The Vikings and Packers were headed in opposite directions entering their winner-takes-the-NFC North game Sunday night, but both are headed to the playoffs following the Vikings' 20-13 victory over the Packers at Lambeau Field.
The game, which began with an exchange of field goals and didn't see the first touchdown until early in the third quarter, finished with a flurry game-changing plays by both teams, most notably Vikings cornerback Xavier Rhodes’ interception of an Aaron Rodgers pass in the end zone just before the two-minute warning.
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The Vikings (11-5) clinched the NFC North, their first division title since 2009, and will host Seattle at 1:05 p.m. (ET) on Sunday. The Packers, as a wild-card and the No. 5 seed in the playoffs, will travel to Washington to face the Redskins on Sunday at 4:40 p.m.
The Packers (10-6), who opened the season 6-0, had gone 4-5 since then heading into Sunday, including a brutal 38-8 loss last week to Arizona.
On the other hand, the Vikings were sailing full speed ahead entering the game at Lambeau, having beaten the Bears and Giants the past two weeks by a combined score of 87-34.
Both teams' defenses stood their ground in the first half. The Vikings held Rodgers to 71 yards and went into halftime up 6-3. After Adrian Peterson scored the game’s first touchdown on a 3-yard rush early in the third, Vikings corner Captain Munnerlyn snatched a fumble recovery and returned it 55 yards to give Minnesota a 20-3 lead.
Rodgers, however, stepped up in the fourth quarter, scrambling to keep several plays alive, and led the Packers to a 14-play, 80-yard drive capped by a 16-yard strike to Richard Rodgers. The Packers quarterback finished 28 of 44 for 291 yards, with one touchdown and one intereception.
After forcing the Vikings to punt on the next possession, Rodgers led an eight-play 59-yard drive to set up a Mason Crosby field goal. With 5:39 left, the Packers were very much alive.
Those hopes appeared dashed on the very next play, when Cordarrelle Patterson returned the ensuing kickoff 70 yards. But Crosby hustled to cover on the play and stripped the ball.
Green Bay recovered, and Rodgers went to work, driving the Packers 64 yards down the field. Unfortunately, Rhodes stepped up to intercept the pass intended for James Jones.
“I just covered my guy and was in the right spot at the right time,” Rhodes told NBC Sports after the game.
The Packers got the ball back one more time, but Rodgers' pass into the end zone fell incomplete as time expired.
The Vikings got a scare in the fourth quarter when Peterson left with a lower back injury. After going to the locker room, he returned to the bench, but did not see any more action. Peterson rushed 19 plays for 67 yards, and one score.
“It was awkward, it got twisted up and was real tight on me,” Peterson told NBC Sports afterward. “I’ll be good by next week.”
The loss ends the Packers four-year run atop the NFC Central. It also marks the first time since 1968 that their division rivals, the Vikings, Lions and Bears, have beaten them at Lambeau in the same season.