Packers hang on to beat Vikings
MINNEAPOLIS - Aaron Rodgers gave the Green Bay Packers his usual confident, accurate, productive game.
The biggest lift, powerful carry after powerful carry, came from Eddie Lacy.
Lacy had 125 yards on 25 rushes, both season highs to help Rodgers and the Packers hang on for a 24-21 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.
Lacy scored twice, on a run in the first quarter and a catch in the fourth quarter. Then he rumbled through the line for two first downs to drain the clock after the Vikings (4-7) cut the lead to three with 3:23 remaining.
Rodgers threw two touchdown passes and again avoided a turnover for the Packers (8-3), who stayed out of a potential trap against a struggling team with a game next week against surging New England. They also moved past Detroit into sole possession of first place in the NFC North when the Lions lost to the Patriots.
Green Bay beat Philadelphia 53-20 and Chicago 55-14 the last two games.
Rodgers engineered an 87-yard, 11-play drive he finished on a shovel pass to Lacy for a 10-yard score to give Green Bay a 24-13 lead with 8:34 left. Rodgers kept that moving with an 18-yard scramble on third-and-6, another reminder for the Vikings of how difficult he is to defend.
Charles Johnson and Greg Jennings caught touchdown passes from Teddy Bridgewater, who finished 21 for 37 for 210 yards and an interception. He ran for 32 yards on five attempts, too, but far too many of his passes were off the mark. Bridgewater hit Jennings on a crossing pattern and Johnson on the same play for the 2-point conversion, but even if the Vikings had been able to contain Lacy and force a punt there would have been little time for them to come back.
The Packers improved to 14-4-1 with five season sweeps against the Vikings under coach Mike McCarthy, including 9-1-1 in the last 11 games. Rodgers has 32 touchdowns and just four interceptions in 14 career starts.
The Packers put up halftime scores the last two weeks found more often in video games, 30-6 over the Eagles and 42-0 against the Bears, so the Vikings had to be satisfied with a 14-10 deficit and the ball to start the third quarter. Despite all the overthrows by Bridgewater, he had only 5 fewer yards passing than Rodgers in the first half.
The reality for the Vikings, though, was that with better quarterback play they probably would have had a comfortable lead by that point. Bridgewater, for all the poise he has shown, remains a rookie who has yet to prove he can be consistently accurate enough to win.
His receivers were open plenty, more than the Packers were for Rodgers, and Bridgewater made a timely count by hitting Johnson in stride in the back of the end zone from 22 yards out to tie the game at 7 early in the second quarter.
Bridgewater tried to go to Jennings on first down on the next drive, but the ball sailed again into traffic where Micah Hyde made a leaping interception before landing hard on his back at his own 47. Rodgers needed only four plays to put the Packers back in the end zone. He rolled to his right and heaved a high-arching throw across the entire width of the field to tight end Richard Rodgers standing alone in the far corner.
Vikings cornerbacks Captain Munnerlyn, Josh Robinson and Xavier Rhodes covered the Packers well, holding Randall Cobb and Jordy Nelson each under 100 yards for the fourth time this season. They did that at Lambeau Field in their earlier matchup, too.
This was the first time these rivals played outside in Minnesota since 1981, with the Vikings at TCF Bank Stadium temporarily after 32 seasons at the Metrodome. The weather, 49 degrees at kickoff, was a nonfactor. The hordes of green-clad fans provided the Packers plenty of support.