Officiating, Roughing the Packers And Four Other Critical Packers-Vikings Factors

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Remember the roughing-the-passer problem early in the season for the Green Bay Packers?

It’s still a problem, and it could be a huge factor for Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Vikings.

Including one by Dani Dennis-Sutton last week, the Packers have been deemed guilty of nine roughing-the-passer penalties this season. That’s more than double the next three teams – Carolina, Cleveland and Kansas City are next with four – and four more than the rest of the NFC North teams combined.

Meanwhile, Jordan Love has not drawn a roughing foul. So, the Packers are minus-9. Only one other team is even minus-3.

Minnesota, on the other hand, has been flagged twice for roughing despite applying more hits on the quarterback than any other defense.

The NFL reconfigured officiating crews because of nationwide flight problems this week. The new referee is Clete Blakeman. According to NFL Ref Stats, Blakeman’s crew is No. 1 in defensive penalties, No. 1 in defensive penalties that resulted in first downs and tied for No. 1 in roughing-the-passer penalties.

#MINvsGB officiating crew cheat sheet update

Clete Blakeman assigned as the referee & fellow head ref Alex Kemp is on his crew for Sunday's game also

This will already be the #Packers third game w' Alex Kemp involved in 2026, which is rare for any team to have same official… pic.twitter.com/RE0WwC4UM8
— nflrefstats (@nflrefstats1) November 15, 2026

While the Packers apparently are cheap-shot artists, the Vikings play with halos.

According to NFL Penalties, the Vikings’ defense has been penalized a league-low nine times this season. Nine – as many total penalties as Green Bay’s roughing-the-passer count. Minnesota has not been flagged for pass interference or defensive holding.

Here are four more critical factors.

Can Packers Run the Ball?

The way to stymie the Vikings’ powerhouse defense is to run the football. It’s the one sort-of weakness on one of the best defenses of the era.

The last three games, the Vikings gave up 154 rushing yards against the Colts, 230 rushing yards against the Vikings and 134 rushing yards last week against the Bills. They allowed only 3.0 yards per carry against Buffalo but Buffalo eventually wore them down to hog the ball for 43 minutes.

Can the Packers run the football, of course, is the million-dollar question. They had a breakout game last week against New England, but was that a sign of real progress or a mirage? That they will attack a defense without premier linebacker Blake Cashman will help.

Can Packers Beat the Blitz?

The Vikings blitz the quarterback at a historic level. Against most defenses, the concern is limited to third down. Against Minnesota, the concern is on every down. It’s so extreme that the Vikings blitz 80.0 percent of the time on first-and-10.

Jordan Love is good against the blitz. Of 29 qualifying passers, Love is ninth with a 109.8 passer rating against the blitz, according to Sumer Sports. He is No. 1 in passing yards by a relative mile – he has 932 passing yards, almost 200 yards more than No. 2 Drake Maye – and trails only Brock Purdy with nine touchdowns.

“His anticipation to see space and just trust his receivers and get the ball into wherever area that’s supposed to be has been pretty awesome,” offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said this week.

“Whether that’s layering a ball, giving it some time or throwing it on a line, it’s been pretty impressive to watch just that. And again, we’ve talked about it, he’s calm, doesn’t get rattled, so he’s just a special player when it comes to like, he can just handle those things and it’s been fun to watch.”

Flores will not be scared of Love. At all.

In Week 1, Love dropped back to pass 46 times. He was blitzed on 40 – or 87.0 percent. OK, that was in Minneapolis with a makeshift offensive line. So, what about last year at Lambeau Field? Love was blitzed on 20-of-24 dropbacks, or 83.3 percent.

The ability to protect Love will, obviously, be critical. When given time, Love is the game’s best big-play quarterback. On passes thrown 20-plus yards downfield, he’s tied for third with 23 completions and is first by a wide margin with 826 yards. On the other hand, the Vikings have allowed only eight completions on deep passes; only four teams have given up fewer.

Can Packers Score Seven Instead of Three?

Green Bay, for all fireworks from last week, has been fairly mediocre on offense this season. It’s a modest 12th with 24.0 points per game. That’s disappointing production given all the turnovers provided by the defense. A big reason why is Green Bay is 19th in the red zone and 22nd in goal-to-go situations.

Minnesota’s defense is elite. The Vikings are first in both areas, giving up touchdowns 26.3 percent of the time in the red zone and at just a 40.0 percent clip in goal-to-go.

“They are very good, and on top of that you see very minimal snaps down in the red area,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “They’ve done a really good job. This is one of the top-ranked, if not the top-ranked defense in the National Football League. They’re just really stout. They do a great job. What they do such a great job of is just getting you behind the sticks, so you’ve got to stay on schedule versus this group.”

Can Packers Beat Kirk Cousins Through Pressure?

The Vikings made a huge move at quarterback by acquiring Kirk Cousins.

“The way he threw the football this week, it's a really cool thing to see,” Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell said.

The arrival of Cousins is practically a two-for-one. Justin Jefferson is one of the best receivers in the league, if not the best. He is only 54th in the league with 31 receptions and 38th with 393 yards, though, because of the quarterback problems the Vikings hope they solved.

“He understands how the defenses play, especially covering me,” Jefferson told reporters this week. “And he understands, just like he said the other day, the plays that we have called that are kind of my plays, and he understands that the timing and the windows to throw those type of plays, but he also doesn't force those type of plays to me and he just lets the game come to him.”

Cousins remains a big-time quarterback. Surrounded by a less-than-stellar supporting cast with the Raiders, he is 11th in passer rating, fifth in yards and second in touchdowns.

The key will be applying pressure. He’s never exactly been fleet of food, and Father Time and the impact of the torn Achilles sustained at Lambeau Field in 2023 hasn’t made him any faster.

Cousins ranks 22nd with an under-pressure passer rating of 49.5. From a clean pocket, it’s 118.9.

“He’s a really good quarterback, and he’s still playing at a high level,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “Just watching how he gets the ball out of his hands – I buzzed all of his touchdowns from earlier this year, and he’s still got it, man. He’s still got the arm strength. I think he looks better than he did maybe in his time in Atlanta, to be honest with you.

“I think some of that is time away from that injury that he had playing here and I just think he’s playing at a high level. He can process really, really fast. Certainly, he’s got a ton of experience, so it’s hard to fool a guy like that.”

As usual, myself and @JacobWestendorf made our Packers game predictions. Along with those, with nine games down and nine to go, here's how we see the second half of the season playing out. ⬇️https://t.co/tcZvsQOkhV
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) November 14, 2026

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