MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Jordan Love was stood up at the line on a fourth-and-1 sneak for the Green Bay Packers, disappearing from view beneath a pile of purple-clad Minnesota Vikings defenders as the fate of a pivotal drive was turned over to the NFL's virtual measurement system.
When the digitized image of the ball short of the sticks appeared on the giant videoboard, the crowd at U.S. Bank Stadium erupted.
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Minnesota Vikings quarterback Carson Wentz, left, and Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love, right, greet each other after an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Bailey Hillesheim)
Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur, left, and Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson (18) greet each other after an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur responds to a question during a news conference after an NFL football game against the Minnesota Vikings, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Bailey Hillesheim)
Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love walks off the field after an NFL football game against the Minnesota Vikings, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
The Vikings then drove 83 penalty-assisted yards for the go-ahead touchdown and a 25-22 lead, and they went on to close the game with 29 straight points for a 39-22 victory that left Packers coach Matt LaFleur's decision to forgo a field goal and try for first down up for season-long debate.
Rookie Trey Smack's fourth field goal of the game would've put the Packers up 25-17, but an offside penalty on Vikings linebacker Dallas Turner tempted LaFleur to accept it and go for more.
“Sometimes you live and die by that, but we’re going to be aggressive and we’re going to try to go for the throat in that situation,” LaFleur said.
The Packers still had opportunities after that, but in concerning and infuriating fashion they erased three quarters of dominance over a division rival with an implosion down the stretch that looked an awful lot like the way they finished last season.
“The only people who can beat us are us. That’s it,” tight end Tucker Kraft said. “We’re the best team in the NFL, but if we don’t go out there and play like it, no one’s going to believe us.”
The Packers lost four times last season when leading by at least nine points in the second half, including their collapse in the wild-card round of the playoffs at another NFC North enemy, the Chicago Bears. The Packers were outscored 25-6 in the fourth quarter of that game and 22-0 in this one, extending their losing streak to six games.
LaFleur gave Love two plays to run on the fourth-and-1, and Love picked the sneak, which was not even close to the biggest mistake the Packers made late.
“You know, I think there’s some stuff I could have done better with my operation, and even with the play call,” Love said. “We had two plays called right there. Went with the quarterback sneak. Thought we can get it, and we didn’t.”
The Packers had four defensive penalties on the ensuing drive after their turnover on downs, starting with an encroachment call on Jonathan Ford.
Javon Bullard was called for illegal contact to negate a third-down sack. Rookie Chris McClellan was penalized for a late hit to wipe out a third-down incompletion. Then Xavier McKinney’s defensive holding call erased an end-zone interception by Evan Williams, and Aaron Jones scored for the Vikings on the next play.
Though the penalties on McClellan and McKinney were contested by the Packers, they had only themselves to blame for this collapse.
They had 12 penalties for 98 yards, went 3 for 12 on third down and 0 for 2 on fourth down, and scored only one touchdown and totaled just 10 points in four trips inside the 20-yard line. Even Smack's debut, which included a 59-yarder on a 4-for-4 performance on field goals, had a blemish with a missed extra point in the first quarter that could've altered the strategy late.
Love didn't take a sack until the last play of the third quarter and wound up with four, and he had a lost fumble and an interception deep in his own territory after the Vikings took the lead.
“We didn’t finish. I’m tired of saying this every time. I don’t want to talk about it no more,” linebacker Edgerrin Cooper said. “It’s what we've got to do. We've got to figure it out.”
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Minnesota Vikings quarterback Carson Wentz, left, and Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love, right, greet each other after an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Bailey Hillesheim)
Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur, left, and Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson (18) greet each other after an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur responds to a question during a news conference after an NFL football game against the Minnesota Vikings, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Bailey Hillesheim)
Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love walks off the field after an NFL football game against the Minnesota Vikings, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
STOCKHOLM (AP) — Sweden’s national election was too close to call early Monday, with preliminary results giving the left-wing opposition a narrow three-seat advantage over Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s right-wing coalition and days of uncertainty until the final ballots are counted.
Preliminary results showed a very narrow lead for the opposition and former Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson's bid to return to office at the head of the left coalition. But Kristersson also said he would explore “possibilities" given the close result.
With 94% of the vote counted early Monday, the Swedish Election Authority reported the four opposition parties were heading for 176 seats in the 349-seat parliament to 173 seats for the government alliance.
The outcome of the election may not be decided until Wednesday, when local election boards count early votes that did not make it to the polling stations by Election Day. This includes, among others things, overseas votes.
