The college football and NFL schedule-makers have arranged things so that the Packers play Minnesota and the Badgers play Minnesota in the same week.

The Packers started the week correctly by ending their three-game losing streak in thumping the Vikings 30–13.

Given how the Vikings and Packers have been playing up until Sunday, how did that happen? The Minneapolis Star Tribune game story says:

Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers aren’t quite ready to give up control of the NFC North. The young Vikings weren’t poised enough to take it from them either.

In a showdown between the top two teams in the division, Rodgers threw for 212 yards and two touchdowns Sunday as the Packers beat the uncharacteristically undisciplined Vikings 30-13 at TCF Bank Stadium. The outcome put the longtime rivals in a first-place tie with identical 7-3 records, but the win gave the Packers the tiebreaker.

Rodgers and the Packers pulled away early in the fourth quarter when Rodgers rolled to his right and whizzed a 27-yard touchdown pass to Packers wide receiver James Jones at the edge of the end zone. Veteran cornerback Terence Newman had tight coverage on the play, but Rodgers completed a pass that few quarterbacks could.

That touchdown put the Packers up 27-13 and they were able to hang on for the win thanks to a fumble by running back Adrian Peterson inside Packers territory and a deep ball that quarterback Teddy Bridgewater threw a half step ahead of wide receiver Mike Wallace, who had sped behind the Packers secondary.

Eventually, with Packers fans loudly chanting “Go Pack Go!”, running back Eddie Lacy, who topped 100 rushing yards for the first time this season, and the Packers ran out the clock. …

It looked as if the Packers would be taking a 9-6 lead into halftime, but Newman was called for a 50-yard defensive pass interference penalty while defending Packers wide receiver Jeff Janis down the right sideline. Rodgers capitalized with a 10-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Randall Cobb with six seconds left in the half.

The Vikings, who were one of the league’s least-penalized teams entering Sunday, were flagged for eight penalties for 110 yards, their highest total of the season.

The Star Tribune’s Chip Scoggins lists bullet points:

— The Vikings have been disciplined in terms of penalties this season, but they completely self-destructed with costly penalties. They racked up 85 penalty yards before halftime, compared to zero for the Packers.

— The Vikings offensive line had a rough game. Teddy Bridgewater faced consistent pressure, was sacked six times and Adrian Peterson had little room to run. Bridgewater also didn’t help matters by holding onto the ball too long on a number of dropbacks.

— Aaron Rodgers showed that he’s perfectly fine. His tight-rope dart to James Jones for 27-yard touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter killed the Vikings’ brief momentum and was a throw very few quarterbacks can make.

— Cordarrelle Patterson’s personal foul penalty for head-butting kicker Mason Crosby after a long kickoff return in the fourth quarter was foolish and completely unnecessary. It was a guy not using his head at a critical moment in the game.

What kind of butthead head-butts a kicker?

The St. Paul Pioneer Press’ Bob Sansevere was paying attention when Packers wide receiver James Jones was talking:

James Jones came up huge Sunday for the Green Bay Packers, particularly in the second half when he made a spectacular sideline catch in a drive he punctuated with a touchdown reception and two-point conversion catch. …

In the scoring drive that ended with his 27-yard TD catch as he fell out of the end zone early in the fourth quarter, Jones beat Xavier Rhodes down the left sideline and made an eye-popping 37-yard catch, bobbling the ball and regaining control of it just before hitting the ground. Fox showed numerous replays of the catch from several camera angles.

Jones was a bit cantankerous afterward.

“People wanted to throw us in the garbage after the last three weeks, but everybody knows what we have in the locker room,” he said. “Teams around the league that are 5-5 are getting praise like they’re the best team in the league. We’re 6-3 and we’re (perceived as) the worst team in the league. We’re 6-3. We knew we could play good football. We just had to come out and show we were in a drought. We came out and made some plays.” …

BS: What was different about this game from the past three, all losses?

JJ: We made plays. Like I told you guys all week, the tough plays, the tough catches we were making the first six weeks, we weren’t making. We made them today. Tough catches. Ran the ball very well. Aaron (Rodgers) made some crazy throws, and we made plays. We did what we do.

