Let's do this one more time. The Packers welcome the Minnesota Vikings to the NFC Wild Card round at Lambeau Field in what is the rubber game with the North Division rivals. Green Bay took round one at Lambeau on December 2, 23-14, surviving a 210 yard rushing day from Adrian Peterson. In the Metrodome rematch last Sunday, Peterson went off for 199 as the Vikes got even 37-34 on a 29 yard walk off field goal from Blair Walsh. So how will Green Bay-Minnesota 3.0 play out? Do you honestly believe the Packers will have solved Peterson in six days? Remember 1994? Barry Sanders wrapped up the second best season of his career with 1883 yards and he torched the Pack in early December in Detroit's 34-31 victory. In the playoff game on a bitter day, Green Bay held Barry to -1 yards on 13 carries. That kind of history repeating itself would be remarkable. No, Peterson will get his again I'm sure, the key defensively for the Packers will to make Christian Ponder, making his first playoff start, look more like Ponder at Lambeau than the quarterback who took apart the Pack at Mall of America Field. His passer rating in the first meeting was an ugly 41, with a pair of deadly interceptions from Morgan Burnett. Last week, he hit his career high of 120 with three scores, no picks and several big third down conversions. Putting the ball in Ponder's hands will be the best thing that can happen for the Pack as I don't believe he'll be able to match last week's performance. On offense, the running game may be more important to the Packers than Peterson is to the Vikings. If DuJuan Harris and Ryan Grant keep the chains moving at all, Aaron Rodgers should be able to feast on the depleted Viking secondary. Antoine Winfield's broken hand remains a huge problem and the rest of the defensive backs were chasing Packer receivers all over the yard a week ago. Rodgers will have his entire arsenal at his disposal for the first time maybe since September. Randall Cobb is due back, Jordy Nelson's sore knee is good to go, James Jones just keeps catching touchdowns and Greg Jennings is back in the groove after an 8 for 120 and two touchdown game in Minneapolis. The cold will be a factor, but only with concentration. Unless the wind really whips up, the kicking and passing games should function close to normal. The Vikes have had trouble winning without a roof over their heads whether it's cold or not. They went 0 for 4 outside this year and have won only 5 of their last 20 games outdoors. A couple of other key matchups to watch, Don Barclay against Brian Robison or Everson Griffen. The rookie struggled last week in the noisy dome. A.J. Hawk and Brad Jones against Jerome Felton, the pile driving, lead blocking, Pro Bowl fullback for the Vikes who has been a huge factor in Adrian's big season. The frozen tundra was once impervisous to playoff visitors until Michael Vick broke through against Mike Sherman's team in 2002. It was the first home playoff loss in history after 11 straight. Since then, the Vikings won a wild card game here, the Giants won and NFC title game and last year's divisional round contest, all sandwiched around a pair of victories over the Seattle Seahawks. Just 2-4 in the post-season in the last 6 and that has to change and I believe it will Saturday night. I like the Packers to pack their bags, not for home, but for San Francisco in round 2 with a 26-20 victory. On the link below, the guys offer their thoughts on the biggest border war in years.
Packers Vikings Playoff Preview



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