 celebrates the victory over the Minnesota Vikings at Lambeau Field. Mandatory Credit: Kayla Wolf-Imagn Images</p>
<p>” data-medium-file=”https://vikingsterritory.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=788,height=444,fit=crop,quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/USATSI_27664424_168394844_lowres.jpg” data-large-file=”https://vikingsterritory.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1180,height=787,fit=crop,quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/USATSI_27664424_168394844_lowres.jpg”><figcaption><span>Nov 23, 2025; Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA; Green Bay Packers defensive end Micah Parsons (1) celebrates the victory over the Minnesota Vikings at Lambeau Field. Mandatory Credit: Kayla Wolf-Imagn Images</span></figcaption></figure>
<p>The drama and disappointment of the 2025 Vikings season continued in full force as the second half unraveling at Lambeau Field resulted in a 23-7 loss to the Packers. To add injury to insult, QB J.J. McCarthy — off another inconsistent day— has now landed in concussion protocol.</p>
<p><strong>Turnovers and Micah Parsons doomed the Vikings in Green Bay as critical mistakes and defensive dominance shaped the outcome from start to finish.</strong></p>
<p>McCarthy has not been ruled out of next Sunday’s game at Seattle by Coach Kevin O’Connell. He reported symptoms on the flight home, and the Vikings’ medical team placed him in concussion protocol, but he attended team meetings on Monday.</p>
<p>McCarthy was sacked five times and hit 10 times in the game. He led an offense that was relatively productive in the first half (141 total yards, including 86 rushing and 55 passing) as the Vikings trailed 10-6 at halftime.</p>
<h2>It All Crashed for the Vikings on Sunday at Lambeau</h2>
<p>The game turned early in the third quarter after a Vikings defensive stop was followed by Myles Price’s bad play in not getting out of the way of a punt that bounced back and hit him, with the Packers recovering the ball at the Minnesota 5-yard line, leading to a quick TD and a 17-6 deficit for the Purple.</p>
<p>The second half was a disaster on offense with four net yards as the Vikings abandoned the run (three carries for seven yards over the final two quarters), and the Packers’ pass rush, led by All-Pro Micah Parsons, had all five sacks after halftime.</p>
<div>
<figure><img loading=)
Josh Jacobs.
Wilson rushed for 107 yards on 28 carries with two TDs. The Packers had 146 yards on the ground as they worked the clock (37-23 minute edge in time of possession). Jordan Love only threw 21 passes with 14 completions for 139 yards.
2. In the current three-game losing streak, the team is minus 8 in turnover ratio. The Vikings were plus 12 (third best) last season, but are now minus 12 on the season, which is second worst in the league (the 2-9 Jets are minus 13). The nine takeaways are the fourth fewest (after leading the league with 33 last season). The 21 giveaways are the most in the NFL, interestingly, just one more than this week’s opponent, Seattle, which has the fourth-worst ratio at minus 7.
 is sacked by Minnesota Vikings linebacker Dallas Turner (15) during the first half at Lambeau Field. Mandatory Credit: Kayla Wolf-Imagn Images</p>
<p>” data-medium-file=”https://vikingsterritory.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=788,height=444,fit=crop,quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/USATSI_27663310.jpg” data-large-file=”https://vikingsterritory.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1180,height=787,fit=crop,quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/USATSI_27663310.jpg” src=”https://vikingsterritory.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=788,height=444,fit=crop,quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/USATSI_27663310.jpg” alt><figcaption>Nov 23, 2025; Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA; Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love (10) is sacked by Minnesota Vikings linebacker Dallas Turner (15) during the first half at Lambeau Field. Mandatory Credit: Kayla Wolf-Imagn Images<span></span></figcaption></figure>
</div>
<p>The other three NFC North teams are all on the plus side—Chicago leads the league at plus 16, Detroit is plus 5, and Green Bay is plus 4. That’s a big part of the reason those three teams all have at least seven wins (Chicago: 8-3, Green Bay: 7-3-1, Detroit: 7-4).</p>
<p><strong>3.</strong> Special teams miscues are killing the Vikings. For the third straight week, there was a major blunder: Price’s kickoff return fumble against Baltimore, the 56-yard kickoff return by Devin Duvernay of Chicago in the final minute to set up the winning field goal in the Bears game, and Price’s punt return miscue on Sunday.</p>
<p>On the plus side for special teams, Will Reichard is having an All-Pro caliber season, having missed only two kicks, and one of those was probably hit by a camera wire in London. He set an NFL record in cold and windy Lambeau Field when he made his fourth field goal of 59 or more yards this season. Reichard also converted from 52 yards. Ryan Wright also had an excellent game with a 55.5-yard average on four punts.</p>
<p><strong>4. </strong>Run game effective before it was prematurely abandoned by O’Connell when the Vikings fell behind by 11 points: in the first half, the Vikings rushed for 86 yards to help balance the offense for McCarthy, who wasn’t sacked and didn’t turn it over until the second half, when the Vikings ran it only three times for seven yards.</p>
<div>
<figure><img loading=)
Kansas City (6-5) kept its playoff hopes alive by rallying from a 20-9 fourth-quarter deficit to beat Indianapolis 23-20 in overtime.
