Minnesota Vikings and the Green Bay Packers will face off in the NFL’s opening gameweek with the mid-west teams revisiting their fierce rivalry as early in the calendar as possible.
In Paddy Power’s NFL odds for the fixture, the Packers are 3/4 favourites with the Vikings offered as 21/10 slight outsiders, but anything can happen in a local rivalry.
The Packers will be hopeful that David Bakhtiari can return to his form of the past few years, the left tackle was one of the strongest players in the entire league in his position at his best but has struggled to return to that level since his huge $92 million contract extension back in 2020.
Green Bay are aiming to deliver Aaron Rodgers his second-ever Super Bowl success and he is very much the franchise player they have built around.
The quarterback is a veteran of the sport who is comfortably one of the best in his position in the league and will rely on his teammates raising to his standards this coming season.
The signing of Sammy Watkins is a huge acquisition and finally provides a top-quality wide receiver to make the most of Rodgers’ creativity.
Robert Tonyan will also be a vital option at tight end if he can put his injury troubles behind him and recapture his form of prior years. Tonyan is a tireless athlete who can put pressure on the opposition lines to win the ball back more quickly to increase the Packers’ ball possession and allow Rodgers more opportunities to play his teammates into good areas.
The Vikings on the other hand are a team with a lot to prove, centre Garrett Bradbury most of all as he enters his final guaranteed season in Minnesota, back in 2019 he was an influential starter which sparked the interest of many other clubs in the NFL, but his strong form has disintegrated since.
Kirk Cousins will be vital to create opportunities from quarterback as well as provide experience and composure which will aid the younger members of the squad, and his long-term partnership with Adam Thielen at wide receiver is sure to continue – with Cousins to Thielen followed by six points on the board sure to be a combination we see this season.
Za’Darius Smith also provides exceptional athleticism in the linebacker role as well as much-needed experience and a calm head in the camp similarly to Cousins influence.
The mid-west encounter will provide the pressure of expectation to the Green Bay camp while offering Minnesota the opportunity to prove their quality and prove critics wrong, as they are seen as a side that does not have realistic Super Bowl hopes.
The occasion will provide the beginning of a fresh Packers era with a much-replenished squad beginning a campaign in which they hope to finally deliver Aaron Rodgers his second Super Bowl ring at the final in Glendale, Arizona.
But the Vikings could potentially thrive off the lack of pressure and underdog status they hold against their rivals.
