It’s happening.
The Packers, left for dead only a month ago, won their fourth consecutive game with a 41-17 blowout of the Vikings.
The result eliminates the Commanders and Saints, leaving the Packers, Seahawks and Lions alive for the final playoff berth in the NFC. Green Bay will clinch the wild-card berth with a win over Detroit in Week 18.
If that happens, someone will have to face Aaron Rodgers and a rejuvenated Packers team in the first-round of the postseason.
The Packers had five different players score touchdowns, with one on special teams, one on defense and three on offense.
The Vikings, who had a shot at the No. 1 seed with the Eagles’ loss earlier in the day, fell to 12-4.
When the Vikings win, they win close, but when they lose, they get blown out. They have set a record this season with 11 one-score wins. Their losses have been by 17, 37, 11 and now 24.
It could have been worse today.
The Vikings took a 3-0 lead, but it was unsatisfying after a blocked punt put them at the 1-yard line. They couldn’t get into the end zone with a Kirk Cousins incompletion and two Dalvin Cook runs.
It only got worse.
The Packers scored 41 points in a row before the Vikings scored twice in the fourth quarter.
Rodgers went 15-of-24 for 159 yards and a touchdown. He also ran for a touchdown. A.J. Dillon and Robert Tonyan had the other two offensive touchdowns. Packers returner Keisean Nixon had a 105-yard kickoff return, and Packers safety Darnell Savage had a 75-yard pick-six.
Aaron Jones had 14 carries for 111 yards, putting him over 1,000 yards for the season.
Jaire Alexander covered Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson most of the game and held the league’s leading receiver to one catch on five targets for 15 yards. Adam Thielen had one catch for 16 yards.
Cousins went 18-of-31 for 205 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions. He also lost a fumble.
Adrian Amos and Rudy Ford also had interceptions for Green Bay.