The Green Bay Packers will play host to the Minnesota Vikings in week 16 for the second-straight season.  One year later, the situations are nearly 180 degrees reversed.  Last season, the Packers won going away and knocked the Vikings out of postseason contention.  The Packers have already been eliminated from the playoffs and the Vikings are still fighting for one of two precious bye weeks in January.

Let's take a look at the latest in this match up.

The Past

I broke down the history between these two teams prior to the last meeting this season.  At that time, the Packers were 4-1 and coming off a big road win against the Dallas Cowboys and heading towards what seemed like a successful 2017 season.

Early in the game in Minnesota, Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers suffered the broken collarbone that kept him out until last week's game in Carolina.  Green Bay went 3-4 without Rodgers and hoped that his return would spark the team to a late season run.

More over, many were hopeful that a win in Carolina would set up a meaningful game on Saturday and a chance for Rodgers to exact some measure of revenge against his neighbors to the west.  Alas, that was not to be as the Packers were defeated by the Panthers and Rodgers was placed back on injured reserve earlier this week.

After the last game, there was some swapping of thoughts between Rodgers and Anthony Barr, the Vikings linebacker who put the hit on Rodgers that led to the injury.  Barr said he had no intention of trying to hurt Rodgers.  Rodgers said that as he was leaving the field, he saw Barr make a lewd gesture towards him.  Barr denied it. 

Since that mid-October day, the teams have gone in different directions. 

The Vikings kept on winning until two weeks ago when the Panthers finally knocked them off.  Despite the loss, Minnesota has still secured the NFC North division title and a playoff berth.  

The Packers nearly won a few more games but came up short and find themselves playing for nothing more than pride.  Fans are in the rare position of already looking ahead to the draft when they're typically trying to determine what the team needs to do to increase their playoff seeding.

The Present

Right now, the Packers are likely to use these next two games to see what they have in their young players.  Brett Hundley will get two more starts to showcase his talents and the bottom of the depth charts will see some valuable reps against Vikings starters.

Guys like Donatello Brown, Lenzy Pipkins, Michael Clark, Marwin Evans, Jermaine Whitehead and Devante Mays could all see a fair amount of snaps.  We may even see some Joe Callahan, which should appease a good portion of the fan base who were inexplicably calling for him to replace Hundley nearly as soon as he took over for Rodgers.

The Vikings, on the other hand, are in it to win it.  A win on Saturday keeps Minnesota in contention for the top seed in the NFC.  If the Philadelphia Eagles win this week, they wrap up the top seed and the Vikings can finish no higher than second in the conference.

Given that Super Bowl XLII will be held in Minneapolis adds to a bit of the anticipation of these playoffs, as the Vikings try to become the first team to appear in the Super Bowl in their own city.

Despite losing running back Dalvin Cook, the Vikings have plowed through their schedule with a top defense and an offense led by quarterback Case Keenum.  They may not have much postseason experience but this is their second division title in three years and second under head coach Mike Zimmer.  They'll be a tough out come January.

The Future

Not much to say about how this game likely goes.  The Packers have home field but how many fans will come out for this one?  Reports were that tickets were available on the secondary market for under $200, a rarity for any home game at Lambeau Field over the past decade. 

The Vikings likely want to put this one away early and rest starters.  Minnesota enters a nine point favorite.  The Packers may take exception to that and despite not having much to play for, will start their healthy regulars and at least try to put up some resistance.

It's always nice when the Packers knock off the Vikes, but I don't see it.  The Packers had all of the wind taken out of their sails last weekend and the Vikings are all business.  I won't go so far as to say who I actually think will win and have those words attached to my name, though.

I have to say it's odd that for the first time since I started writing here, over five calendar years, the Packers are getting set to play a meaningless game.  That's not a bad run and I'll end this with that thought.