Vikings' NFC North Lead Grows as Packers Lose Third Straight Game
The Packers' disastrous stretch continued on Sunday, opening the door even wider for the Vikings to pull away in the NFC North.
For the third consecutive week, Green Bay lost a game in which it was favored by at least five points. After losing to the Giants and Jets as touchdown favorites, the Packers were still 5.5-point road favorites against the lowly Commanders on Sunday.
No one told Taylor Heinicke his team was supposed to lose. Washington's backup quarterback, who began his journeyman professional career with the Vikings in 2015, threw for two touchdowns and made some big plays late in a 23-21 victory. The dagger came when he connected with Terry McLaurin on third down just before the two-minute warning. The Packers did end up getting the ball back, but they ran out of time.
It's another chapter in a cool story for Heinicke, who will play against the Vikings in two weeks. After bouncing around the league for a few years, he wound up playing in the XFL in 2020. He then signed with Washington, found himself starting a wild card playoff game against Tom Brady and the Buccaneers, and nearly pulled off the upset.
Last year, Heinicke started 15 games and went 7-8 with fairly mediocre numbers, so the Commanders traded for Carson Wentz to be their starter. But Wentz just went on injured reserve, so Heinicke gets another opportunity to show what he can do. At the very least, he's proven himself to be a very high-quality backup with some magic to his game a la 2017 Case Keenum.
Heinicke and the Commanders, who are now 3-5, play the Colts next week before hosting the Vikings in Week 9.
The bigger story here is the Packers' continued meltdown. Aaron Rodgers and company managed just 232 yards of offense in the loss and blew another big lead. Green Bay led 17-3 against the Giants in London two weeks ago and built an early 14-3 lead in Washington thanks to a Heinicke pick-six. The Packers lost both games. In between those two games was an embarrassing blowout loss to the Jets at Lambeau Field.
The Packers, who came into this season as the heavy favorites to win a fourth consecutive NFC North title, simply don't look like a good team right now. Their much-hyped defense has been somewhat of a letdown, but more notably, the offense seems to really be feeling the loss of Davante Adams. Outside of Allen Lazard, no one has really stepped up in the Packers' receiving corps. Aaron Jones caught two touchdown passes from Rodgers on Sunday, but it wasn't enough to overcome 20 unanswered points from the Commanders.
The Vikings now have a 2.5-game lead in the NFC North, in addition to their head-to-head tiebreaker over the Packers. Making matters worse for Green Bay is that its next game is a road matchup with Josh Allen and the Bills a week from now. If the Vikings can beat the Cardinals next week and the Packers lose in Buffalo, Minnesota would have a very commanding lead in the division.
The Lions also lost on Sunday. Here are the NFC North standings ahead of the Bears playing the Patriots on Monday Night Football:
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