BS: Did you play with a chip on your shoulder after three straight losses?

JJ: I play with a chip on my shoulder every week. I’ve been cut by two teams. …

BS: Safe to say the Packers sent a message to everyone else that you plan to be a factor come playoff time?

JJ: We’ve got a lot of work to do, man. We can’t jump to that. There’s a lot of football left. Hopefully, we can catch our stride and be playing some good football when playoff time comes. …

BS: Do you think wearing a hoodie under your uniform will start a trend among wide receivers?

JJ: It’ll be a sweet trend. I’ve been practicing in it every day, hot, cold. I’m used to it.

Others were a bit cantankerous too for different reasons. The Pioneer Press’ Chris Tomasson:

When the eyes of America are on the Vikings, they too often haven’t shown up. And cornerback Captain Munnerlyn is getting tired of it.

In the battle for first place Sunday in the NFC North, Minnesota was manhandled 30-13 by Green Bay at TCF Bank Stadium. It ended a five-game Vikings winning streak and left both teams with 7-3 records — and Green Bay with the tiebreaker advantage.

“Every time we seem like it’s a bigtime game, excuse my language, but we (urinate) down our leg every single time,” Munnerlyn said. “We’ve definitely got to fix this if we want to take this team to the next level, to the playoffs, to the Super Bowl.”

Munnerlyn pointed to the Vikings getting walloped at San Francisco 20-3 in the nationally televised season opener on Monday Night Football. In their continued quest for a marquee win, they also lost last month at Denver, but at least that one was close at 23-20.

“You’ve got to be able to win when the whole world is watching,” Munnerlyn said.

Sunday’s game was televised to most of the nation on Fox. Fans saw a Vikings team leading the NFL in fewest penalties get flagged eight times for 110 yards.

Coach Mike Zimmer takes great pride in the Vikings being the more physical team. Against the Packers, they were pushed around in all facets.

Minnesota quarterback Teddy Bridgewater was sacked six times. And with Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers completing just 16 of 34 passes for 212 yards, running back Eddie Lacy pounded his way for 100 yards on 22 carries.

“Offensively, defensively, they were the most physical team,” Vikings running back Adrian Peterson said. “They outplayed us. They wanted it more than us.”

After rushing for 529 yards the past four games, Peterson managed just 45 yards on 13 carries as the Packers keyed on him. When he did have a chance to redeem himself, he fumbled.

With the Vikings trailing 27-13 early in the fourth quarter, Peterson gained 10 yards to the Green Bay 32. He passed the 1,000-yard mark for the season on that run but lost a fumble, and that was the game.

“They caught me slipping on that one, and it really hurt us,” Peterson said.

Plenty, though, hurt the Vikings. The Vikings came up flat in a game that was big enough for Zimmer to have T-shirts made up for the players that said “Beat Green Bay.”

The Pioneer Press’ Tom Powers:

The parking ramps filled up early. There was a steady, guttural rumble in the air. And walking toward TCF Bank Stadium we could observe a gaudy mix of green, yellow and purple all simmering in a toxic 80-proof broth. There are people today whose eyeballs are throbbing.

What happened after that? Don’t be silly. The same thing that always happens.

The Vikings lowered their horns in deference to the alpha males of the NFC North. The “new” Vikings? The “crumbling” Packers? Not until the Vikings quit clutching their petticoats at the mere sight of those Green Bay helmets. Packers 30, Vikings 13. The king is not dead.

No matter what happens the rest of the season, it remains clear that the Vikings still will have to get past the Packers on the way to anything important. And it remains just as clear that they are helpless to do so.

“That’s just not Viking football,” guard Brandon Fusco said. “Viking football is playing physical, which we did not do. It’s beating our man in front of us, which we didn’t do. It’s controlling the game.”

Which they didn’t do on either side of the line of scrimmage.

A lot of hard-earned credibility was lost Sunday. The supposedly poised Vikings got all twitchy. Disciplined play, proper execution, fierce determination — in other words, the hallmarks of the 2015 Vikings — were absent against the Packers. Well, old habits die hard. Green Bay now sports a 10-1-1 mark against Minnesota in their past 12 meetings.