Subscribe
Follow Us
It's a big Green Bay Packers Week 17 game coming up against the Minnesota Vikings, and there's a ton on the line for both teams. Ahead of the Packers-Vikings game, we'll be making our Packers Week 17 predictions.
This isn't for all the marbles, but simply put, both teams will be judged based on the results of this game. For the Packers, it's an opportunity to prove that they can beat the “big dawgs” of the NFC. At 11-4, their only losses this season have come to teams ahead of them in the playoff seedings — the Philadelphia Eagles, Vikings, and Detroit Lions (twice).
The Packers are coming off an incredible 34-0 win over the New Orleans Saints — which was the NFL's first shutout of the season — and now they'll be looking to prove that their defense is no fluke while Jordan Love and the offense can out-dual anybody. The fact that this game is against a massive NFC North rival in the Vikings and that a win or loss will tell us a lot about how real this potential Green Bay playoff run will be, this is a tremendously important game for the Packers.
With that all said, let's move on to our Packers Week 17 predictions.
*Watch NFL games LIVE with fuboTV (Get Access | Save $30)*
The Packers will pick off Vikings QB Sam Darnold twice
Sam Darnold has been a revelation for the Vikings in 2024. Remember, this was “supposed” to be rookie J.J. McCarthy's team. That's why the Vikings took McCarthy, No. 10 overall, out of Michigan, and Darnold was largely supposed to be the veteran presence helping the young and talented quarterback along.
Nobody foresaw McCarthy being lost for the season before it even began, but that's life in the NFL. Speaking of things people didn't see coming, perhaps nobody but Darnold saw him being one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL this season, but that's exactly what he has been. He's thrown for 3,776 yards and 32 touchdowns compared to 11 interceptions. He's also been playing pretty clean football as of late.
Darnold has only thrown one interception in Minnesota's past six games.
With that said, he's undoubtedly due for one against the Packers. They picked him off in the first game, so the precedent is there. There's also still a chance (albeit a small one) that star cornerback Jaire Alexander will play for the first time in six games for the Packers. He's been an active practice participant, but he didn't play against the Saints because the Packers didn't feel he was “quite there yet.”
One way to read that phrase is that he's still injured. The other is that the Packers were saving Alexander's comeback so that he'll be fully prepared to shut down Justin Jefferson and make life hard for Darnold.
Jordan Love will keep riding the Toyotathon wave
There's something about Love and Toyotathon that go together like peanut butter and jelly. Throughout his career, he's always been the type of quarterback who takes a bit of time to warm up and ease into a game, and he's seemingly that type of quarterback when it comes to the overall season as well. That's the most likely explanation for his winter dominance over the past two seasons. That, or the Toyotathon mythology, is indeed for real.
Either way, Love has thrown for eight touchdowns compared to no interceptions in his past five games. When he plays clean football, the Packers are nearly impossible to stop offensively. That's especially true because Josh Jacobs has become such a dominant force for the Packers on the ground. When Love gets the ball in his hands as a passer, defenses have gotten so focused on Jacobs that he's been able to make plays all over the field.
Love will keep riding the Toyotathon wave against the Vikings to the tune of two more passing touchdowns, and he once again won't throw a pick.
The Packers will shut down Aaron Jones
There's a long history between the Packers and Vikings running back Aaron Jones, with 90 percent of it being Jones wearing green and gold. That hasn't been the case in 2024, though, as the Packers decided to move on from him this offseason in favor of Jacobs. Jones signed with the Vikings and has been a huge part of their offense, though, rushing for 1,046 yards and five touchdowns this season while also adding two touchdowns through the air.
Jones was a big part of Minnesota's win the first time around against Green Bay, with 139 total yards to his name, but the Packers are going to shut him out in this one.
Green Bay's run defense has only gotten stronger as the year goes on. So much so that the Packers are currently ranked as the No. 8 run defense in the league, giving up 102.5 yards per game. They held the Saints to just 67 total rushing yards in Week 16, and in Week 15, they held the Seattle Seahawks to just 80 rushing yards as a team.
The Packers are getting confident up front, especially against the run, and that confidence will show up in a big way against Jones and the Vikings.
