Packers Stay Unbeaten, Top Vikings 33-27

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Aaron Rodgers kept Green Bay unbeaten with three touchdowns and 335 yards passing, holding off plucky rookie Christian Ponder and the Minnesota Vikings in the rookie's first start for a 33-27 victory Sunday by the Packers.

Rodgers finished 24 for 30, another near-unstoppable afternoon for him. Ponder was picked off twice in the third quarter by Charles Woodson, who almost grabbed a couple more, but he kept the Vikings in it the whole game after a 71-yard completion on his first play.

Adrian Peterson rushed 24 times for 175 yards and a touchdown for the Vikings (1-6), but James Starks put the game away with two big gains for first downs before the 2-minute warning and finished with 75 yards on 13 carries.

Mason Crosby had four field goals for the Packers (7-0), including a franchise record 58-yarder, delighting the thousands of Packers fans in attendance.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

AP-NY-10-23-11 1933EDT