LONDON — Despite a historically bad first quarter, New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers had the ball with 3:07 remaining in the fourth quarter, 70 yards away from a potential game-winning touchdown.
The Jets acquired Rodgers for moments like this, figuring the future Hall of Famer would deliver where so many past quarterbacks had failed.
Not on this day.
Rodgers drove the Jets into scoring territory, but he threw his third interception to seal a 23-17 loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. It capped one of the worst games of his career — a day in which he also became the ninth player in NFL history to reach the 60,000-yard passing milestone, joining a fraternity that consists of Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, Brett Favre, Ben Roethlisberger, Philip Rivers, Matt Ryan and Dan Marino.
“Obviously, that was below my standard,” said Rodgers, who threw two interceptions in the first quarter — a career first. He learned that factoid after the game. He lamented his three turnovers, saying, “In a game we lose by six, plays like that are exponentially highlighted. So, three turnovers for me is definitely out of character and I’m disappointed.”
The three interceptions tied a career high, something he has done only six times out of 236 games. His first interception was the costliest — a 63-yard interception return for a touchdown by linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel. Rodgers said he lost track of Van Ginkel on a blitz, and he wound up throwing the ball right to him.
“I’m lost for words,” Van Ginkel said. “I couldn’t believe it happened. He told me, too. Christmas came early for me. Just a guy of that caliber, that level, I’m just thankful, grateful.”
The second interception was an overthrow meant for Allen Lazard. The third was an underthrow to Mike Williams at the Vikings’ 9-yard line with 44 seconds left, a nice play by cornerback Stephon Gilmore. The Jets came so close to overcoming a 17-0 deficit. They’ve lost 97 straight games when trailing by at least 17 points, dating to 2001 — the league’s second-longest active streak.
“Obviously, up and down,” coach Robert Saleh said of Rodgers’ performance. “The biggest thing we talked about going into this game was playing clean ball. Minnesota had been feasting on pick-sixes and putting their offense in position to get easy layups. Unfortunately, that pick-six was a big difference in the game.”
The Jets (2-3) dropped their second straight, as their offense started slowly to continue a season-long trend. This time, Rodgers’ cadence wasn’t the issue (they had no pre-snap penalties). The problem was the turnovers and the inconsistent pass protection. Rodgers was sacked three times, hit 11 times and emerged from the game with a low ankle sprain.
He made it sound like his entire body was hurting.
“I’m definitely banged up,” he said. “Got my foot caught in a pile there. … They were trying to get me in the [medical] tent, and then we had a roughing the kicker. I said, ‘Screw it, I’m going back out there.'”
He paused for a moment of gallows humor.
“There were a lot of things that made some noises on the way down,” he said of his creaky body.
Rodgers did some good things, throwing for 244 yards and two touchdowns on 29-for-54 efficiency. He and Garrett Wilson finally clicked, and they connected 13 times for 101 yards and a touchdown. Wilson was targeted 22 times, tied with Davante Adams in 2023 for the most in a game in the past five seasons. Until Sunday, Rodgers and Wilson had been experiencing growing pains.
Afterward, Wilson lamented the physical pounding his quarterback absorbed.
“He’s a tough cat,” Wilson said. “He’s going to stick in there, he’s not going to give up on us. We’ve got a find a way to keep him upright, get open that much quicker to take some of those hits off him. He’s a baller, man. Seeing him limp around like he was and fighting through, that’s not something a lot of people at that age, at that point in their career, all that he’s accomplished, would do. I don’t take that for granted and I make sure he hears that from me all the time.”
The bottom line is, Rodgers has a losing record after five games for only the third time in 20 years. Physically battered, and perhaps humbled, Rodgers still tried to sound an optimistic note.
“I still have a lot of confidence in this team,” he said. “I think it’s a team that’s going to make a run, and whether that run starts next week, the following week, or whenever it might be, I’m confident in our guys and I’m confident in the leadership and confident we’ll get this thing straightened out.”