By Jason Fleck
It is that time of year once again. The most exciting part of the NFL season is upon us, NFL fans know it as playoff time. Every game from here on out means so much, with each win a team moves closer to the ultimate prize of being the World Champs. A loss means that grueling trip home with nothing and a long offseason of thinking about what could have been. It is a lovely time of year for football fans, with each game history is made and these playoffs will start off with a bang.
This Saturday will feature an NFC Wildcard game between the No. 3 seed Green Bay Packers and the No.6 seed Minnesota Vikings. It is a rematch between division rivals that just happened this past Sunday in Week 17, when the Vikings knocked off Green Bay to punch their ticket to the playoffs and also kept Green Bay from clinching the No.2 seed and a bye. With the loss, the Packers fell to the NFC’s third seed, but receive a chance to avenge their most recent loss to those feisty Vikings. The storyline for the most recent game between the two was all about Adrian Peterson and his quest to break the single-season rushing record, he didn’t break that record but he played a huge role in the Vikings win. Peterson fell short of the record by nine yards, but his run set the Vikings up for the game winning field goal.
The storyline of this weekend’s game will probably once again focus on Adrian Peterson, but this week it will be more about him running his team into the next round of the playoffs and not on him breaking a record. It won’t be an easy task trying to take down Aaron Rodgers and the Packers for the second straight week though, before their most recent loss the Packers held a five-game winning streak against the Vikings.
This game will be at Lambeau Field in extremely cold conditions, it will come down to which team’s star player and defense show up. Rodgers vs. Peterson, which team can keep the other’s star from beating them? It will be another exciting game between these two. Tune into the Opening Saturday of the NFL playoffs and enjoy the excitement. Prediction: Packers 27, Vikings 17.
Watch It: Sat. Jan. 5 7:00PM NBC