Will Reichard on their first possession to stake themselves to a 3-0 lead two minutes into the contest. Green Bay immediately responded, marching down the field with just about no resistance from the Minnesota defense and ending the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run from Emmanuel Wilson to take a 7-3 lead.
That was how the first quarter ended, and the Vikings rumbled into Green Bay territory in the second quarter behind Jordan Mason and the run game. They found themselves facing a 3rd-and-1 from the Green Bay 17-yard line, and Kevin O’Connell called for T.J. Hockenson to attempt a sneak from under center that resulted in no gain. The Vikings went for it on 4th-and-1, and Mason got stuffed for no gain for a turnover on downs.
The Packers turned that turnover on downs into more points, as they got a 32-yard field goal from Brandon McManus to extend their lead to 10-3 with just over three minutes remaining in the first half. Minnesota got themselves into field goal range again in their two-minute drill, because Will Reichard’s field goal range is pretty long. He drilled a 59-yard attempt with seconds left in the quarter to send the game into halftime at 10-6.
Early in the third quarter, the Vikings made a disastrous special teams play for the second week in a row. They forced a Green Bay punt, and Myles Price let the ball bounce, thinking it would go into the end zone. Instead, the ball bounced off of Price, and Green Bay recovered the muffed punt inside the Minnesota ten. Two plays later, Wilson went in for his second 1-yard touchdown run of the day to make it 17-6 just over four minutes into the third quarter.
Green Bay added to their lead with another McManus field goal, this one a 30-yarder to make it 20-6 with just over 12 minutes remaining in regulation. McManus then hit a 40-yarder to make it 23-6 with about seven and a half minutes remaining. On the first play of the ensuing drive, McCarthy was hit as he threw and intercepted by Isaiah McDuffie for another turnover, making the Vikings minus-2 in that category on the afternoon.
That quickly turned into a minus-3 on the next drive, as McCarthy attempted a long pass to Jalen Nailor and overthrew him, getting intercepted by Evan Williams for his second pick of the day. After that, the Packers put Malik Willis in at quarterback and basically ran the clock out from there.
The loss drops the Vikings to 4-7 on the season and, essentially, ends any chance they might have had at the postseason for 2025. They would have to win out from this point, and even that likely wouldn’t be enough. The rest of this season is, largely, going to be an evaluation for the Vikings. . .both from a player perspective and a coaching perspective.
Next week, the Vikings will face off with one of the best teams in the NFL as they’ll head out to Seattle to face the Seahawks and old friend Sam Darnold.
The Vikings fall to the Green Bay Packers in Week 12 NFL action by a final score of 23-6 at Lambeau Field. Thank you to everyone who got their coverage of this week’s game right here at The Daily Norseman!
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