Shipment error leads to Packers promotion at Twin Cities McDonald's

As if the past few days weren't rough enough for Vikings fans — with the Packers winning Thursday on a stunning Hail Mary and Minnesota getting humbled in a 38-7 loss to Seattle on Sunday, sending the border rivals into a first-place tie in the NFC North — they got even worse for some Vikings fans on Monday.

Paul Severson tweeted out a picture of a promotional cup he got at a Twin Cities-area McDonald's bearing a giant Packers logo and offering a buy one, get one free promotion on breakfast sandwiches and other sandwiches if the Packers win.

"Here is the pic of McDonald's trolling Vikings fans," he wrote.

Through correspondence, I was able to figure out the location of the store so I could try to get to the bottom of just how a Packers promotion wound up in the heart of Vikings country. (Yes, there are many Packers fans living in Minnesota — akin to rescue dogs, my eloquent friend John Sharkman said Sunday — but still).

Initially, a manager from the location in question was as confused as I was when I called to ask about the Packers promotion.

"I know there have been Vikings and Gophers promotions because this is Minnesota," she said. "It sounds like something that would happen in Wisconsin. I have no idea."

Indeed.

But she called back a little while later after doing some checking to confirm that yes, there had been an accidental shipment of Packers cups and that some of them had made their way to customers.

(I had mercy and told her I wouldn't call her store out specifically. It's not really important. But rest assured it was in a south suburb of the Twin Cities, many miles from Wisconsin).

If there's a silver lining, I suppose, it's that breakfast sandwich enthusiasts who dine at that location can take advantage of the Packers win to score a good deal. The manager said that yes, because the Packers did win their most recent game, the promotion would be honored.

Still, I have to imagine there was more than one Vikings fan shaking his or her head at the McMixup.