Packers melt down in fourth quarter, Vikings pull off 39-22 victory

Early in the fourth quarter, armed with a 22-17 lead over Minnesota, Green Bay head coach Matt LaFleur made a couple of decisions.The result of those choices proved to be disastrous and allowed the Vikings to come away with a 39-22 victory to open the 2026 season.On fourth-and-6 from Minnesota’s 22-yard line, Packers rookie Trey Smack hit a 40-yard field goal to give Green Bay an eight-point, 25-17 lead. But the Vikings were flagged for an offside penalty.That induced LaFleur’s first choice — taking the field goal off the board to go for it on fourth-and-1.The second choice was LaFleur’s play call: A QB sneak. But quarterback Jordan Love failed to convert, with a virtual measurement confirming Love was short of the sticks.Now with Green Bay holding just a five-point lead, the Vikings got down the field due to a cacophony of errors from Green Bay’s defense. It looked like the Packers would get off the field on third-and-11 with a sack of Carson Wentz, but Green Bay was flagged for illegal contact for a free first down.On the next set of downs, when Wentz just avoided a sack by getting rid of the ball on third-and-3, Chris McClellan was flagged for a questionable roughing-the-passer penalty, as he braced himself before falling on Wentz with his full body weight.Then when Wentz was intercepted by safety Evan Williams in the end zone, the Packers got flagged for defensive holding, giving the Vikings another free first down.Finally, Aaron Jones ran it in against his old team for a 3-yard touchdown.It got worse — or better, depending on your perspective — from there. Love was sacked twice in a row on the ensuing drive, with the ball coming out on the second. The Vikings started their next drive from the 1-yard line, with Jordan Mason powering it in for a touchdown on the first play.And then Love tossed the first interception of his career at U.S. Bank Stadium, with the ball getting tipped at the line before going off of Harrison Smith’s hands and into the waiting arms of James Pierre.Justin Jefferson caught his second touchdown of the game to finish that drive, giving the Vikings a stunning 17-point lead.The Packers had led 22-10 in the third quarter and were outscored 29-0 for the rest of the game, including 22-0 in the fourth quarter.It was a remarkable victory for the Vikings, who lost their starting quarterback on their third possession. Kyler Murray was hit hard in the head while sliding on a third down. The Packers were flagged for unnecessary roughness while Murray went straight to the locker room for further examination and was diagnosed with a concussion.So Wentz came in and managed the game well, finishing 12-of-19 for 133 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. Two of his TD passes went to Justin Jefferson, who hadn’t caught a score at home since 2024. The wideout finished with eight catches for 92 yards with two TDs.On the other side, things were going very well for the Packers before the ill-fated QB sneak. Love finished the contest 21-of-42 for 387 yards with two touchdowns and a pick. Christian Watson had six catches for 147 yards with two TDs, but five of those receptions and 131 of those yards came in the first half.Now at 1-0, the Vikings will be on the road for another divisional game against the 1-0 Bears next week.The 0-1 Packers, who now have a disturbing trend of blowing significant leads, will again be on the road to face the 1-0 Jets.