Why Aaron Rodgers to the Vikings makes a strange sort of sense

The facts are right there in cold box-score type: the last pass Aaron Rodgers threw in the 2025 season was a pick-six into the hands of Houston’s Calen Bullock with 2:39 remaining in the AFC wild-card round. That misfire didn’t exactly cost Pittsburgh a win; the pick-six simply increased Houston’s winning margin from 24-6 to 30-6.

Given the score, the only truly interesting element of that throw is whether it’s the final one of Rodgers’ career. After a year in Pittsburgh, Rodgers is officially a free agent, and while his teammates have endorsed the idea of bringing him back, he’s not quite so ready to commit.

“There’s been no deadline that’s been put in front of me,” Rodgers told Pat McAfee Wednesday. “There’s no contract offer or anything, so there’s nothing that I’m having to debate between.”

Possibly that’s because while Pittsburgh would be a comfortable situation for him, there might just be a better one in a familiar division: Minnesota.

As Rodgers ponders his next move, here are a few questions that could help determine whether a move to the Vikings is the right one for him.

Would Rodgers really want to go out on a pick-six?

This is more of a mindset question than anything else, and hell, maybe one throw doesn’t even enter into the equation when you’ve amassed a first-ballot Hall of Fame career. Still, a pick-six for the last professional throw of your life would be a tough way to close the book. (He ended his Packers career on an interception, too.)

Was Rodgers legitimately any good last year?

Sort of … ? Watching Aaron Rodgers in 2025 was like seeing Guns n’ Roses in 2025 … sure, there were flashes and echoes of the old power and game, but mostly it was an exercise in easy, comfortable nostalgia. That said, seeing Rodgers in a clutch situation is like hearing Slash strum the opening chord of “Paradise City” — it just feels right, you know? Rodgers led the Steelers to four wins in their final five games. The lone outlier in that run was a total clunker against Cleveland where Rodgers seemed more focused on avoiding becoming a Myles Garrett trophy than actually winning the game. Rodgers never threw for more than 300 yards in any one game last season, but the closest he did come was in crucial wins over Baltimore in Weeks 16 and 18. That’s not nothing.

How much of Rodgers’ Steelers gig was because of Mike Tomlin?

When he arrived in Pittsburgh last June to take his first snaps in black and gold, Rodgers indicated that he was now a Steeler because of the tradition of the franchise, but also because of then-head coach Mike Tomlin. “It starts with Mike Tomlin,” Rodgers said. “I’ve been a fan of his for a long time.” But Tomlin isn’t in Pittsburgh any longer, and the guy who has his job is a familiar face for Rodgers.

Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers were together for 13 seasons in Green Bay. (Photo by Jorge Lemus/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

(NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Would Rodgers and Mike McCarthy really want a reunion?

Rodgers and new Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy have A History, to put it politely. Yes, they won a Super Bowl together while in Green Bay, but the lows between the two were reportedly pretty damn low, too. Rodgers went out of his way in his interview with McAfee to speak highly of McCarthy — and their relationship — saying there’s still a place in the NFL for an old-school coach like McCarthy. Would Rodgers — or, for that matter, McCarthy — want to jump back into bed together?

Would Rodgers and Kevin O’Connell want to give it a go?

Rodgers and Minnesota head coach Kevin O’Connell have a decades-long friendship, and this time last year, the two kicked around the possibility of a one-year ride. “We had a lot of great dialogue about it,” O’Connell told KFAN last June, “but it always was centered around what was best not only for the present in the Minnesota Vikings organization, but the future.” That future, in theory, was J.J. McCarthy. More on that in a moment. So could Rodgers and O’Connell take another shot at One Last Job together?

Would the Vikings want a bridge quarterback?

The X factor in the Rodgers-to-Minnesota pathway is, oddly enough, Kyler Murray. Now that Murray is definitively on the market (in a few days, officially speaking), he vaults to the top of a not-particularly-inspiring collection of free agents and draft-eligible quarterbacks. So this comes down to a question of philosophy for Minnesota: a QB for the future, or a QB to prepare for the future?

Do the Vikings need this particular veteran answer at QB?

You know Minnesota’s tragic quarterback story. The Vikings had Sam Darnold in uniform in 2024, and opted to go with J.J. McCarthy for 2025. McCarthy threw more interceptions than touchdowns in 2025 — when he was on the field, that is — while Darnold ended up being the Last QB Standing and holding the Lombardi last month. And the less said about Max Brosmer, the better. Would it be worth a season of Rodgers to help McCarthy belatedly adjust to the NFL … or allow Minnesota to bide its time for another draft? Perhaps.

Wouldn’t it be nice to throw to Justin Jefferson?

With all due respect to the Pittsburgh receiving corps, including DK Metcalf and Pat Freiermuth … they ain’t Justin Jefferson. Sure, Rodgers doesn’t have the distance on his throws that he did earlier in his career, but with Jefferson on the other end of them, he doesn’t need to. That has to be an enticing prospect for a season in purple.

Why not close the Favre career path?

It’s been lurking out there all along, the Stations of Brett Favre: Win a ring with Green Bay, don a different shade of green in New York, then finish up in Minnesota. Rodgers deviated from the path to go to Pittsburgh, but he’s got the chance now to replicate one of the most iconic “How can we miss you if you won’t go away?” runs in sports history. As long as he doesn’t repeat Favre’s final throw in Minnesota — yep, an interception — all will be OK.

There’s no real timeline for Rodgers to make a decision, though it’s likely both the Steelers and Vikings will want to nail down their QB situation before the draft. And the Kyler Murray factor could speed up the calendar a bit. No matter which way he goes — Pittsburgh, Minnesota or a podcast studio — Rodgers will have eyes on him.