With the Green Bay Packers set to return to work after the bye week, there are still a few empty days with no football to talk about so I'm taking the opportunity to freestyle.  I thought I'd share my thoughts and opinions on Minnesota Vikings fans and their disdain for the Packers and their fans.

For the past 18 months, I've lived in the Twin Cities (and am now back in the Phoenix area just ahead of another Minnesota winter).  Before I moved there, I was warned about the stereotypical feelings that Vikings fans harbor towards the Packers and their fans.  While any fan is going to carry a level of vitriol towards opposing teams and their fans, I thought that the reality would surely not be as dramatic as it was described.

I was quickly proven wrong.  Hatred (I'm sticking to and using that word) of the Packers by local Vikings fans is born and bred.  And most Vikings fans will admit it to be true.

The way it was described to me, at least in one aspect, is that many college graduates of Wisconsin schools find more opportunities in the Minneapolis area than at home and so they relocate to start their careers.  They, of course and wisely bring their allegiance to the Packers with them.  As such, there are more Packers fans in Vikings country than the Norsemen fans would like.

Packers fans certainly aren't the most hospitable when it comes to the Vikings, Chicago Bears or Detroit Lions either.  But I've never seen the level of disdain for another fan base as that which I've seen for the last year and a half.

Any Monday following a Vikings win and Packers loss (multiply by 10 if the Vikings beat the Packers) brings about prancing and an added level of joy for the disappointment Wisconsinites are surely feeling that day.  The Packers could be 13-1 while the Vikings just beat the hapless Cleveland Browns (hey, that DID just happen, whadya know!) and Minnesota fans will act like they just notched another Lombardi trophy into the case.

And maybe therein lies the issue: they have none.  Zero.  Zilch.

We all know the stat line by now with regards to NFL championships: Packers 13 Vikings 1 and with Minnesota's one coming with an asterisk.  They won the NFL championship game in 1969 which was the final league championship before the NFL-AFL merger.  The win over the Browns only allowed them the chance to advance to Super Bowl IV.  They lost that to the Kansas City Chiefs.

So even in winning, the Vikings lose.  I'd be bitter, too.

The Vikings have four trips to a Super Bowl to their credit but without a single win.  The Packers have won four.  The Vikings most recent best chance to reach a fifth Big Game came in 2009 and ended with Brett Favre, Minnesota's hero and savior at the time, throwing a disgusting interception to essentially end that game and Minnesota's season.

The following season, the Packers went on to win Super Bowl XLV while Favre was forced to the bench to watch his career end and Minnesota not even reach the postseason.  A big snow fall imploded the roof of the Metrodome that year, too.  Is it any wonder the fans from the great North can't stand the Packers?

The Vikings have had some very good teams in recent history, including the 15-1 team in 1998.  Randy Moss was a young rookie who took over the league and the Vikings were unbeatable.  They reached the NFC championship game and seemed on their way to a Super Bowl appearance until kicker Gary Anderson, who had been perfect on field goal tries all season long, missed one in the fourth quarter.  The Atlanta Falcons managed to tie and eventually win that game.

Just two years ago during a home playoff game against the Seattle Seahawks, kicker Blair Walsh missed a short game-winner that gave the Seahawks the win.  Packers fans may have "4th and 26" and the Seattle NFC championship game, but Vikings fans have their own brand of failure.

Minneapolis will play host to Super Bowl LII in February following this season.  Several months ago, the NFL came out to meet with the local hoteliers and answer their questions about what to expect when the teams are finally decided and the rush to reserve rooms comes about.  During the question and answer session, the first question asked was "can you make sure the Packers aren't in the Super Bowl?".  There was laughter in the room followed by a single and loud "Nope!" (we won't get into who that came from).

When Aaron Rodgers was injured on a tackle to the ground by Vikings linebacker Anthony Barr, Vikings fans naturally defended their player.  They said "it's football" and "part of the game".  Many also grinned ear-to-ear knowing that the Packers' promising season was likely to end in disappointment and that they wouldn't be coming to Minneapolis again in early February to represent the NFC in another Super Bowl.

I'm, of course, speaking generally when I wrote that last line as I've spoken to many Vikings fans who thought the hit was unnecessary and dirty.  I personally don't think it was dirty and it's hard to say if it was unnecessary given how fast these guys play.  If you look at the image above, the ball is out of Rodgers' hand and Barr is still bearing down.  Could he have held up?  Maybe.  But he didn't.

Barr responded to Rodgers' version of the aftermath of the play on Instagram over the weekend and I'll say this: Anthony is certainly not an English major.  Rodgers claimed that Barr gave him the finger and a "suck it" sign after getting off the turf as Rodgers was walking off the field.  Barr says he was merely responding to the foul words coming from Rodgers in his direction.  Here's the tweet:

pic.twitter.com/r8dzDmIulj

— Anthony Barr (@AnthonyBarr) October 28, 2017

That the injury happened in Minnesota and helped lead to a Vikings win over the Packers was just more salt in the wound but, as much as Vikings fans don't want to admit it, they understand all too well the type of loss that Packers fans experienced that day.

There is a lot of season left and the story is yet to be told about the 2017 Green Bay Packers.  Meanwhile, the Vikings are preparing to get quarterback Teddy Bridgewater back after a horrific injury suffered last summer that cost him all of 2016.  Two polar opposite scenarios among such polar opposite franchises.

The Vikings are also in first place in the NFC North now and currently have a decent path to the playoffs.  Whether we like it or not, they got one on us.  It may not be a Super Bowl but the Vikings are a big one up on the Packers at this particular moment.  They have the bragging rights.

But deep down, Vikings fans are nervous.  Sweating.  Why?  Because they already know what we all should by now: they'll blow it.  And Packers fans will get their smile back.