The inactive players were S Zayne Anderson, OLB Brenton Cox, CB Robert Rochel, WR Malik Heath, and OT Caleb Jones.  The Packers did not elevate any players from the Practice Squad.  Emanuel Wilson and Sean Clifford were active but did not play.

2023 for me has always been about evaluating Jordan Love and developing the young roster.  I predicted a 6-11 record, which looks a little optimistic at this point but is still doable.  That said, it is time to become blunter with my assessments.  Now that we are 7 games into the season, we fans should be looking for improvement by the second and third-year players and should be hoping for improvements from the rookies over the last half of the season.

The Packers only rushed running backs 13 times for 39 yards (3.0-yards/carry) for the game, and just 6 times for 28 yards in the first half.  Their success rate was pretty good.  The first drive was a 2 yard pass to Musgrave followed by a nice 7-yard run by Dillon.  After a penalty by each team (one of which negated a nice 20-yard pass to Doubs), Dillon had no where to got on 3rd and 1 which forced a punt.  The next possession was a perfectly fine 4-yard run by Jones on first down, a drop by Jones followed by a drop by Musgrave (on a more difficult catch) and a punt.  The third possession featured a 12-yard sack on 2nd and 5, followed by a delay of game to make it 3rd and 21, forcing a punt.  Walker's man got the sack, though it was easily longer than 2.5 seconds after the snap.  The fourth possession was another perfectly fine 4-yard gain by Jones, followed by a Runyan hold to make it 2nd and 16, which forced a punt.  The Packers fifth possession got multiple first downs, but it was two steps forward and one step backwards as the drive featured penalties by both sides.  There were successful runs of 6, 7 and 4 yards, and ended with a missed field goal negated by a Viking offsides penalty, and then a successful 30-yard field goal by Carlson.  Love was hit 7 times and sacked twice.  There was pressure but he also had some good pockets. 

Rasheed Walker was removed from the game and replaced by Nijman late in the first quarter after committing a penalty and allowing a sack.  Nijman fared better than Walker, who returned late in the game due to an injury to Nijman.  That said, so far this season Walker arguably has not been worse than Myers or Runyan, or even Jenkins overall.  As an offensive tackle more often out on an island, Walker's miscues are just more noticeable.  The Vikings' interior defensive players, particularly NT Harrison Phillips, had their way with the offensive line.  This whiff by Myers noted by Mike Wahle in a video clip is pretty equivalent Walker getting beaten by a sack.  [As it happens, Wonnum beat Walker on the same play, but Phillips demolished Dillon already.]  Zach Tom is the only offensive lineman playing quality snaps.  Fans have to hope the Jenkins' recent poor play is due to injury, given that the Packers just made him then second-highest paid guard in the NFL.  Rasheed Walker can play in the NFL especially if he gets more consistent with his technique.  It might be good to give Walker a break but at some point the Packers need to reinsert Walker into the lineup because Nijman is extremely unlikely to be on the team next season.

Jones had a drop and a fumble that was recovered by Elgton Jenkins.  He gained 29 yards on just 7 carries (4.1-yard average) and added 17 yards on 4 receptions.  It looked like the Packers wanted to make him an important part on the offensive plan but once again did not give him enough touches.  Dillon gained 11 yards on 6 carries for a meager 1.8-yard per carry average.  He caught all 5 of his targets for 41 yards, including a nice 16-yard gain.  I actually thought Dillon looked fine: he was met in the backfield multiple times.  The Packers ran the ball just 6 times in the first half even though the halftime score was 10-3.  Jordan Love attempted 15 passes in the first half even though the score was by no means out of hand.  That's on the play caller.

Luke Musgrave can catch 4-yard passes in the flat with the best of them.  He isn't as good about turning upfield like a gazelle to gain yards after the catch or breaking tackles.  He runs the wrong route, appears to not know the snap count at times, and is a willing if unsuccessful blocker.  As a rookie, he needs to play.  I'd just like to see him run some vertical routes up the seam or even split wide at times, and show the ability to adjust to a ball mid-air and turn upfield without losing his balance.  Musgrave caught 2 of 3 targets for 9 yards.  Kraft, Deguara, and Sims had no statistics.  

