Breaking down Packers' 33-10 win over the Vikings in Week 17

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Jayden Reed (11) celebrates his second quarter touchdown against the Minnesota Vikings during their football game Sunday, Dec. 31, 2023, at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

— Jayden Reed caught six passes and scored a pair of touchdowns in the first half, powering Green Bay’s 20-point lead after two quarters. Before leaving with a chest injury, Reed caught a 33-yard score on a deep ball from Jordan Love and a 25-yard catch-and-run touchdown that featured several missed tackles.

— Both of Reed’s touchdowns came after takeaways: an interception from Corey Ballentine on the first, and strip-sack from Preston Smith on the second.

— The Packers deliverd four sacks and 14 quarterback hits on Jaren Hall and Nick Mullens. The two quarterbacks were under pressure on half of their dropbacks.

— Jordan Love threw three touchdown passes, ran in a fourth score and didn’t have a turnover or take a sack.

— Aaron Jones rushed for over 100 yards for the second straight week. He had explosive runs of 19 and 25 yards.

— Bo Melton — a practice squad call-up — caught a career-high six passes for 105 yards. He had a 12-yard catch on 3rd-and-3, a 28-yarder in the second quarter, a 9-yard touchdown to put the Packers up 30-3, an 11-yard catch on 3rd-and-7 and a 37-yarder on 3rd-and-6 after Kevin O’Connell called timeouts on the final drive. He was the first Packers player with 100 receiving yards this season.

— The Packers defense gave up just one legitimate scoring drive, and seven of the 10 points surrendered came after Samori Toure muffed a punt inside the 10-yard line. Green Bay delivered two takeaways and two fourth-down stops inside the red zone.

— Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison and K.J. Osborn combined for nothing more than eight catches and 87 yards on 15 targets.

— The Packers gained 28 first downs and were 9-for-14 on third down.

— The Vikings were outgained by over 250 yards and had only three conversions on third or fourth down.

— The Packers ran 21 more plays (73 to 52) and held the football for over 37 minutes.

— Aaron Jones, A.J. Dillon and Patrick Taylor all had a run of 10 or more yards.

— The Vikings blitzed plenty but recorded only three quarterback hits.

— The Packers aggressively took the ball after winning the coin toss and then went three-and-out.

— Jordan Love missed Malik Heath on an extended play for what should have been a touchdown in the first quarter. Later, Love and Bo Melton couldn’t connect on fourth down on another play that could have ended in a touchdown. Missed opportunities early.

— Samori Toure muffed a punt, setting up the Vikings only touchdown. He was only in the game because Jayden Reed was forced out with a chest injury.

— Anders Carlson missed an extra point — his fifth of the season. No kicker has more extra point misses this season.

— The Packers covered kickoffs well in general but did allow a 47-yard return to Kene Nwangwu to open the second half.

The Packers got back to .500, matched last year’s win total and gave their playoff hopes a huge boost. The Seahawks loss and the Packers win combined to give Matt LaFleur’s team a clear path to the playoffs: win next week in the season finale against the Chicago Bears and the Packers are in. The clinching scenario is about all the Packers could ask for after starting 2-5 and then suffering disappointing back-to-back losses to the Giants and Bucs in December. Jordan Love is enjoying an incredible stretch of play, Aaron Jones is healthy and producing and the Packers defense showed signs of life. Next week is far from a gimmie, but the Packers would be a sneaky scary team in the NFC playoff field if they can beat the Bears. This is a good football team when all three phases play well.

The Packers will host the Chicago Bears in the season finale at 3:25 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. The Bears might be eliminated, but the Week 18 showdown will be one of the biggest Packers-Bears games in recent memory. A win, and the Packers are in. The red-hot Bears have won four of the last five games, however, and Matt LaFleur called them one of the NFL’s most improved teams between Week 1 and now. Chicago is running the football consistently, Justin Fields is playing a more efficient style of quarterback and the Bears defense is taking the ball away at a high rate. Can the Packers avenge last season’s win-and-in disappointment vs. the Lions and beat the Bears in the same scenario to open 2024? If the Packers beat the Bears, they’ll be either the No. 6 or No. 7 seed in the NFC field, depending on the Rams-49ers result.