Vikings Vs Packers: More Yahweh Than Christ

I steered the rented Malibu off the main highway sure that I taken the correct exit - Lombardi Avenue, obvious enough - yet unsure what to expect. I hadn't seen Lambeau Field in many a year and certainly not since the 2003 renovation. My flight touched down in Appleton, some 30 minutes from Green Bay. On the drive, I had time to reacquaint myself with the mid-eastern Wisconsin landscape - gently rolling hills dotted with smatterings of bushy trees. The field itself was close to the exit, much closer than i had expected. My adult mind could glean no sense of relation or proportion from the Google Maps printout.

Lambeau Field, you could say, surprised me as it rose from its rather ordinary, rural-informed surroundings. A mecca of sport dropped amid a sleepy community. This juxtaposition and its import I've always appreciated intellectually and felt emotionally, but I've never witnessed a more telling visual description of such than the drive to Lambeau.

This was saturday. I pulled into the stadium's parking lot with only vague intentions. Though not flush with the people and festivities that it would be on Sunday, there was a low level hum of anticipation surrounding Lambeau. Families in Packers jackets looking to the upper rafters of the exterior. A couple of kids in Adrian Peterson jerseys playing catch near the empty gates. I followed some purposeful looking fans to the stadium's atrium which houses the merchandise shop, several restaurants, and the Hall of Fame. With my friend Les arriving on the Greyhound bus in a few hours, I darted to the Hall of Fame and took as many photos as time would allow.

When Les and I returned the next day, the whole place had changed. A makeshift city of tailgaters stretching for half a mile on three sides of the stadium had sprung up. In the northern part of the state, there are extensive camp grounds with evenly marked plots. these plots are filled with truck-towed campers every weekend. The 'camping' that takes place at these camp grounds resembles nothing of the solitary sort that I grew to love. Rather, it's an extensive normalized and regulated communal experience. And yet it isn't a free flowing exchange of people. Boundaries are clearly marked and very little is shared beyond a free seat by the fire.

The tailgating outside Lambeau struck me much the same way, clans of regulars set up with their measured supplies. There was one fundamental difference, camping intends to draw the individual away from society and toward nature while a sporting event intends to take the individual out of the self and into the communal. Whether in the pregame tailgate or in a northern camp ground, Packer fans fight being pulled in either extreme. While the beer and brats were plentiful, the celebration was muted by anxiety. Vikings fans who had made the trek were teased lightly if at all. A couple dixieland bands belted out their merry tunes to an appreciative but distracted audience.

Les and I wandered aimlessly among the mass of Green and Gold, making our way around the stadium entirely before finding a suitable bench on which to sit and crack open a beer. The weather was chilly but not entirely unpleasant. Neither of us discussed the game to come, preferring to talk about relationships and work. While Les's reticence is perhaps due to his Saints fandom, I realized that my apprehension about the coming contest was drawing me more within myself. Soon though, I received a call from an aunt who with her son, my cousin, were at the game as well. That's one of the nice things about being from a small state with a small market team, there's decent chance you know someone going to the game if you ask around enough. I met up with my family and we shared our news and happenings briefly. As the game was drew near, we said our goodbyes and fought through the ever streaming bodies to our gate.

What can be said of the game itself? It was a beatdown of biblical proportions, more old testament than new. the Packers offense did a great job of setting up the run, moving toward the edges early away from the two great defensive tackles, Pat Williams and Kevin Williams. They were able to double team inside well, the guard or center getting off the double team and blocking a linebacker or safety created creases down the field for running back Ryan Grant, especially early. The Packers scored on a nice looking sweep on their first possession, a pulling center and fullback leading the way. Good downfield blocking by the receivers opened it up for 25+ yards and the TD.

The Packers defense also deserves kudos for keeping Adrian Peterson in check. Granted their job was made much easier by a lack of Vikings passing game to compliment their dynamic running, they still attacked the best back in the league head on, keeping him to short gains, allowing him no runs longer than 12 yards. The Vikings offensive line did a good job early in pass protection against a very good Packers pass rush, but even with time, quarteback Brooks Bollinger couldn't find much downfield. The Packers secondary and linebackers had blanket coverage much of the game. Linebacker AJ Hawk had another solid game, not being beat to the corners and keeping tight coverage on his assignments.

