MINNEAPOLIS — Kevin O'Connell is 1-0 as the Vikings' head coach. For the Vikings fans who stayed until the final whistle, gleefully waving farewell to the Packers fans who exited early, it could scarcely have felt better.
The Vikings' 23-7 win over Green Bay at U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday was one regular-season victory, against a team that has won the NFC North each of the past three years, and it came with the Packers missing both of their starting tackles (David Bakhtiari and Elgton Jenkins) as well as their presumptive No. 1 receiver (Allen Lazard).
But oh, what a day this had to be for a franchise that staked its 2022 season on the premise it could return to contention with a change in coaches, schemes and culture — but not by overhauling its roster.
Kirk Cousins, the quarterback whom the Vikings gave a new contract in March, completed 23 of his 32 passes for 277 yards. He threw both of of touchdowns to Justin Jefferson, the Pro Bowl receiver who looked liberated in his first game under Kevin O'Connell, lining up in the backfield for swing passes, moving all over the Vikings' formation and catching passes with stunning swaths of open turf in front of him. He finished with nine catches and a career-high 184 yards, including a franchise-record 158 on eight catches in the first half.
The Vikings' defense, playing its first game in a 3-4 base package under Ed Donatell, had Aaron Rodgers hitching and holding the ball all day. The Vikings sacked Rodgers four times; former Packer Za'Darius Smith, who'd said this offseason he felt ostracized in Green Bay after having back surgery early last year, got the first one, and Dalvin Tomlinson consistently pressured Rodgers from his new spot at defensive end.
For the first time in Rodgers' 15-year tenure as the Packers starter, the Vikings held Green Bay to fewer than 10 points with the quarterback on the field. Mike Zimmer shut the Packers out once, in 2017, but that was with Brett Hundley at quarterback.
Starting from the Vikings' first drive — a 10-play, 78-yard march that ended with seven straight passes from Cousins — through the 56-yard Greg Joseph field goal that came after Danielle Hunter and Jordan Hicks sandwiched Rodgers on a strip sack, the first half provided 30 minutes of euphoria for a fanbase that saw its team finish a game out of the playoffs three of the past four years.
On that first drive, after Adam Thielen was ruled a yard short of a first down on a third-and-8 catch on the Packers' 4, O'Connell wasted no time deciding to go for it on fourth-and-1. The Vikings sent Jefferson in motion behind the line of scrimmage, and Cousins flipped him the ball for an easy score that came off his free release.
On the Packers' first offensive play, Rodgers threw deep for rookie receiver Christian Watson, the North Dakota State product selected with the 34th picks the Packers got from the Vikings. Watson beat Patrick Peterson with a double move. Speed was Watson's best attribute coming out of college; his hands were his biggest liability, and Rodgers' perfectly-placed throw, for what would have been an easy touchdown, fell right through them.
Rodgers targeted a receiver with just one of his next seven passes; he hit tight end Robert Tonyan for 23 yards and running back Aaron Jones for 22 on the Packers' third drive, but on a fourth-and-goal play from the Vikings' 1, Smith — who'd already sacked Rodgers once — burst off the back side of the Packers' formation to stop A.J. Dillon for no gain. Cousins hit Jefferson for 64 yards off a play fake on the Vikings' next drive, setting up a Joseph field goal.
Late in the first half, Cousins targeted Jefferson on a deep over route, and the receiver beat Eric Stokes — the second-year Packers corner he'd victimized at U.S. Bank Stadium a year ago — to the pylon.
Fans serenaded Jefferson with "M-V-P" chants after the touchdown gave the Vikings a 17-0 lead; Rodgers heaved his next throw deep for Randall Cobb, and Harrison Smith hauled in the interception before Joseph closed out the first half with his 56-yard kick.
The Packers' only touchdown came in the third quarter, on a drive engineered by Jones and Dillon, but Green Bay would punt and turn the ball over on downs on its final two possessions.
