New England Patriots: 3 Vikings to slow down in Week 13

The New England Patriots (8-3) welcome the Minnesota Vikings (6-4-1) into Gillette Stadium Sunday at 4:25 to close out the NFC portion of the Patriots schedule.

Next week is a big game for the New England Patriots. The surging Minnesota Vikings are fresh off a 24-17 primetime victory over the Green Bay Packers while the Patriots pulled out an ugly 27-13 win over the lowly New York Jets.

Heading into the season, both of these teams had Super Bowl aspirations, as they both made it to their respective Conference Championship games last year. The Vikings made a huge splash in free agency, signing Kirk Cousins to a monster deal this past offseason.

Before the season started, I predicted that the Vikings would come in and actually beat the Patriots, and given how these two teams have performed this season, I could actually see that holding true.

Hopefully, the Patriots can manage to pull it off, as any loss could be the difference between playing on Wild Card Weekend, or resting and getting ready for a Divisional round matchup.

If the Patriots wish to start a new winning streak after the bye, there are key players from the Vikings that they need to stop, here are three players to Patriots need to slow down if they wish to beat Minnesota.