Week 1 · Sunday, September 13 · 4:25 PM ET
Why This Game Matters
Week 1 of the NFL's oldest continuous divisional rivalry doubles as an audition for two quarterback rooms in flux: Jordan Love opens the year without his big offseason prize, Micah Parsons, still working back from ACL surgery, while Kyler Murray makes his Vikings debut in a QB swap nobody saw coming twelve months ago. Green Bay arrives as the trendy pick to finish second in the NFC North behind Detroit; Minnesota shows up projected for last place and currently running its football operation without a general manager — which makes this opener less a coronation than a gut-check for both fan bases. These teams also split a bitter home-and-home to close 2025, so there's real carryover bad blood before the leaves even turn.
Real Player Matchups
- GB pass rusher Micah Parsons (12.5 sacks, 27 QB hits in 2025) vs. a MIN offensive line that allowed 60 sacks last season.
- MIN pass rusher Dallas Turner (8.0 sacks, 15 QB hits in 2025) vs. a GB offensive line that allowed 29 sacks last season.
- MIN's Justin Jefferson drew a 30% target share in 2025 (-14 receiving EPA) against a GB defense ranked #22 of 32 in EPA allowed.
Real 2025 season production (nflverse), a prior-season baseline pending real 2026 games.
Key Matchups
- Justin Jefferson vs. Green Bay's remade CB2 competition (Carrington Valentine, rookie Brandon Cisse, DeAndre St-Juste) opposite Keisean Nixon
- Kyler Murray's legs against a Packers front seven opening the season without Micah Parsons, who is expected on PUP and targeting a mid-October return
- Jordan Love and a reshuffled WR corps (extended Christian Watson, Matthew Golden) against Brian Flores' Vikings defense, which lost Jonathan Allen, Javon Hargrave and Jonathan Greenard this offseason
- Green Bay's retooled offensive line — Jordan Morgan at left tackle, Sean Rhyan sliding to center — protecting Love against a Vikings pass rush still finding its identity under Flores
Injury Report
Micah Parsons · GB EDGE
PUP (expected)
Recovering from a torn ACL suffered Dec. 14, 2025 vs. Denver, plus a subsequent meniscus procedure. Parsons has targeted a mid-October return and called Week 6 'very realistic' as of Aug. 10, 2026.
Tucker Kraft · GB TE
Activated off PUP
Tore his ACL in Week 9 of the 2025 season; activated off the Physically Unable to Perform list July 31, 2026, but not yet in full team drills as camp began.
Jordan Addison · MIN WR
Limited
Sidelined part of camp with a jammed thumb; imaging came back clean and the team expected only a brief absence.
Christian Darrisaw · MIN LT
Veteran rest days
Took maintenance days for lingering left knee soreness while recovering from multiple 2024 ligament tears, but reported feeling 'the best I've felt in two years.'
Will Fries · MIN RG
Returned to practice
Missed two camp sessions with an undisclosed injury before returning to the lineup.
Series History
All-time: Packers lead the all-time series 67-61-3 (66-60-3 in the regular season, with the postseason series tied 1-1) since the rivalry began in 1961.
Last meeting: The teams split their 2025 home-and-home: Green Bay won 23-6 in Green Bay on Nov. 23, 2025, behind a suffocating second-half defense and a 100-yard, two-touchdown game from backup RB Emanuel Wilson, before Minnesota took the Week 18 finale 16-3 at U.S. Bank Stadium on Jan. 4, 2026, with the Packers resting starters ahead of the playoffs.
- · The rivalry dates to Oct. 22, 1961 — Minnesota's inaugural NFL season — when Green Bay won 33-7.
- · Anthony Barr's 2017 hit on Aaron Rodgers in this series broke Rodgers' collarbone and directly led to a rule-book change on roughing-the-passer enforcement.
- · Green Bay's 45-7 rout in 2011 stands as the largest margin of victory either side has posted in the series; Minnesota's biggest was 42-7 back in 1986.
Weather
U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis has a fixed roof — weather is not a factor for this game.
Records & Rankings on the Line
- · Green Bay sits at No. 13 in the current power rankings as the consensus second-place NFC North pick behind Detroit; Minnesota is No. 24, projected for a last-place division finish around 8-9 wins.
- · The season series has been a genuine coin flip lately — Minnesota has won the last meeting (16-3) after Green Bay took the one before it (23-6), continuing a pattern of the two teams trading results rather than either side pulling away.
- · Green Bay opens missing edge rusher Micah Parsons (PUP) and with TE Tucker Kraft still working back from a torn ACL, while Minnesota starts a brand-new QB in Kyler Murray behind a defense that turned over three key starters and a front office currently without a general manager.
The Desk Weighs In
Duke Callahan
GB -4
Reasoning not yet published for this pick.
Vega Okafor
GB -4
"Green Bay's offense graded out 4th in the league last season — the single largest real gap on this week's board once you pair it against Minnesota's 28th-ranked offense. This isn't close by the numbers, Parsons or no Parsons."
Sunny Marchetti
MIN -2
Reasoning not yet published for this pick.
Reese Thackeray
GB -1
Reasoning not yet published for this pick.
Priest Dunbar
GB -5
Reasoning not yet published for this pick.