The Packers two other scoring drives of the first half resulted in field goals. They dominated up and down the field but again failed to score TD's. My sense of foreboding was stirred. The Packers had let lesser opponents comeback into past games often. A 13-0 halftime deficit was no insurmountable task for even the woeful Vikings. If I had any doubts though, they were erased by the Packers opening drive of the third quarter. Methodically chipping away at the Vikings defense again, the Packers drove until Favre let go a deep sideline toss intended for Greg Jennings on the go route. Jennings went up for the ball, grabbing it over the defender and taking a shot from Darren Sharper while hanging onto the ball. Two plays later, Favre hit Donald Lee in the endzone for the TD. The Packers lined up all tight with three backs in the backfield at the one, Favre faked the handoff and tossed it effortlessly to the corner where Lee was running under the ball behind the nearest defender.

Defensive end Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila sacked Bollinger to kill the next Vikings drive. the Packers used screens and dumps, staying away from running right at the middle of the vikings stout defense. A big catch of 20+ yards to Donald Driver set up another packers TD, a Favre pass to Ruvell Martin on the slant pattern. The Packers were dominating 27-0 halfway through the 3rd quarter.

The crowd cheered like crazy and I along with them. the foreboding of halftime dissipated into thin air. Les started to check the other scores from around the league for any word on his Saints. Unfortunately, the word wasn't good. The terrible Rams had an early lead on the Saints. And it looked like quite an upset was in place. I tried to offer him words of encouragement, but they were fueled by the optimism of my team dominating in front of my very eyes rather than any objective analysis. Needless to say, my words rang hollow. I tried to focus his attention to the game at hand rather than allowing him to dwell on mysteries that he couldn't probe just then.

By the fourth quarter, the game was well in hand. Charles Woodson intercepted a deflected pass as the Vikings were driving and the ensuing touchdown pass from Favre thoroughly proved that the Packers could do no wrong this day. Favre launched an underthrown ball to the corner of the endzone. Two Vikings defenders, Darren Sharper and Cedric Griffin, collided while attempting to intercept. The ball bounced off both of them and landed harmlessly in the opportunistic hands of Ruvell Martin. The Packers had dominated early and often, now they were simply taking what they wanted without resistance.

The crowd was fat and happy off the day's success, contentedly chatting with neighbors. After the final Packers scoring drive, less than six minutes remained on the clock. The Vikings started to move against the deep prevent Green Bay defense. I finally realized how close we were to a shutout. I stood up in my seat and started screaming for the shutout. The Packers defense obliged, after allowing Robert Ferguson 15 yds on a drag route, they forced a punt on the next series of downs. A short Packers drive allowed one last Minnesota drive with just under two minutes. Others in my section joined me in screaming for the shutout. The crowd started to smell blood. Running back Chester Taylor took a screen pass 50 yds on the Vikings' first play. The chants to 'hold 'em' grew in number and volume. Again, the Packers defense obliged. Johnny Jolly and KGB each sacking Bollinger as the defense forced a turnover on downs. These Packers had preserved the shutout 34-0 against a bitter rival. Two kneel downs and the team clinched eight victories against only one loss, first in their division, and tied for the best record in the conference.

Les and I poured out of the stadium with the rest of the 70,000 assembled, the sense of euphoria palpable. Giddily, I scanned the mass of Green and Gold for signs of the celebration to come. Victory's elation was at its highest peak, the thought of anything but the moment pushed to the very edge of consciousness. I raised my arms in the air, tilted my head back, and shouted, 'eight and one!' My outburst elicited scattered whoops of approval. A middle-aged woman, walking in the opposite direction with what I presumed to be her husband, darted a look of intense purpose at me. She raised a gloved hand to eye level, palm facing out. I did likewise with my naked hand. We traversed the twenty or so paces between us, veering our courses ever so slightly ensuring we would intersect. We slapped five without a hint of irony or irreverence, something that I hadn't done with a stranger in God knows how long.

Just like that, though, I was racing in the rented Malibu to the bus station to drop off Les and then to the Appleton airport, cursing the postgame traffic, and hoping against hope that I wouldn't miss my flight... the spell of the event broken, the slap of the shared high five ringing only in the back of my mind somewhere.

If interested, you can see some of my pics from Sunday's festivities here.

By the way, if you want a much more awesome photo experience of the game, check out this time-lapse photography set put together by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (link via Deadspin).