VIKINGS 23, Packers 7 (final)
TEAM NOTES:
Vikings Captains: T Brian O’Neill, FB C.J. Ham, RB Dalvin Cook, CB Chandon Sullivan, OLB Za’Darius Smith
•
Coin Toss: Vikings call heads, the call is tails. Packers win the toss and deferred to the second half.
•
Attendance: 66,959
•
Weather: 73, mostly sunny NNW at 8 MPH
•
66,959 is the second-largest in U.S. Bank Stadium history. 67,157 is the largest attendance on 12/22/19 against Green Bay.
•
Today marked the 123rd meeting vs. Green Bay.
•
The Vikings are now 57-63-3 vs. Packers in the series history. At home, their record is 31-30.
•
With the 23-7 win over Green Bay, Kevin O’Connell became the fifth Vikings head coach to win their head coaching debut with the club, joining Norm Van Brocklin (1961), Dennis Green (1992), Brad Childress (2006) and Mike Zimmer (2014).
•
The Vikings 262 yards of offense in the first half against Green Bay is tied for the seventh-most yards in a half over the last five seasons and the most since the offense had 300 yards against Pittsburgh on 12/9/21.
PLAYER NOTES:
•
QB Kirk Cousins completed 23-of-32 passes for 277 yards and two touchdowns for a passer rating of 118.9. With five minutes remaining in the first half, Cousins connected on a 64-yard pass to WR Justin Jefferson is the third-longest in a Vikings season opener and the longest since Randy Moss had a 66-yard catch in 2000. Cousins has now completed 192-of-285 passes for 2,531 yards and 20 touchdowns. Cousins is the fourth Vikings quarterback to pass for 2,000 yards total against the Packers.
•
WR Justin Jefferson caught nine receptions for a career-high 184 yards and two touchdowns, marking the fourth game where Jefferson had two or more touchdowns and the second time he has reached this mark against Green Bay. In the first half, he hauled in three passes for 158 yards, setting a new franchise record for receiving yards in the first half. He has now surpassed 100 receiving yards in a single half eight times since entering the league in 2020, the most in the NFL.
•
Jefferson’s 184 receiving yards in a single game is also the seventh most in franchise history. He has now recorded 100-plus receiving yards in 16 career games, trailing only WR Cooper Kupp (17 games). Jefferson now has 200 career receptions and ties Anquan Boldin and Reggie Bush as the 4th-fastest players ever to reach 200 catches. Only Odell Beckham Jr. (30 games), Michael Thomas (32) and Jarvis Landry (33) reached the mark quicker.
•
Jefferson recorded his fifth-career game with at least 150 receiving yards and a touchdown reception, tied with Pro Football Hall of Famer Randy Moss (five) and Victor Cruz (five) for the secondmost such games by a player in his first three seasons in NFL history. Only Pro Football Hall of Famer Lance Alworth (six) has more.
•
K Greg Joseph connected on 56-yard field goal, tying the franchise record for longest made field goal. Joseph is now 8-for-10 on 50-plus yard field goal attempts.
•
OLB Za’Darius Smith made his Viking debut today and tallied two tackles, incuding 1.0 sack on QB Aaron Rodgers and one tackle for loss. He also recorded two quarterback hits. Smith has now recorded 45.5 career sacks.
•
LB Jordan Hicks sacked QB Aaron Rodgers in the third quarter and forced him to fumble, marking his first sack as a Viking and his fifth career forced fumble. Hicks tied his career-high with 14 total tackles (9 solo). He has now recorded double-digit tackles in 22 games.
•
OLB Danielle Hunter recorded 3 total tackles, including two solo and 1.0 sack. Hunter has now recorded at least 1.0 sack in 86 games and has 60.5 career total sacks.
•
S Harrison Smith intercepted QB Aaron Rodgers in the second quarter, marking Smith’s second career interception off Rodgers. The other came in 2012 as a rookie on Dec. 2, 2012. Smith has now recorded 29 career interceptions. He finished the game with seven total tackles (five solo) and one pass defensed.
(info and photos courtesy of the Vikings)