The Minnesota Vikings’ Week 17 victory over the Green Bay Packers was one of the year’s most memorable moments. Sam Darnold torched the Packers for 377 yards and three touchdowns. He walked into a locker room that was ready to shower him with water and hoist him onto their shoulders.
Darnold later admitted he didn’t know what to do with his hands as his teammates lifted him toward the ceiling, and Kevin O’Connell stood in the corner with his arms crossed, smiling like he had just beat the evil team from a Disney movie.
It was a moment that fans will remember for a long time. But it could have been much different.
The Vikings could have been sitting in the locker room as Aaron Rodgers walked in. After leading his team to a narrow victory, he asked if the bottles of water his teammates were about to shower him with were responsibly sourced from the rainforest. Randall Cobb, Nathaniel Hackett, and Pat McAfee would come over to heap praise upon him. Rodgers could then proceed to the press conference to throw roughly five teammates and coaches under the bus.
Rodgers to the Vikings seems like a joke, but it could happen. With Minnesota’s uncertainty at quarterback, national analysts like ESPN’s Adam Schefter suggested on Tuesday that the Twin Cities could be a destination now that the New York Jets have moved on from the future Hall of Famer.
Vikings fans have had this dream for some time. However, bringing Rodgers in would burn the Vikings’ culture to the ground.
Vikings fans have been obsessed with this prophecy for years. Rodgers was one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL and tormented Minnesota during his reign of terror in the NFC North. He’s the man who turned Packer fans’ taunts of “three Super Bowls” to “four Super Bowls,” and someone who was cheered loudly while he was carted off after taking a hit from Anthony Barr in 2017.
Rodgers is one of the biggest villains in Vikings history…but so was Brett Favre.
Favre was the original Vikings antagonist, leading Green Bay to its third Super Bowl victory. He had the lifespan of a cockroach. Many couldn’t fathom the idea of Favre wearing purple and gold until Brad Childress called before the 2009 season.
A private jet, a motorcade to Winter Park, and one helicopter ride later, the Vikings had one of their most memorable seasons in the franchise’s history. Favre turned Sidney Rice and Percy Harvin into superstars. He made a game-winning touchdown to Greg Lewis that will live forever. He beat the Packers twice and led the Vikings to the doorstep of the Super Bowl.
That Vikings team had a transcendent superstar in Adrian Peterson and a defense that was one of the best in the league. Had it not been for a slew of fumbles, Sean Payton, and an interception to Tracy Porter, many believe that team could have gone to the Super Bowl and possibly defeated the Indianapolis Colts. That’s how beloved that team was, and it’s the perfect rationale to bring Rodgers to Minnesota.
The Vikings are on the same doorstep they were when they brought Favre aboard. Justin Jefferson is the transcendent superstar. The defense is one of the best in the league. They were a playoff team that got bounced thanks to poor quarterback play. The former Packer-turned-Jet could come in and once again save the day.
It seems like the perfect script until you realize it’s a totally different situation.
We know more about Favre than we did back then, but there was at least a level of respect when he came to the Vikings. Fans didn’t hate Favre because of his personality; it was because Packers fans absolutely loved the guy. His fun-loving aura won even the most hardened Vikings fans over when he decamped to Minnesota. It was enough to give it one last ill-fated season in 2010.
It’s a different story with Rodgers. While Favre seemed like a fun-loving guy, Rodgers came off as the pettiest man on the planet. He disconnected from his family. Rodgers broke out the championship belt on every big play. Packers fans somehow loved him even more than Favre, which made sense because he was better than Favre.
Vikings fans dream of Rodgers throwing the same lasers Favre did in 2009. However, Rodgers isn’t the same quarterback he was in Green Bay. According to Pro Football Focus, Rodgers ranked 18th in overall grade and had an average depth of target of 7.3 yards last season.
The mobility that helped him avoid so many sacks in the pocket was gone after he tore an Achilles, which he tried to remedy through ayahuasca and darkness retreats. At age 41, his body has not aged as gracefully as Tom Brady‘s. His decision to continue playing feels more like sticking it to the Jets than it does a desire to win a Super Bowl.
But that’s just on the field. There’s another layer of damage that Rodgers would cause if he entered the Vikings’ locker room.
The Jets looked a lot like the Vikings do now when they acquired Rodgers in 2023. With young stars Garrett Wilson, Breece Hall, and Sauce Gardner, Rodgers was supposed to be the missing piece that could turn one of the NFL’s poverty franchises into a contender.
However, in 2023, Rodgers suffered a season-ending injury on the first play. Still, it was just the beginning of a relationship that became toxic.
Pick your moment. Was it the ill-fated political rants on The Pat McAfee Show? Perhaps it was demanding Hackett be his offensive coordinator? Maybe it is the constant throwing of teammates and coaches under the bus? Or was it the “smartest person in the room” vibe he gives off whenever he’s in public?
Whatever it was, the Jets’ culture went back in the dumpster. Hall and Wilson became afterthoughts. Rodgers got head coach Robert Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas fired. Davante Adams played the role of 2010 Randy Moss, and the Jets limped into the offseason needing a complete overhaul under Aaron Glenn.
You may think culture is overblown, but ask the Cleveland Browns, who tried to bring Deshaun Watson as the missing piece. Or the Vikings locker room a few years ago, whose “fear-based culture” resulted in several seven- to nine-win seasons.
The biggest reason that the Vikings would bring Rodgers in is that he provides a floor that J.J. McCarthy doesn’t. However, bringing in a toxic player wouldn’t help the Vikings avoid becoming the Browns or the Jets — in fact it would help them become the Browns or the Jets.
It’s not worth the risk to bring him in. It’s time to trust the Vikings to make the right decision.
