BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- The Green Bay Packers made up for lost time while dislodging Minnesota from the top of the NFC Central Division.
The Packers collected their first road victory of the year while pounding the Vikings 25-13 Sunday at Met Stadium. Their first win in Minnesota since 1974 also gave them their first season series sweep of the Vikings in 15 years.
And they did it in near-perfect style, getting 100-yard games from running backs Eddie Lee Ivery and Gerry Ellis. Green Bay quarterback Lynn Dickey picked apart the Vikings secondary and a fired-up defense frustrated Minnesota quarterback Tommy Kramer.
'Our production today was very, very good,' said Green Bay center Larry McCarren, who helped open gaping holes for Ivery and Ellis. 'It was a team thing. We did a good job and we very much like to win here, but it would have been OK in Timbuktu, too. I think that's south of Milwaukee.
'Now our fortune is in our own hands for the remaining four games. But whatever happens, we are getting to be a good football team.'
Ivery capped his 145-yard effort with a 38-yard TD bolt off left tackle with 56 seconds remaining. One of Ellis' 101 yards accounted for Green Bay's first touchdown at the start of the second quarter, giving the Pack a lead they never yielded.
'Give the credit to our offensive unit,' Ivery said. 'They worked very hard. The line play was great. We executed very well. We knew that one play would break for a TD sooner or later. That really put them away. Now we have to keep it going for the rest of the title drive.'
As Coach Bart Starr realizes, the Packers, 5-6-1, stand only one-half game behind the Vikings, 6-6, and 1 games behind Detroit, 7-5, which gained sole possession of first place by beating Tampa Bay 24-10.
'Now it is a very tight race,' Starr said. 'I am not concerned that it was my first win over the Vikings at the Met and our first sweep of the Vikings since 1965. I'm just very pleased to win. It surely is exciting to be in the NFC Central race, isn't it?'
Coach Bud Grant did not echo the sentiment. He said the Packers -- no interceptions, no fumbles -- looked sharp while his Vikings did not.
'They moved the ball well all day,' he admitted. 'You don't know when you're gonig to play well when you start the game and our instincts were not good.'
The Vikings trailed only 10-6 at the half after two field goals by Rick Danmeier, and cut a 16-6 lead to three points on Ted Brown's 5-yard TD run at 6:46 of the third quarter. Then Green Bay took over.
Dickey, hitting 13-of-18 for 218 yards, stung the Vikings with a 35-yard TD pass to Aundra Thompson in the end zone to open a 10-point lead in the third. Kramer, 16-of-30 for 174, had less time to try to throw long.
'I thought we were a better team than them,' Kramer said. 'I was off a little and they had a good pass rush going, but that is no excuse. I just didn't get it done.'
