So much can be made about this game coming this weekend. The Packers win and they can springboard into NFC North contention, we are ready to take on anybody, and their packer flaws are gone and everything is rosey in Green Bay

Lose and Ted Thompson needs to be replaced, the OL is in shambles, our running game is a disaster, and why isnt Capers blitzing more.

This can all come down to one play in this game. The NFL is great!!!!

No way. Even if Green bay mops the floor with the Vikings there are people on this board who will still complain that they didn't beat the Rams and Lions by enough points. There's ALWAYS something to complain about...

By 1 or 20 points, the Packers NEED to win this game. Beating a 6-1 team at home would finally shut up some critics... Including myself!

I'm probably the only one who doesn't think this game is the be all/end all of the season. If the PAckers win or not, I don't see them winning the division. Look at the schedules for both teams for the rest of the year, and it's hard to imagine the Packers ending up on top. Anything is possible. If they lose, it will hurt them in the Wild Card race, since it would be a loss to an NFC team.

But by and large, I think the Packers competition for the playoffs are the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys, and Falcons...not the Vikings.

This is what I fear.

They win and they are severly overrated or they lose and are similarly underrated

Its just as much how you win or lose. If we play great and get beat by the better team, so be it and tip your cap. If we lose because of mistakes or sloppy play that is a differnet story.

I think we can all agree that the Vikes are a legit NFC contender. If we can beat them, color me optimistic. Yes, we're 4-2, but those two high school teams we just got done bullying don't mean much. And to be honest, this game might not be do-or-die, either. When we hit the Steelers, Ravens, Cards and Bears (at home) road bumps at the end of the season, we'll know for sure whether or not the Packers are in that same category.

I would think this win would validate the rest. I understand the skepticism. The Lions, Rams, and Browns have a combined two wins. They are some weak squads.

Even though there is something to be said about parody, beating the queens will establish the Pack back in the elite.

Huh???

The Vikings still need to play Detroit, Seattle, Chicago, Arizona, Cincinnati, Carolina, Chicago and the Giants,

The Packers still play Tampa Bay, Dallas, San Francisco, Detroit, Baltimore, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Seattle and Arizona

Aside from one more game there is not a huge qualitative difference in those schedules

There's a big difference. Cincy and Giants are the toughest games they have. Packers have Cowboys, Ravens, Steelers, and a Niners team that is solid. That's a significant difference in a 16 game schedule.

The Pack should be able to match up nice against San Fran and Dallas for sure and if they can beat the Vikings, there is no reason why I can't see them beating the Steelers or Baltimore.

If the Vikings had a decent coach, they could have beat Pittsburgh.

A win Sunday would put the Pack in the upper echelon of the league. The queens are 6-1, and they have played a couple solid teams.

The Vikings face the 5 - 2 Giants and the 5 - 2 Bengals
The Packers face the 5 - 2 Steelers and the 4 - 2 Cowboys

Slight Advantage Packers

The Vikings face the 3 - 3 Chicago twice for two games - Big Time Divisional Games
The Packers face Baltimore and SF both of whom are 3 - 3 and Chicago once

Advantage Vikings , but only because of the additional game

The Vikings face Carolina 2 - 4 and Seattle 2 - 4 and Detroit 1 - 5
Green Bay faces Tampa 0 - 7, Seattle 2 - 4, Detroit 1 - 5

Advantage Packers

Yes, Green Bay has one more game than the Vikings, but again there is NO substancial difference other than that if you break down the schedule.

In any case, it's an important game in a lot of ways. Like the thread author says, it's huge in terms of confidence and perception. Losing against the Vikings and dropping to 3-4, having beaten no good teams, may make players question how good they can be. Win and they're 5-2, having beaten one of the best teams in the NFC, they can start to think of themselves as an elite team who can beat anyone. Rodgers' status as one of the league's best QBs is solidified.

So just from a phychological standpoint, it would be huge.

