The Vikings first and last games on the 2016 calendar both occurred at Lambeau Field, but couldn't be more different.
After clinching the NFC North in Green Bay on Jan. 3, the Vikings hopes of going back to the postseason were dashed in a 38-25 loss to the Packers on Saturday.
Minnesota had held Green Bay to 13 and 14 points in the teams' past two meetings, but the Packers put up 28 in the first half and denied a comeback attempt.
Fourteen of those points occurred after **devastating turnovers**: a fumbled snap by center Nick Easton that halted one drive, and a fumble by Sam Bradford during a sack by Clay Matthews.
Bradford was sacked a total of four times, and press box statisticians tallied eight hits of the Vikings quarterback.
The Vikings were able to sack Aaron Rodgers four times and total 10 hits by press box tally, but failed to bottle him up on other pass plays, including a 2-yard touchdown pass, and a 6-yard touchdown run when Everson Griffen had a free run at him.
"I thought I was clean, and he saw me at the last minute … I have to make that play," Griffen said. "That's on me. I have to make that play. I can't jump offsides anymore, and I just have to make a play when it's time to make it."
The secondary also struggled to keep a lid on Packers receivers, leading to a litany of explosive plays.
"We just didn't play well enough on the back end at times, too many guys running free, and you can't do that against [Rodgers]," linebacker Chad Greenway said. "Then, critical situations in the red zone, we just gave him too much time and he did what he does."
Linebacker Eric Kendricks added, "You've got to minimize the explosive plays always, especially playing this offense."
Captain Munnerlyn lamented one play where he fell down while tracking Jordy Nelson leading to a 48-yard completion. Munnerlyn talked about the difficulties Rodgers' mobility creates.
"It's hard to sack him, so when you get your arms around him, please bring him down, because we're back there in the back end trying to cover those guys, and they like to move around," Munnerlyn said. "Once he gets outside the pocket, those guys like to move around and find open spots in the defense and try to get open.
"He played great. He did everything he wanted to do against us," Munnerlyn added. "I think at one point I looked up and he had only missed two passes, and I think both of them were dropped balls by the receivers. We have to do a better job, especially in the back end. We have to cover better."
On blitzing
Kendricks was quite active on Saturday. He was credited with a team-high 11 tackles, including three for loss and 2.5 sacks. The Vikings blitzed with Kendricks a couple of times, and he capitalized when Green Bay running back Ty Montgomery, a transitioned receiver, was unable to pick him up on a blitz.
Kendricks made good on another blitz as well when he was unaccounted for.
"We lost the game; I should have played better," Kendricks shrugged. "I was rushing and was untouched. I suppose you consider that a layup."
After Kendricks went back-to-back with Danielle Hunter to give the Vikings the ball back with 2:16 left in the first half, the Vikings suffered the sack fumble with under a minute to go.
Kendricks and Hunter later met at Rodgers to split another sack. Hunter's 1.5 on the day give him 12 on the season.
Vikings Head Coach Mike Zimmer said the Vikings could have kept Rodgers contained more frequently.
"He got out of the pocket a few times and made plays," Zimmer said. "He's always a tough guy to defend, and if you don't get him off rhythm, which we didn't do in the first half, but we came back, hit him a few times in the second half, got a few sacks. I thought defensively we played a lot better in the second half."
Swaying momentum
The Vikings turnovers each occurred when Minnesota was just down by eight points and swayed a momentum grab.
It was a microcosm of 2016.
After having just one turnover during a stretch to start the season 5-0, the Vikings have committed 22 turnovers in the past 10 games.
"We're just frustrated," Greenway said. "We feel like we're a football team that was good enough and were playing well enough at a time to be in that conversation, and we didn't do enough. We're just not good enough. You can't excuse things away. It's a body of work after 15 games."
Thielen's big day
Adam Thielen had 12 receptions in all of 2015. The Minnesota native matched that total in just one game on Saturday with **12 catches for 202 yards** and touchdowns of 71 and 8 yards.
Thielen's receiving total is tied with Paul Flatley (against San Francisco in 1965) for the third-most in a game by a Viking. Sammy White had 210 against Detroit in 1976, and Randy Moss had 204 at Chicago in 1999.
The yardage from Saturday gives Thielen a team-high 960 yards.
He and Stefon Diggs (903 yards) can try to become the first pair of Vikings receivers with overlapping 1,000-yard seasons since Randy Moss (1,437) and Hall of Famer Cris Carter (1,274) in 2000. They are already the first duo to each have 800-plus since Moss and Carter in 2001.
Bradford tracker
Bradford completed 34 of 50 passes (68 percent) for a **career-high 382 yards** with three touchdowns and no turnovers for a passer rating of 110.6. It was his career-best seventh game with a rating of 100 or higher this season.
For the season, Bradford has completed 71.3 percent of his passes, positioning him in place to break the all-time best of 71.2 percent by Drew Brees with an accurate day against Chicago in the regular-season finale on Jan. 1.
Brees has completed 70.9 percent of his passes this season.
Bradford's streak of seven straight games with a completion rate above 70 percent ended Saturday, a game shy of tying Hall of Famer Joe Montana's record in 1989. Bradford needed just one more completion on Saturday to equal the mark.
