PRO FOOTBALL : Packers Kick This One Away to Vikings, 32-6

Minnesota Vikings Coach Jerry Burns can sympathize with Green Bay Packers Coach Forrest Gregg.

But not enough to give back Minnesota’s 32-6 victory Sunday when the Vikings (8-6) capitalized on two punting mistakes to send the Packers to their first winless season at Lambeau Field since the stadium opened in 1957. Green Bay, 3-11 with two road games remaining, was 0-5 at the storied stadium this season.

“It was the same situation we had against Cleveland, when we had to go with (backup quarterback) Wade Wilson as punter,” Burns said. “So I can sympathize with Forrest. But I’ll take ‘em any way I can get ‘em.”

Darrin Nelson’s 12-yard touchdown run and Tommy Kramer’s 7-yard scoring pass to Anthony Carter came within a 1:14 span of the first quarter. Both scores came after Green Bay problems involving substitute punter Bill Renner.

Midway through the opening quarter, after Al Del Greco’s 39-yard field goal had given the Packers a 3-0 lead, Renner’s first NFL punt was blocked by Ike Holt and recovered by Rufus Bess at the Green Bay 12.

“I could sense that he was coming and I tried to get the ball off real quick,” said Renner, a free-agent acquisition on Friday who was replacing the injured Don Bracken. “The guy had a run at it and he laid out perfect. It was bang-bang.”

The Packers shot themselves again after they failed to move the ball on their next possession. Renner was unable to handle Bill Cherry’s high snap, and Minnesota got the football on Green Bay’s seven.

Minnesota again took advantage of the Packers’ generosity--Gerry Ellis’ fumble on the first play of the third quarter at Green Bay’s 18. Three plays later, Alfred Anderson went eight yards for a 19-6 Vikings’ lead.

Kramer, who threw six touchdown passes in Minnesota’s 42-7 victory over the Packers earlier this season, started for the first time in three weeks after suffering a thumb injury on his throwing hand.

He completed 13 of 25 passes for 153 yards and, like the rest of the Vikings’ offense, was held in check most of the game by Green Bay’s defense.

Packer quarterback Randy Wright, who was 18 of 37 for 225 yards, saw his receivers drop several passes despite a warmer-than-expected 32-degree day. On the three-downs-and-out series after Minnesota’s first touchdown, a wide-open Walter Stanley dropped Wright’s potential touchdown pass and then Mike Moffitt bobbled a pass that would have likely given Green Bay a first down.