From a standings standpoint, it puts us in a tie for 1st if we can take care of TB next week, and we'd have a legit chance to win the division. Remember that Favre in December is not the same as Favre in Sept and October. And the NFL is turning up the heat on the Williams Wall with their drug suspension. At the very least it makes a wildcard berth much more likely.

Lose and the division is gone. Even with that TB win, we'd trail the Vikings by 2 games, and they'd have the tiebreaker, so it's more like 3 games. Then the wildcard becomes the only option.

Very sensible post. How did something like that get into one of these discussions?

But seriously, I could agree with you on that. But I suspect losing this game will just make it all that much harder to win a wild card spot anyway. Sure, if the Vikings lose, they can go on to win the division anyway, no question. It'll be harder for them, but it's very possible. But even going for a wildcard spot, winning for the Packers would seem to be fairly important. Yes, as you say, not the be all, end all of the season, but still significant.

I always think there's something to be said for parody.

Very nice

I think people are making too much out of this. Hold serve at home, win the games you are supposed to on the road, and steal a division game on the road. That is how you win a division. Been that way for years. Obviously easier said than done, but that is the formula.

jeremy, I agree on all points. It's a very determinitive game in terms of playoffs/standings, and in terms of perception.

Lose again, especially if being as decisively dominated as the last time, and I can't take the team very seriously as a real contender. Perhaps they could still prey on easy schedule and sneak into as a wildcard. But if we get owned by the Vikings again, it will confirm that we don't belong with good teams. The perception, rightly, will be that we aren't one of the five worst teams in the league (and thus have been able to beat Detroit, Rams, Cleveland, and will be able to beat Tampa), but there will be little reason to think we belong in discussion with the good teams. And as you say, obviously a loss also ends any serious consideration of winning the division.

But if we win, especially if we do so in an impressive way, I could come out of the game feeling very differently about our chances. If we win against what appears to be one of the better teams in the conference, why can't we legitimately be one of he good teams in the conference? If we have two losses, we can be in serious consideration for winning the division, and given how easy our schedule is certainly in reasonable consideration to make wildcard if not the division.

We'd also have a chance to change some perceptions about the capability of the team itself. For example, what if the o-line holds up relatively well? Three weeks ago, the perception was that the o-line is hopeless. But what if the o-line was to actually look fairly capable, including both of the young tackles? I don't think that is likely, which is why I don't expect to win in an impressive fashion. But if Lang and Barbre were to look perfectly competent in pass protection, and actually rather good in run blocking, my perception regarding the possibilities of the team as the season unfolds, and also beyond this season, would be meaningfully reconfigured. If they performed in such a way that we felt pretty good about the tackles, than optimism would go up a lot.

Likewise I think perceptions about the defense could be reconfigured substantially by the results Sunday. If the Vikings move the ball as easily as they did last time, the defense will be viewed as limited. We can stop QB-free teams like Detroit/Cleveland, but against a decent team we can't stop both pass and run at the same time. The defense isn't that good, and it can't rush the passer so it will be vulnerable to any good team. (All good teams have good passing attacks.)

But if the defense looks good, think how differently and positively it could be perceived. If they can limit AP again, that would make it weeks straight of effectively containing the running game. The perception that we really do have a strong run-stopping defense could be really solidified with a strong game on Sunday. And if we can get some pass pressure, from both Kampman and Matthews for example, that could establish that we really do have a chance to create problems for good teams that have passing games. Or, if the addition of Bigby did enable Capers to pull out some blitzing, and it worked, it could enliven the perception that Capers and the blitz can work for us. But if again we have no pass pressure, as was true last Vikings game, the perception will be very different.

So I think Sunday's game is very significant. In terms of standings and playoff chances for sure. But also in terms of whether it makes sense to really view this as a serious team with some pretty high possibilities, versus a team that can prey on easy schedule to win some games but isn't really a seriously good team.

I'm not so sure we were "decisively dominated" the last time.

Our OLine, ok, sure. But not as an entirety.