The Cowboys trailed 21-7 before they came back to beat the Eagles 24-21 in Dallas behind 354 passing yards and two TDs from Dak Prescott. The Dallas D shut out the Eagles in the second half as the Cowboys (5-5-1) kept their slim playoff hopes alive.
The Chiefs are at Dallas in the second Thanksgiving Day game. Baltimore—winners of five straight—hosts Cincinnati in the night game on Thanksgiving. The Ravens are now tied with the Steelers for the AFC North lead at 6-5 after a 23-10 home win over the Jets. Baltimore and Pittsburgh will meet in Weeks 14 and 18. So all three games this Thursday have playoff implications, which should make for exciting games.
The Rams at 9-2 (with six straight wins) are the NFL’s best team through Week 12 after crushing Tampa Bay 34-7 behind likely MVP Matthew Stafford’s three TD passes. He now has 30 TD passes and only two interceptions this season.
The surprising Patriots have the AFC’s best record at 10-2 after their 26-20 win in Cincinnati. Drake Maye continued his strong second season with 294 passing yards and one TD (with one pick).
In one other game of note, Kirk Cousins threw two TD passes (one pick) as the Falcons ended a five-game losing streak with a 24-10 win at New Orleans. Could Cousins wind up back in Minnesota to challenge McCarthy for the starting job next season if the next six weeks don’t go a lot better for young J.J.?
Vikings-Seahawks: I’ll be back on Friday to preview next Sunday’s matchup with Darnold and the surprising 8-3 Seahawks in Seattle. Perhaps by then, we’ll know if McCarthy is expected to start.
Darnold would love to show the Vikings they made a mistake by not keeping him for at least one more year on a franchise tag, but he’s certainly happy to be in Seattle with a playoff contender. He rebounded from a four-interception game in the Week 11 loss to the Rams by throwing for 244 yards and two TDs (both to star receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba ) in Sunday’s 30-24 road win at Tennessee.
Darnold has a 106.2 passer rating to rank fifth with 19 TDs, 10 interceptions, and a 69.5% completion rate. He has been sacked only 11 times, the fewest among regular starters. Smith-Njigba leads all NFL receivers with 1,313 yards, and his seven TDs rank fourth. He’ll be a big challenge for the Vikings’ secondary.
Titans QB Cam Ward had a fine game against the Seattle defense that ranks seventh overall (14th against the pass and 4th against the run). Ward had 256 passing yards, one TD toss, and 37 yards rushing with a TD on the ground. So perhaps McCarthy can have a better game this week if he plays.
Jeff Diamond is a former Vikings GM, former Tennessee Titans President and was selected NFL Executive of the Year … More about Jeff Diamond
Related Posts
Best-Case Scenarios for 8 Most Polarizing NFL Rookies This Season
Brad Gagnon@@Brad_GagnonFeatured Columnist IVMay 29, 2024 Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios for 8 Most Polarizing NFL Rookies This Season 0 of 8 Jamie Squire/Getty Images Extremes. […]
The Michigan Wolverines will have one of their veteran quarterbacks available for the Reliquest…
The quarterback picture for Michigan has been fluid in recent weeks, with two of the QB’s announcing they’d be entering the transfer portal. One of […]
Europe Triathlon Middle Distance Triathlon Championships Results: Antonio Benito Lopez and Magda Lagownik
Triathlon Today – Your news, our passion Triathlon Today is the fastest and most accurate news outlet for triathlon and multisport, offering a great perfect […]