MINNEAPOLIS — Jordan Love had done this before. The quarterback sneak was working at the line, Green Bay was ahead, and then Domonique Orange arrived.
The Vikings’ rookie nose tackle stopped Love for no gain on fourth-and-1 with the Packers leading 22–17. The play ended one of the most consequential coaching decisions in a recent NFC North opener.
With the game winding down, Matt LaFleur had passed on a short field goal, trusting Love and his offensive line to extend the lead to two scores. Instead, Green Bay turned the ball over on downs, the crowd at U.S. Bank Stadium erupted, and Minnesota began a 29-point run that transformed a competitive rivalry game into a 39–22 defeat.
The Vikings did most of it without their planned starting quarterback.
Kyler Murray, making his first regular-season start after winning the training-camp competition over J.J. McCarthy, absorbed an unnecessary roughness hit from Green Bay safety Javon Bullard while scrambling for a yard in the first quarter and was escorted to the locker room with a concussion. He never returned. Carson Wentz, signed in the offseason as veteran depth, came on to a team already trailing and guided Minnesota through one of the more dramatic fourth quarters U.S. Bank Stadium has seen in recent years.
The Packers had built their 22-10 lead off Jordan Love’s efficiency and a Vikings defensive unit that could not sustain stops. LaFleur, working without Josh Jacobs, placed on the NFL’s commissioner’s exempt list ahead of the season, relied on Kaleb Johnson out of the Pittsburgh trade, a workable arrangement that held until the fourth quarter made running the ball largely irrelevant. LaFleur looked in control.
Then came the kickoff.
LaFleur’s instinct on the next possession was aggression. Love is precise in short-yardage situations, and a field goal would have pushed the margin to eight points with time running short. LaFleur trusted the sneak instead. Orange, a third-round pick from Iowa State who had spent the preseason building a reputation on Minnesota’s defensive line, met Love at the line of scrimmage before the play could develop. Love did not get the yard.
According to Yahoo Sports, Orange’s burst off the line disrupted the blocking assignment before Love could settle into the sneak. The play that, by most accounts, should not be stoppable on first contact was stopped on first contact.
The Vikings scored on four consecutive possessions. Wentz finished 12-of-19 for 133 yards and three touchdowns, posting a 123.5 passer rating while managing a fourth-quarter deficit that would have stalled many backups. Ahmad Mason pushed the lead to 32-22 with a 1-yard score. Justin Jefferson, neutralized for three quarters by a Packers secondary built to take him out of the short game, caught a motion-route touchdown with 3:55 remaining to complete the 39-22 final. That score had never appeared in an NFL boxscore before Sunday.
Love finished 22-of-30 for 232 yards and two touchdowns before the game left his team’s hands. His performance was statistically legitimate. His team lost by 17.
Murray’s availability heading into Week 2 remains unclear. The Vikings have not established a return timeline. For a franchise that entered the regular season managing the dynamic between Murray’s veteran experience and McCarthy’s long-term potential (McCarthy dressed Sunday but was not called upon), the first-quarter injury introduces an immediate complication to what should have been a clean opening statement.
What Minnesota has instead is a 1-0 record, a fourth quarter that held Green Bay scoreless, a Wentz performance that answered questions about the backup plan, and a final score that had never been recorded in NFL history before Sunday. The NFC North race opened with a jolt nobody anticipated when the day began with Murray under center.
For Green Bay, the week ahead will bring questions about the fourth-down call that LaFleur will argue correctly nearly converted. For Minnesota, the week ahead will bring questions about a quarterback the defense just showed it can play without.
He will have answers. None of them will change what Orange did.
