No heroics for Brett Favre as Minnesota Vikings lose to Green Bay Packers
Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre is now staring down the prospect of playing in six virtually meaningless games to finish his career as the Vikings were crushed 31-3 by Favre's former team, the
Green Bay Packers, on Sunday 21 November and now fall to 3-7 on the season.
How it happened
Although the Vikings would start off the scoring with a field goal on their second possession, that would be all the points they would see as the Packers dominated the Vikings the rest of the way.
Although they failed to score in the first quarter, the Packers scored 17 points in the second to take a 17-3 lead into half-time. James Jones caught a 3-yard pass from Aaron Rodgers not long after Greg
Jennings scored the first of his three touchdown catches on the day.
Jennings had touchdown catches in each of the last two quarters as he and Rodgers accounted for all of the scoring in the second half. Jennings finished with seven catches for 152 yards to lead all NFL
receivers for the week. He also accounted for just over half of all the yards thrown by Rodgers on the day.
Favre, who had always stepped up his game against his former team, completed only 17 of his 38 pass attempts for just over 200 yards with no touchdowns and one interception.
What they're saying
The Vikings, who have struggled all season and have captivated the football world with countless off-field dramas, were further frustrated on this day leading to shouting matches between players on the
sideline. Many have been speculating for weeks that coach Brad Childress has lost control of the team and could be on his way out. "I can't really talk about that," Childress told reporters after the game when asked about the coaching situation, "because that's
not my decision going forward."
Favre seemed to have no answers for the team's current situation, but has appeared to have given up the dream of leading the Vikings into the play-offs. "This has got me at a loss for words," he said.
"Disappointing would be an understatement."
As for the Packers, they did themselves an enormous favor by winning their fourth-straight game. "We've got a foot on the gas, hands on the wheel and we're looking straight ahead," head coach Mike McCarthy
said.
What it all means
The Packers improved to 7-3 on the season and, with the Chicago Bears, have pulled away in the NFC North. The Packers also have the best point differential in the NFL at plus-106 and seem destined to head
into the play-offs. They play in probably their most important game of the season next Sunday 28 November when they head to Atlanta to take on the 8-2 Atlanta Falcons.
As for the Vikings, the outlook is bleak as they are not yet mathematically eliminated, but appear to have lost the will to compete with real purpose. They play the Redskins in Washington next Sunday.
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