Things were supposed to be different. The Minnesota Vikings were coming off an impressive home win against the Atlanta Falcons. Coach Mike Zimmer had changed Minnesota's defense and the Vikings finally had a franchise quarterback.
The news before Thursday night's game that rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater would be held out with his sprained left ankle was the first blow and when Minnesota took the field at Green Bay with Christian Ponder at quarterback, it all looked too similar.
The Packers' offense scored a quick 14 points, Ponder struggled in his return to the starting role and then threw interceptions on two consecutive passes to create another Thursday night football blowout, as Minnesota lost 42-10.
Here are five takeaways from Thursday's game:
1. Same old Ponder
Unfortunately for the Vikings, they were forced to start their third quarterback in five games because of injury. Matt Cassel's broken foot led the way to Bridgewater's first NFL start last week in which he impressed. But Bridgewater's ankle sprain meant another chance for Ponder, the former starter who was kept around as the third quarterback.
Ponder had one year remaining on his contract and had experience, a good situation for Minnesota if it had to reach as far down the depth chart as the third string. Unfortunately, Ponder looked like the player which forced the Vikings to draft another quarterback.
Ponder felt the pressure of the Green Bay pass rush, couldn't get the ball out of his hand and was sacked six times. The blame is shared between an offensive line which looked good last week in front of Bridgewater and Ponder's shaky play. When Ponder did get the pass off, he was behind receivers or overthrowing them. Early in the game, at a point which could have opened things up for Minnesota, Ponder missed an open Jarius Wright badly down the field.
Then Ponder threw two straight interceptions. He was rushed and had a pass tipped as it left his hand, leading to an easy interception for Julius Peppers, which was returned for a touchdown. On his next pass, he threw behind his intended receiver for another interception. Ponder was his erratic self. Even with the coaching of Norv Turner, Ponder has seemingly regressed since 2012.
A decent fourth quarter applied some polish to Ponder's final numbers, but the game was long over before he led two scoring drives. Ponder finished 22-of-44 passing for 222 yards and he ran for a touchdown.
2. Needing help and not finding it
Four days after opening big holes for the running game and keeping Bridgewater clean without a sack, the offensive line wasn't at its best. Several Green Bay pass rushers were in the backfield quickly. At first glance, it's hard to tell how much of the issues were on Ponder or the offensive line, but together the group stumbled.
The Packers had entered the game with just six sacks, doubling their total on Thursday. Green Bay also had the league's worst run defense, giving up 176 yards per game. Of the eight 200-yard rushing games by NFL teams this season, two had come against the Packers. Minnesota rushed for more than 200 yards as a team last week with Asiata and McKinnon.
But the wide-open holes from last week weren't present and Asiata and McKinnon couldn't keep Green Bay's defense from collapsing down on Ponder. The Vikings rushed for 111 yards as a team with Asiata leading the way with 15 carries for 72 yards.
3. Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers
The Packers scored 42 points but only had 320 yards of total offense. In the first half, Green Bay had eight possessions. Not one drive lasted longer than four plays and only two drives were longer than 20 yards. The Packers gashed Minnesota's defense on two drives, but the Vikings forced five punts and one scoring drive only lasted 20 yards. But Green Bay led 28-0 at halftime.
Peppers' interception return for a touchdown and the Packers scoring on the next interception by going just 20 yards essentially sealed the game for Green Bay. Harrison Smith had one interception for Minnesota, but it was in the fourth quarter off of backup quarterback Matt Flynn after Aaron Rodgers was out of the game because of the margin.
The Vikings' first trip into Packers territory ended with an Asiata fumble as Minnesota was minus-2 in turnover-differential and minus-3 in the first half.
4. Robert Blanton, meet Eddie Lacy
Rodgers didn't have to have his usual big game against the Vikings. Turnovers and Eddie Lacy ensured it wasn't all on Rodgers' shoulders. After not rushing for more than 50 yards in any game this season, Lacy exploded against the Minnesota run defense.
On his first carry, Lacy lowered his head and hit cornerback Xavier Rhodes hard, setting a tone for the game. Lacy found plenty of holes and hit the second level of the defense where he often found Blanton. The Vikings safety had a rough go. Blanton had a team-high eight tackles but he was bowled over by Lacy, in particular on a third-quarter touchdown run in which Lacy knocked off Blanton's helmet with a blow.
Minnesota was missing veteran linebacker Chad Greenway, who was held out for the second straight game with a broken rib and broken hand. The Vikings linebackers didn't fill the holes to stop the run on Thursday and Green Bay ran for 156 yards, averaging 5.6 yards per carry. Lacy had 13 carries for 105 yards and two touchdowns and took an early seat along with Rodgers.
5. Passing on Patterson
It's beginning to sound like a broken record, but Cordarrelle Patterson had little impact again. As, perhaps, the best playmaker on Minnesota's offense, it shouldn't be this difficult to get Patterson involved in the offense. He had two catches for eight yards before leaving with a hip injury in the second half.
Patterson is still raw, but the Vikings had shown different ways to get the ball in his hands in the past by using short screens, end-arounds or running out of the backfield. His catches have dwindled each of the past four games and he has one carry in that time.
With Minnesota trying to find more offense, and help Ponder out on Thursday, Patterson should be more involved. Instead of becoming the focal point of the offense with Adrian Peterson gone, Patterson has been more of a decoy than playmaker.
He was targeted four times on Thursday. Four players had more targets than Patterson. In the past four weeks -- three Vikings' losses -- Patterson has 18 catches and one rushing attempt.
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