Love completed 24 of 41 passes (58.53%) for 229 yards (5.59-yards/attempt) with 1 TD and 1 INT.  His passer rating was 72.1.  It is fair to say that Love's receivers are not doing him any favors but it is also fair to mention that Love doesn't do them many favors, either.  Moreover, Love doesn't do his offensive linemen favors sometimes when he moves around in the pocket: sometimes he moves towards the trouble and/or changes the angle in ways that are  disadvantageous for his blocker.  Love is hopping a lot in the pocket.  It also isn't just accuracy, either.  Sometimes the ball should have arrived a tick or two sooner.   The pass to Wicks (Edit - It was Reed - you can watch the play here at the 6:22 mark) that was intercepted was thrown a tick late and it was also under thrown.  It allowed the defender to close, get his arm between Reed's hands and Reed's body and pull the ball out.  One can argue that Reed needs to bring that pass in while also noting better accuracy and throwing it in rhythm would have helped Reed.

There is a lot of chaos on offense, with missed blocks, a mediocre run game at best, and suspect pass protection to go with drops and improperly run routes.  The team needs to stabilize things in order to get a decent chance to evaluate Jordan Love.

Watson caught 3 of 8 targets for 33 yards with a long of 17.  The Packers are trying to give Watson a chance to be a number one wide receiver.  Doubs caught 1 of 2 targets for 5 yards.  Reed caught his only target for 8 yards.  Wicks was targeted once and that was intercepted.  Toure had no statistics.  Essentially, the wide receivers were barely a factor in this game.

T.J Slaton had a nice game with 9 tackles (4 solo) including 2 tackles for loss.  I have been down on Kenny Clark for a couple of years now, but he also had a better performance than his recent efforts.  Clark had 3 tackles (1 solo) including a tackle for loss and 2 QB hits, one of which was a sack.  Wyatt had a solo tackle and a fumble recovery.  Brooks had no defensive stats but blocked a field goal.  Wooden had an assisted tackle.  The Vikings only averaged 2-yards per carry, gaining 62 yards on 31 attempts.  The Vikings were able to pick up first downs the few times they ran the ball on third downs.  Generally, they were content to let Cousins dice up the defense.

Campbell had 14 tackles (10 solol) with 1 QB hit.  Quay Walker had 10 tackles (7 solo) and a pass defensed.  Preston Smith had 5 tackles (2 solo, both of which were sacks), including a tackle for loss, 1 pass defensed and 1 forced fumble.  Gary had 3 tackles (1 solo, a tackle for loss) and a QB hit.  Enagbare had two solo tackles, one of which was a tackle for loss, and an obvious roughing the passer penalty.  Van Ness had a pass defensed.  The Packers did not get enough pressure on Kirk Cousins, who had a lot of clean pockets.  He sliced up the defense though he was not able to find the jugular in the first half, which could have been a lot worse than 10-3.  

Nixon had his best game since week 3.  His play has been up and down, overall, but acceptable.  Ford and Nixon had 4 solo tackles (6 and 5 total, respectively).  Nixon broke up 2 passes.  Douglas had 5 tackles (3 solo).  He has been a godsend, though he gave up some receptions.  Alexander had 4 tackles (3 solo) and had a rough outing against in general and against Addison in particular.  Owens had 3 tackles (2 solo) and an unnecessary roughness penalty, which was technically probably correct.  He had a helmet to helmet with Akers at the goal line which was more egregious but it was not called.  Cousins completed 23 of 31 passes (74.19%) for 274 yards (7.87-yards per attempt).  That's a good day for a QB.  

SPECIAL TEAMS:

Carlson missed a chip shot but was bailed out when CB Hall of the Vikings was penalized for being offsides.  Carlson then nailed a 30-yarder.  He also hit his only extra point attempt.  Whelan averaged 51.8 yards gross and 43.3 yards net.  He had a 38-yard punt fielded at the 21 and returned to the 25 yard line which could have been better.  He had another so-so punt effort but due to a penalty he got another chance and hit a better punt.

Photo courtesy of Benny Sieu of USA Today.