One of the NFL's most storied records likely will fall Sunday afternoon when the unbeaten Green Bay Packers (3-0) visit the 1-2 Minnesota Vikings.
Green Bay QB Brett Favre is playing his best football in years and last week tied Dan Marino for career touchdown passes with 420, and there's little doubt he will throw at least one Sunday against the Vikings. Why is that nearly assured? Because the Packers have the NFL's worst rushing offense (average of 57 yards per game) and Minnesota has the league's third-best rushing defense (67.3), so the Pack will air it out.
The Packers have thrown the league's third-most passes (125) while attempting the second-fewest running plays (59), but that imbalance hasn't slowed an offense averaging 27.2 points per game.
Rookies Brandon Jackson, DeShawn Wynn and Ryan Grant have combined for only 174 yards rushing for Green Bay, and the Packers' rushing attempts have totaled 17, 29 and 13 in their three games. However, coach Mike McCarthy says he intends to at least try to run the ball against the stout Minnesota defense.
"To run the football," McCarthy said, "the guy calling the plays needs to commit to it, and he hasn't done that the last two weeks.""We're going to do what we feel is necessary to win football games. If that means we're going to throw for 350 (yards) and run for 50, that's fine," said Packers offensive tackle Mark Tauscher. "But, we realize that we need to run the ball better and we're going to be able to run the ball better. It's just going to come down to us imposing that on people. That's what we're looking to do."
Meanwhile, the Vikings have given up nearly 800 yards through the air this season.
"You have to pay attention to those numbers," Vikings defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier said. "They are really putting it in the air. ... You can't ignore the run game, but it seems as though you better be prepared to defend the pass."
The Packers swept Minnesota last season, with Favre throwing for a combined 632 yards in the two games, even as the Packers managed only 93 rushing yards on 50 carries.
The Vikings will definitely try to run the ball with Adrian Peterson as their QB situation is rather unstable. The seventh overall pick in this year's draft leads all rookies with 271 rushing yards, coming off his second 100-yard effort. Peterson also tops the Vikings with 160 receiving yards.
It's uncertain whether quarterback Tarvaris Jackson, who had one TD pass and five interceptions through the first two games, but sat out last Sunday's loss at Kansas City due to a strained groin will start or if Kelly Holcomb, 14 of 28 for 165 yards against the Chiefs, will get the call.
The Packers' seven-game winning streak dating to last season is the longest in the league currently and their best since 2002.
Minnesota is a rare 1.5-point underdog at home on WagerWeb.com, but I look for Peterson to have a big game and for the Vikings defense to do enough to get the victory.
NFL betting odds at WagerWeb Online Sportsbook
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