20. Packers 24, Vikings 19 (2008)

After a tumultuous offseason in which Brett Favre was traded to the New York Jets, the Green Bay Packers opened the 2008 season on Monday Night Football with Aaron Rodgers as the starting quarterback. Rodgers had an impressive game in relief of Favre in a loss in Dallas in 2007, but this would be his first start. Nobody knew what to expect, but Rodgers would end up playing well in helping the Packers start 1-0 with a 24-19 victory. Rodgers would throw for 178 yards and a touchdown, as well as rushing for 35 and another touchdown.

It was a scoreless first quarter, but Minnesota was driving as the first quarter ended. Ryan Longwell would kick the 37-yard field goal to give the Vikings the 3-0 lead early in the second. Adrian Peterson rushed three times for 49 yards on the drive to set up Minnesota to take the lead.

The Packers would come back immediately. On the first play following the kickoff, the Packers ran a bootleg with Rodgers, who launched a deep pass to Greg Jennings. The big-play wide receiver leaped and caught it, out-fighting Charles Gordon at the Minnesota 6 for 56 yards. Three plays later, Rodgers found Korey Hall in the end zone for the score. Rodgers was falling down and made a perfect throw to a diving Hall in the end zone to give the Packers the lead.

Following a Minnesota punt, Ryan Grant ran for 19 yards and Donald Driver caught a Rodgers pass for 25 yards to help Green Bay put more points on the scoreboard. The Packers drove 63 yards on eight plays in four minutes and Mason Crosby nailed a 42-yard field goal to give Green Bay a 10-3 lead. It would stay that way the remainder of the half.

The Vikings would add a field goal on the first drive of the second half to cut it to 10-6. One of the biggest plays of the game happened midway through the third quarter. With the score still 10-6, Green Bay had forced Minnesota to punt. Vikings punter Chris Kluwe angled his punt to the sideline, where Will Blackmon fielded it at the 24. He broke a few tackles on his way along the left sideline to midfield, where he cut back to the middle of the field. He received one more block at the 27 of Minnesota and he was off to the end zone for the 76-yard punt return touchdown to give Green Bay a 17-6 lead.

Minnesota would drive right back and cut into the deficit. The Vikings would score on a 15-play drive, which covered 79 yards. It ended with a fourth down touchdown pass from Tarvaris Jackson to Sidney Rice from 23 yards and it was 17-12 after the two-point conversion failed. On 4th-and-1, the entire Packers defense was prepared for a Peterson run. But Minnesota faked it to Peterson and found a wide open Rice over the middle and and he outraced Atari Bigby to the pylon for the score.

Green Bay would regain the two score lead two possessions later. On a 1st-and-10 from their own 41, Grant would run to the right down the sideline for 57 yards down to the 2 against one of the best run defenses in the league. Two plays later, Rodgers ran a quarterback sneak into the end zone to give the Packers the 24-12 lead with six minutes left in the game.

The Vikings would come back down and score on a Peterson touchdown to make it 24-19 and would have one final chance to win the game. But Jackson threw a pass to the right side and was picked off by Bigby, who ran around before being tackled with 54 seconds left in the game. Rodgers took two knees and the Green and Gold started the season 1-0 in their first season since 1992 that Favre was not the opening day starter.