Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy (right hand) returned to full participation in Thursday’s practice, putting him on track to play in Sunday’s game against the Packers. He was limited on Wednesday in his first practice since injuring his throwing hand in the Dec. 21 win over the Giants.
McCarthy has a hairline fracture that forced him to miss the Christmas Day victory over the Lions. Max Brosmer started for McCarthy for a second time this season.
In nine games this season, McCarthy has completed 57.3 percent of his passes for 1,450 yards with 11 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.
The Vikings also saw linebacker Blake Cashman (elbow), running back Jordan Mason (ankle) and defensive lineman Levi Drake Rodriguez (rib) return to full participation after limited work on Wednesday.
Safety Harrison Smith took a rest day on Thursday.
Tight end T.J. Hockenson (shoulder), running back Aaron Jones (hip) and wide receiver Myles Price (ankle) remained out of practice a second consecutive day.
Offensive tackle Brian O’Neill (heel) again was limited.
Cornerback Trevon Diggs practiced with the Packers for the first time on Thursday and he could make his first game appearance for the team this weekend.
The Packers claimed Diggs off of waivers from the Cowboys on Wednesday and head coach Matt LaFleur said at a pre-practice press conference that Diggs could “potentially” be in the lineup against the Vikings on Sunday.
“All hands on deck,” LaFleur said, via the team’s website. “You spend a lot of time with him in terms of trying to get him up so they understand what their responsibility is. So we’ll spend a lot of time with him. I do think that’s a position where you can get acclimated pretty quickly and adjust pretty quickly. Hopefully we can get that done.”
If Diggs does not play against Minnesota, he could make his Packers debut in the wild card round of the playoffs. The Packers will be the No. 7 seed in the NFC whether they win or lose this week.
Jordan Love is out of the concussion protocol, but he won’t be back on the field in Week 18.
Packers head coach Matt LaFleur announced on Thursday that Clayton Tune will start at quarterback against the Vikings on Sunday. Tune was active as a practice squad elevation last week while Love was in the protocol and he was signed to the 53-man roster this week.
The Packers are locked into the seventh seed and Love will now prepare for a road start in the wild card round of the playoffs.
Malik Willis started for the Packers last Saturday, but aggravated a right shoulder injury. Tune was 1-of-4 for eight yards and an interception late in the 41-27 loss.
The Packers signed Desmond Ridder to the practice squad on Wednesday. He could be elevated to serve as Tune’s backup in the regular season finale, but LaFleur said no decision has been made about their plans for that spot at this point.
Nielsen’s new mechanism for measuring out-of-home viewing has helped the NFL, considerably.
All numbers are up in 2025. Including the Christmas games.
Via NFL Media, the Lions-Vikings game set a streaming record, with an average audience of 27.5 million. The early game between the Cowboys and Commanders averaged 19.9 million, creating a two-game numer of 23.7 million.
The captive audience of Christmas Day offset the fact that the games weren’t particularly compelling. And the Netflix production left much to be desired, given the ill-advised decision to interview via Zoom four former players during the back-to-back games.
No one wanted that. No one, except the Netflix exec who thought it was a good idea. Everyone who watched the games had to deal with the distraction to the coverage, including canned questions like, “What does football mean to you?”
It means enough to us to tell Netflix to never do in-game Zoom interviews again.
The Packers should have starting quarterback Jordan Love cleared from concussion protocol by the time they kickoff against the Vikings on Sunday. Love, who also has a left shoulder injury, had a full practice on Wednesday.
The question, though, is whether the Packers will play Love with the team’s playoff seeding already set.
Backup quarterback Malik Willis, who played well in Love’s absence last week, had a limited practice after aggravating his right shoulder injury against the Ravens. Willis also has a hamstring injury.
Wide receiver Dontayvion Wicks (concussion) was the only player on the 53-player roster who missed Wednesday’s work.
Offensive guard Aaron Banks (illness/ankle), linebacker Edgerrin Cooper (shoulder), running back Josh Jacobs (knee/ankle), linebacker Nick Niemann (pectoral), wide receiver Jayden Reed (illness), offensive lineman Zach Tom (back/knee), defensive lineman Lukas Van Ness (illness/foot), offensive guard John Williams (back) and wide receiver Savion Williams (foot/illness) were limited.
