Irish NFL fan in America Trip 7 review (Minneapolis & Green Bay).

Five days in the Midwest of America last weekend to see the Minnesota Vikings and the Green Bay Packers means that after only six weeks of the NFL season I’ve already completed three of my trips.

 
There was plenty of green pastures and water on display as I landed into Minneapolis airport so startling in fact I almost thought I was landing back in Ireland!

The home of all things purple including rain, people eaters, artists who were formally known even when they were alive and of course the nation’s first purple coloured NFL team, the Minnesota Vikings.

In fact it was the colour purple that I cited after a little hesitation as my reason for liking the team when asked in the airport by a US immigrations police officer why I was going to Minneapolis to see the Vikings.

What else could I say, Kirk Cousins?

In fact, it’s quite hard to nail down what it is that gives the Vikings’ their identity. You certainly couldn’t say Brett Farve without causing a twin cities bar fight. Or how they almost made it to the Super Bowl in their home stadium 21 months ago. Nobody wants to be remembered for their sloppy seconds or what they could have done. They want to be known for something that’s interesting to them and for me it’s their colour. Purple.

One team who did make that Super Bowl almost two years ago were the eventual winners, the Philadelphia Eagles, who would be retuning to the place of their greatest triumph for the first time since becoming World Champions back in 2018.

But there would be no hero’s welcome whatsoever as this too was the same team that had destroyed Minnesota’s dreams of a home field Super Bowl, which is something which wouldn’t be quickly forgotten in any city, even if it was called New England.

The Vikings were on a revenge mission last weekend and they got it too mainly thanks to the hands of Stefon Diggs who ripped the Eagles pass defence apart catching for 167 yards and three touchdowns in a 38-20 win for the vengeful Vikings.

Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins who wasn’t part of the organisation during the heartbreak of 2018 wasn’t short of a reconnaissance mission himself having come in for criticism from within his own locker room in recent weeks but he too had a terrific game. 

I think my biggest lasting memory from my trip to Minneapolis though will be the new friends that I found there. Mandi Peterson. Nick Reget. Bobby Boettcher and his soon to be wife Jackie, they even invited me to their wedding! You were great hosts during my time there. Showing me around. Feeding me. Intoxicating me. It was fun. I’ll see you all again. I’m sure of it.

But after a few short days it was quickly on to another Midwestern team and a franchise so storied you wouldn’t have to explain to anyone why you were going to see them.

A team that has never played in the international series because to take them out of America would be akin to taking an original copy of the first superman out of its wrapper.

A team that transcends not just American football but American sports as a whole. The only place in the world you can go with a lump of plastic cheese on your head and blend in.

Green Bay Wisconsin was a magical place to be. If there was an American footballing Mecca, this would be it. The stadium looms large as you fly in. It’s like the city has been built around it and in many ways it probably is. It’s a special place and I left the stadium feeling honoured to have been there.

The town of Green Bay is probably exactly as you would expect. Big vast open spaces. Casual roads the size of motorways just in case. No car park that could need 20 spaces doesn’t have less than 50. The phrase “well, space is of a premium” has never been said in this town. 

With the exception of New Era Field and the Oakland Coliseum, Lambeau Field was the first stadium I’ve been to that didn’t seem fresh out of the box. Clearly there was history here. Events have happened here. You could see it in the wooden bleachers. You could hear it when you took a listen to any of the many old timers who were dotted around the stadium. You could breath it in through the chilly Wisconsin October air. This was real football country. 

I took my seat right at the front of the end zone in anticipation for some exciting happenings and witnessed the most unanticipated of “Lambeau leap’s” when ESPN’s Adam Schefter took it upon himself to launch himself into a crowd stood next to me during his pregame show. 

And what followed was a strange game too. The Detroit Lions are probably the worst team in the NFC North but my goodness gracious me are they a good team. I thought that on the night they were actually the better team. The Packers exercised as good a use of clock management as you will likely see all season with a game-winning drive that even saw Jamaal Williams take a clever backside at the end of it instead of waltzing into the end zone just to keep that game clock ticking and leave no time left for the Lions. 

The whole idea of allowing teams to score and players sitting down just outside the end zone is something I’m surprised we don’t see a lot more of in the NFL. So often that last possession ends up being the one that wins the game I’m surprised more teams don’t try and exploit it. Both teams certainly tried to on Monday Night.

Back at the hotel a group of people in the lobby asked me why I had came from Ireland to see the Packers. In truth there were lots of reasons but I’d no hesitation on my answer this time. 

“Aaron Rodgers.”

In the same way Michael Schumacher drove for Ferrari it seems only fitting that Aaron Rodgers would throw the ball for the Packers.

I just feel privileged to have seen it.