Following his team's best win of the season, Packers head coach Mike McCarthy met with the media to discuss the preparation for the Vikings on a short week.
- It was a bad day for players with a name starting with B. Sam Barrington, Josh Boyd, Jarrett Boykin, and Brad Jones were all held out or limited in practice. Notably, Clay Matthews fully participated. Barrington and Boyd were both injured during Sunday's game against the Bears, but Boyd did return.
- McCarthy noted the "added challenge" of planning for multiple quarterbacks on a short week. Teddy Bridgewater is expected to start, but an ankle injury has somewhat clouded his status.
- The Packers head coach was effusive in his praise for Mike Zimmer and his defense. "I have a lot of respect for Mike," McCarthy stated. "I enjoy competing against him and his aggressive defense."
- After his offense finally settled in this past weekend in Chicago, McCarthy feels confident that the coaching staff has a handle on the unit. "I think we know who we are... We have the ability to run the football, we have the ability to throw the football." While the Packers demonstrated the latter multiple times this season, the ground game has yet to come out of its shell.
- McCarthy had praise for the Vikings top two tailbacks, Matt Asiata and Jerick McKinnon. "Good players, tough, downhill runners. Impressed with the Atlanta game." Asiata has been a between the tackles runner who's shown receiving ability out of the backfield. McKinnon is the better athlete who can have more explosive runs.
- Speaking of running games, McCarthy was not happy with himself for how he's handled the workload allocation between Eddie Lacy and James Starks. "James Starks should touch the football... That will not happen again." Starks has 15 carries on the year for a 5.0 average.
That's all for McCarthy. Keep your internet machines tuned to Acme Packing Company for the latest Packers news and developments.
Jason B. Hirschhorn covers the Green Bay Packers for Acme Packing Company. He also serves as an SB Nation Newsdesk Contributor and writes for Sports on Earth.