Andersson told supporters that “we must wait for the final election result” but added that “right now we are leading ... But we have to wait for the final result.”
Kristersson has led Sweden since 2022 with a three-party center-right coalition. It relied on outside support from the Sweden Democrats, an anti-immigration party that has far-right roots but has moved toward the political mainstream, for a parliamentary majority. The Sweden Democrats had been promised Cabinet posts this time if the governing coalition were returned to office.
“When we have the final result it's a good idea to look at possible combinations,” he said early Monday, adding that “there is a very clear non-socialist majority, or non-left leaning economic majority in the Swedish parliament. And I will actually take note of that and at least figure out whether there are any possibilities.”
Sweden Democrat's leader Jimmie Åkesson said that “we will not know tonight” who will form the next government. The party's support slipped to just under 18%, down about 3 percentage points from its 2022 result, and it fell from second to third place.
Exit polls from public broadcaster SVT had initially shown the left-wing parties ahead by several percentage points. The exit polls set off jubilation at the Social Democrats’ election gathering but the mood shifted to quiet waiting as the results indicated a closer race.
The center left Social Democrats have led most Swedish governments since World War II. Andersson served as prime minister from 2021 until she lost power at the last election. To return to office she would have to seal a coalition agreement with other parties.
There are two major political blocs: one with four parties on the right and another with four parties on the left. So the big question is less about which party wins and more about which side can form a majority. Individual parties need a minimum of 4% of the vote to win parliamentary seats.
With broad political consensus in Sweden on several major issues such as support for Ukraine and the country’s decision to join NATO, much election discussion focused on the possibility of the anti-immigration hard right entering government. The Sweden Democrats’ role was in focus against a background of gains for the populist right in Europe, including the first-place finish by the far-right Alternative for Germany party in a regional election there Sept. 6.
The Sweden Democrats were founded in the 1980s by people who had been active in right-wing extremist groups, including neo-Nazis. They toned down their rhetoric and expelled openly racist members under Åkesson, who has led them since 2005 and overseen their growth from what was once a marginal party.
More than 8 million people in the nation of about 10.6 million were eligible to vote.
McHugh reported from Frankfurt, Germany
Liberal Party members react to the presentation of the exit poll at the election night watch party, in Stockholm, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (Anders Wiklund/TT News Agency via AP)
The Centre Party members react to the presentation of the exit poll at the election night watch party, in Stockholm, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (Fredrik Sandberg/TT News Agency via AP)
Social Democrats react to the presentation of the exit poll at the Social Democrats' election night watch party, in Stockholm, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (Jonas Ekströmer/TT News Agency via AP)
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, leader of the Moderate party (M) casts his vote at a polling station at Multeum Cultural Center in Strangnas, Sweden, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (Claudio Bresciani/TT News Agency via AP)
Voters cast their ballots at a polling station set up in a school, in Enkoping, Sweden, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (Fredrik Sandberg/TT News Agency via AP)
Voters cast their ballots at a polling station set up in a school, in Enkoping, Sweden, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (Fredrik Sandberg/TT News Agency via AP)
A ballot envelope is placed in a ballot box at a polling station at the City Hall in Malmo, Sweden, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency via AP)
Social Democrats party leader Magdalena Andersson votes at a polling station in Nacka, Sweden, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026.(Stefan Jerrevång/TT News Agency via AP)
Leader of the Sweden Democrats party Jimmie Åkesson votes in Rinkeby, a suburb of Stockholm, Saturday Sept. 12, 2026, a day prior to the general election in Sweden. (Claudio Bresciani/TT via AP)
Election workers Felicia Platner and Nora Aissaoui visit the Vardaga Kullabo nursing home with a mobile polling station, in in Huddinge, Sweden, Friday, Sept. 11, 2026. (Jessica Gow/TT via AP)
Social Democrats party leader Magdalena Andersson arrives for a party leadership televised debate in Gävle, Sweden, on Friday, Sept. 11, 2026. (Anders Wiklund/TT News Agency via AP)
From left, the Liberals' Simona Mohamsson, Sweden Democrats' Jimmie Åkesson, Christian Democrats' Ebba Busch and Moderates' leader Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson arrive on the Moderates' bus for the party leadership televised debate in Gävle, Sweden, on Friday, Sept. 11, 2026. (Anders Wiklund/TT News Agency via AP)
People wait in line at a polling station in Triangeln shopping center Friday evening to give their early vote, in Malmo, Sweden Friday, Sept. 11, 2026, ahead of general elections on Sunday (Johan Nilsson/TT via AP)
