One thing that has hindered the Minnesota Vikings over the last few seasons has been Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love.

Even though the Vikings have a winning record against the Packers (4-2) during Love’s tenure as the starting quarterback, Love has found a way to torch defensive coordinator Brian Flores on occasion. It’s been a thorn in his side.

Looking at the data from Love’s 2025 season, there are a couple of things that Flores can do to attack the Packers’ offense and get the win.

Jordan Love has an intriguing tendency

Love has a couple of intriguing tendencies the Vikings can take advantage of. Last season, his best throwing windows were right of the hashes between the 10- and 20-yard marks and on throws of 20-plus yards. He loves throwing to the right side of the field, and the numbers back it up.

Throwing deep right, Love finished as a 73rd-percentile quarterback per Fantasy Points Data. In that intermediate range to the right, between 10 and 20 yards, he was in the 96th percentile. His EPA per dropback on those throws was 1.105, a 99th percentile mark. A full point of EPA on intermediate right throws is a massive number.

His two favorite route concepts last year are common ones thrown in that area of the field. One-sixth of all his pass attempts were out routes (67 total), with a 70.1% success rate, 79.1% completion percentage, and 9.03 yards per attempt. 

His second-favorite concept, hitches, made up 15.4% of his attempts (62 total), with a 64.5% success rate, 75.8% completion percentage, and 7.47 yards per attempt. Love’s affinity for those concepts could be key to keeping stopping him. Whether the Vikings will pinpoint that tendency as a specific focus remains to be seen, but it should be on their radar.

Containing Love and collapsing the pocket

The Vikings have to play contain against Love. He does that maddening thing where he throws off his back foot, lobs it into the air, and delivers a perfect throw. It breaks my brain that he can do that. It would break my brain for any quarterback, because you take a step back and throw up a chalupa like that, and it always seems to work.

By keeping Love contained, the Vikings would prevent him from extending most plays, outside of those back-foot chalupas. He’s a capable runner, but not a runner by design. He scrambles to throw. His receivers, especially Jayden Reed, are excellent at the scramble drill.

Andrew Van Ginkel and Dallas Turner need to focus on preventing Love from escaping and crafting those impressive throws down the field. Getting interior pressure is critical and utilizing cross-dog blitzes can create those opportunities. Two linebackers attack from opposite sides, the center commits to one, the guard slides to help on the crosser, and the A-gap pops open on the other side. That’s where the pressure comes from, and that’s what makes Love uncomfortable.

If the Vikings can’t get pressure up the middle, Love will break the pocket and attack vertically, which is where he’s at his best.

Tucker Kraft’s return can make a huge impact

Last season, the Packers were 97th percentile in 12 personnel usage. Within that grouping, they were 90th percentile in success rate and 84th percentile in explosive play percentage. This offense doesn’t run a lot of plays, but Green Bay does a great job maximizing what they have.

Tucker Kraft is one of the best tight ends in football, and he gives that 12 personnel grouping its teeth. After he suffered the ACL injury, the Packers used less 12 personnel for that reason.

The question is how explosive Kraft will be in his first game coming off a torn ACL. Nobody truly knows with ACL recoveries anymore. Adrian Peterson set the standard in 2012, but he wasn’t the last to come back quickly and perform at a high level. Christian Watson was top five in yards per route run once he returned from his 2024 ACL injury last season. The uncertainty around Kraft’s burst adds a variable the Vikings can potentially exploit.

Plus, the Vikings led the NFL in the amount of base defense they played in 2025, and they finished fifth in total defense and second in pass defense. That will help them handle the heavier personnel groupings.

The Vikings defense is equipped to dominate

Last season, Minnesota was the No. 1 defense in 2-high shell usage (100th percentile) and 94th percentile in base defense usage. Within those alignments, the Vikings were first in pressure percentage, first in blitz rate, and first in time to pressure.

Their EPA allowed when pressuring the quarterback was -0.39 (7th in the league), and their EPA allowed with a clean pocket was just 0.09 (4th). They weren’t giving up much even when they couldn’t get to the quarterback.

The evolution under Flores has been significant. In 2023, his first year, opponents figured out his scheme by the second meeting. Teams ran dagger concepts against the numerous cover-2 and Tampa-2 looks, along with Bengal Hawk zone blitzes, torching the Vikings for 30 points per game over the final four contests. That version got solved.

Now you’re seeing more pre-snap complexity, more man-match concepts, and players like Josh Metellus and Harrison Smith lining up on the line of scrimmage and bailing out. They can do that because those players are intelligent communicators who don’t allow busted coverages.