Vikings-Packers Final Thoughts Week 11

EAGAN, Minn. — A familiar foe awaits on Sunday.

Yes, it’s time for the first of two regular-season Border Battles between the Vikings and Packers.

Minnesota and Green Bay will renew their rivalry in Week 11 and as usual, there is no love lost between the NFC North adversaries.

“You always want to beat these guys, and it always feels good to beat these guys,” Vikings Co-Defensive Coordinator Adam Zimmer said this week. “They don’t like us, and we don’t like them.

“My neighbors are Packers fans, and I don’t want to go home with a loss,” Zimmer added. “So it’s a little different, just like any division game is really, but this one is maybe just a little amped up.”

Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson added: “We know who’s in town and we know that we gotta get this win, so we gotta come to play.”

Yet as the rivalry resumes, there is also a bigger picture to look at, too.

Minnesota is 4-5 and coming off perhaps its best win of the season. Yet Vikings Head Coach Mike Zimmer is keeping his team grounded as they get ready for Sunday.

“Yeah, [getting to .500] would be big,” Mike Zimmer said. “We’ve played well enough to win some games that we haven’t won, and so we’re trying to catch up to where we hope to be.

“There is still a lot of time left,” Zimmer added. “We’ve just got to keep grinding one week at a time, and like I told the guys today: ‘If you’re satisfied with what you did last week, you haven’t done diddly-squat today.’ “

Green Bay, meanwhile, is 8-2 and is comfortable atop the NFC North. The Packers also have a tiebreaker on the Cardinals to lead the entire conference.

A Vikings win would put the Vikings squarely in the NFC playoff race and set up a wild sprint in the final seven games.

But a Minnesota loss would mean a continued effort to climb out of the ongoing hole and a missed chance to make a statement to the rest of the league.