In the late game on Sunday night the Vikings played host to the Green Bay Packers. These two teams meeting in prime time would already be a good set-up, but when you take into account that neither team has been living up to its expectations — both of them are looking up at Chicago at the top of the division — and that the matchup might well be a “must win” to keep any playoff hopes alive, you have potentially fascinating stuff to watch.

Minnesota has had a fraught history with kickers over the least 20+ years. The first game between the Packers and the Vikings this season ended up as a tie, at least in part because the Vikings kicker missed four field goals (he wasn’t the team’s kicker for long after that). Vikings fans were starting to feel a certain anxiousness after current kicker Dan Bailey missed two last night. At halftime, head coach Mike Zimmer told a sideline reporter that he was planning to go for it on fourth down in the second half, to avoid depending on the kicker. (He must have just been venting his frustration, as he did let Bailey attempt a kick during the third quarter, which Bailey made.) Of course, if he’d made those kicks, the game would almost exactly have matched my prediction for the outcome (I said it’d be 31-17 and it was actually 24-17.)

Even great players have plays that look awful, like this one: “a pass to Stefon Diggs was interrupted by Adam Thielen getting blocked into Diggs after the catch. Diggs went backwards, and wound up losing ten yards to set up a 2nd-and-20. (It was way uglier than that makes it sound.)” That was, thankfully, not at all typical of either player’s night. The team also broke out a new TD celebration for the evening:

At the Daily Norseman, Ted Glover provides his Buy/Sell recommendations in the post-game Stock Market Report:

Buy: Go for it on fourth and one inch from their own 30 on the first drive of the game. I honestly loved the call. It’s a do or die game, and if you can’t make one inch, with this much on the line, you don’t deserve to win the football game, and you DO deserve all the recriminations that don’t come with winning the football game.

Sell: 12 men in the huddle on fourth and one inch from their own 30. How does that happen? How does that happen AFTER YOU CALL A FREAKING TIMEOUT? I had no problem with taking the timeout, either. Give the line a bit of a pep talk, get on the same page as to what play you’re going to run—heck, you’re on your own 30, it’s a big call. But getting penalized for 12 men in the huddle was inexcusable. THIS ISN’T DETROIT, MAN! IT’S THE PLAYOFFS ON THE LINE (apologies to Paul Allen).

Buy: Getting Rudolph involved in the offense early. I mentioned it above, but getting Rudy involved early really helped settle the Vikings offense after that stupid penalty that ended the first drive.

Sell: Not getting Dalvin Cook involved in the offense early. Almost 10 minutes of game clock had expired by the time Cook touched the ball for the first time, and it was a nine yard gain. His second touch came with over 13 minutes of the first quarter expired, and it was a touchdown. A person might argue that had Cook got the ball earlier, the Vikings offense might not have struggled as much as they did.

Buy: The thought you want to take as much time off the clock at the end of the first half to keep the ball out of the hands of Aaron Rodgers. He’s one of the best two minute QB’s of all time, and I understand the thought process here—eat the clock, get down the field and score, and don’t give the Packers any time to do anything before halftime. They got the ball to start the second half, so that strategy made sense.

Sell: The two minute drive that ended the half. They had 2:51 and one timeout left, essentially two with the two minute warning. Yet the Vikings and a two minute drill go together about as well as Michigan beating Ohio State (you knew I was going to slip that in,and when I didn’t mention it earlier you were wondering where and when, admit it. Sorry not sorry). The play calling was suspect early (inside runs and short passes), penalties hurt them, and the drive was a discombobulated mess. When it was done, all they could manage was to set K Dan Bailey up for a 51 yard field goal, which he drilled…only the Vikings committed a stupid penalty that turned it into a 56 yard attempt, which he missed. What was even more stupid was an either running into or roughing the kicker penalty that wasn’t called, which would have given Bailey either another stupid 52 yard attempt, or a less stupid 41 yard attempt. Just a full bucket of stupid to end the half.

Buy: The fourth down stop in the third quarter. This was arguably the turning point in the game. About midway through the third quarter, the game was still tied 14-14 and Green Bay faced a fourth and one (which was actually about six inches) from their own 44. A first down there gives the Packers some momentum, and they’re about 20 yards from getting into scoring position and taking the lead. Rodgers handed off to Aaron Jones, and Harrison Smith shot off the edge like a bullet and stones him. No gain, Vikings get the ball in plus territory, get a field goal to take the lead and they don’t look back.

Sell: Inability to convert on third and one. Yet the Vikings inability to convert on third and short was just as frustrating for the Vikings offense. A couple of times they did get creative on second and short (Cousins sneak, short swing pass to C.J. Ham), but on third down they had zero luck, and very unimaginative play-calling.

Buy: The offensive line pass protecting. I think this was the cleanest pocket Kirk Cousins had to throw from all season. He was only sacked twice, and the Packers didn’t pressure him except when Mike Remmers literally seemed to push his guy into Cousins. One of the more amazing ‘look out blocks I’ve ever seen. I’d actually call it a ‘here let me help’ block it was so bad.

Sell: The offensive line run-blocking. As good as pass protection was, the Vikings o-line had trouble opening up running lanes for a Packers defense that’s beat up and battered. I really expected the Vikings to have more yards rushing, but they did did run the ball with some efficiency, getting 91 yards on 31 carries. Still, with two backs as agood as Cook and Latavius Murray, the Vikings have no business being at the bottom of the NFL in rushing.

Buy: The Limbo TD celebration was awesome. The Vikings keep outdoing themselves with team TD celebrations, and they did it again tonight with their ‘Limbo’. It was funny, original, and creative.

Sell: The Duck Duck Gray Duck celebration was better. So was Duck Duck Gray Duck…but Limbo was better.