MINNEAPOLIS _ A prime-time game with NFC North title stakes is a fitting stage for the 21st and final matchup of the 2010s between the Vikings and Packers, who have produced as much intrigue during this decade as any in the rivalry's 59-year history.
It began with the Packers winning their fourth Super Bowl behind 27-year-old quarterback Aaron Rodgers, while the Vikings sorted through the wreckage of their failed 2010 season with Brett Favre and an aging roster. Green Bay followed its Super Bowl XLV victory with a stock sale to fund another upgrade to Lambeau Field; the Vikings sought public money for a stadium to replace the Metrodome, where the roof collapsed at the end of 2010. At that time, it appeared the gap between the teams could get no larger.
The decade ends with the Vikings and Packers tussling for a division title that's been in Minnesota more often than in Green Bay over the past five years. To claim their first NFC North crown since 2016 on Monday night, the Packers will have to win for the first time at U.S. Bank Stadium, the Vikings' $1.1 billion palace where Rodgers hasn't thrown for more than 213 yards and infamously broke his right collarbone on Anthony Barr's hit in 2017.
"Maybe not now with (QB) Kirk (Cousins), but (the Vikings have) had to backdoor success a little bit and say, 'We're going to build a championship-level team, not just a championship-level quarterback,'?" said former Vikings linebacker Ben Leber, who's now a sideline analyst on the team's radio broadcasts. "That's the fun part about it. It's like, 'You guys can have your flashy Lamborghini in the garage, but we've got the better house.' I think that's the fun part of these story lines and these games now; they're very evenly matched when it comes to who's going to win."
The 2019 NFC North title will be the eighth by either the Packers or Vikings in this decade. Green Bay has clinched its eighth playoff appearance of the 2010s; the Vikings secured their fourth on Saturday night, passing the Lions for the second-most in the division.
During the 2010s, the Vikings and Packers have played in four stadiums, faced off in back-to-back weeks in 2012, played in front of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell at least three times, tied twice at Lambeau Field, dueled for an NFC North title in 2015, each fired coaches within seven days of a loss to the other and packed in enough controversial moments to stoke debate for years afterward.
Before the 10th prime-time game between the teams in the 2010s on Monday, here's a look back at the oft-cinematic rivalry's biggest moments of the decade:
