Dalvin Cook Leads Vikings To Big Win In Green Bay

On an extremely blustery day the Vikings dragged a 1 win season into Lambeau Field after the bye week. Not many people, other than the extremely purple faithful thought the Vikings would come out of Wisconsin with a win today. The fact that Coach Mike Zimmer and his Vikings stayed with the Packers the entire game would have been a win in some fan’s eyes thinking this game would be a blowout. There are those that want the Vikings to continue losing to strengthen their draft status next spring, and they didn’t get their wish. The Vikings would have a long way to go to have a winning season, but in a season like this beating your biggest rival in their home puts a little smile on most Viking’s fan faces.

Dalvin Cook led the way with 4 touchdowns in the game. He ran in 3 and caught a 4th on a screen pass where he got loose through some great downfield blocking by his lineman and then juked and outran the Packers defenders. The Vikings only made the Packers punt twice during the game, but they also stopped them on 4th down twice. The Vikings were already down their starting cornerbacks with Mike Hughes being put on injured reserve and Holton Hill nursing an injury. Rookie Cam Dantzler went out in the first half after a very scary neck injury. Reports said that x-rays at the stadium were good, but he was still going to local hospital for further checks. We wish him the best! So when Kris Boyd went out late in the game with a leg injury it left two rookie corners, Jeff Gladney and Harrison Hand to go against future Hall Of Fame QB Aaron Rodgers and wide receiver Devante Adams. Safety Anthony Harris moved to the nickle cornerback and rookie Josh Mettelus came in at safety. That’s a table set for Rodgers to feast on. The Vikings defense held up and got the job done with rookie DJ Wonnum strip sacking Aaron to end the game.

The Vikings offense was almost unstoppable today as Dalvin Cook took control and rolled over the Packers for 163 yards. Dalvin is the first player since Ahmad Rashad in 1979 to score 4 touchdowns in a game for the Vikings. Kirk Cousins was only 11 of 14 passing for 116 yards and a touchdown, but the main thing is he didn’t make any mistakes and threw the ball on time and on target when it was needed. Cook though was the main story here as he had a total of 226 yards combined between running and receiving. It’s a good thing they signed him to a new contract before this season because he’s going to have MVP like numbers this year whether they lose the rest of the games or not. The Vikings also beat a very good offensive team with almost no pass rush other than a few shining moments including the game sealing strip sack. As a Packers fan that would concern me seeing Rodgers not being able to feast of a depleted defense ripe for his normal pickings. Add into that Cook ripping them apart with a Vikings offensive line that has been much maligned this season push them around and make several gaping holes for Dalvin to shoot through.

The Vikings next game is against the Detroit Lions next Sunday where they face another Hall Of Fame player in Vikings legend Adrian Peterson and fan favorite Everson Griffen on defense. Could a small win streak happen? Maybe win every game and go to the Super Bowl? After today anything seems possible.