Green Bay's answer is depth, or the lack of it. Losing Romeo Doubs and Dontayvion Wicks this offseason leaves Christian Watson and Jayden Reed — both freshly extended — as the clear top targets with a thin group behind them, and Josh Jacobs remains the true workhorse of an offense that touches the ball through him more than anyone else. The Vikings, for their part, know this matchup well: they took the last meeting between these two 16-3 back in January, part of a stretch where Minnesota won five straight to close the year.
None of that guarantees anything for a Week 1 game played eight months later with new starters, new question marks and a defense that just lost its best free-agent pickup to injury. Green Bay still has the more proven quarterback and a Super Bowl-caliber front seven when healthy; Minnesota still has to sort out who's throwing the ball before any of the rest of it matters.
The injury reports for both sides read more like offseason transaction logs than Week 1 concerns right now — nothing here is expected to keep a key starter out of the opener beyond Parsons, who's already ruled out by the calendar. Still, Minnesota's offensive line has its own situation to monitor: Christian Darrisaw is working back from a knee issue and looked good in minicamp, but left tackle is not a spot either team wants uncertainty at against Green Bay's pass rush.
Circle Sunday, September 13 for the early kickoff at U.S. Bank Stadium — 3:25 PM CT — and expect a game shaped as much by who's calling plays for Minnesota as by anything Green Bay does on offense. This is a rivalry that's been decided late and ugly the last two times out, and there's no reason to expect a laugher either way.