Mark Craig's Tuesday Insider: A rough start for Rodgers

This was Aaron Rodgers' chance to move on while bringing the rest of Wisconsin with him into the post-Brett Favre era.

Beat Favre in the Metrodome for the entire world to see. Lead the Packers to the top of the NFC North and put the Legend of Favre behind him once and for all. Or at least give himself the upper hand heading into the rematch Nov. 1 at Lambeau Field.

Unfortunately for Rodgers, things couldn't have started any worse. Within 18 minutes, he had two turnovers that led to a pair of Favre touchdown passes.

Ouch.

"[The turnovers] didn't rattle us," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said after the 30-23 loss. "But you can't have it. The first one [a fumble at the Vikings 33-yard line] took points off the board. The second one [an interception at the Vikings 23] never should have happened."

Of course, Rodgers didn't get much help from his friends, either.

Defensive coordinator Dom Capers' new 3-4 scheme used a lot of zone coverages in which the secondary looked confused, baffled and a step or two slower than Favre's brain and right arm, especially on third down. Favre completed 24 of 31 passes for 271 yards, three touchdowns, no sacks, no interceptions and a 135.3 passer rating.

There were other blunders to be shared.

For starters, the Vikings mauled Rodgers, sacking him eight times."Obviously, [sacks] are an issue because it's gone on for four weeks," McCarthy said. "You can't play this way."

Tight end Donald Lee also dropped a touchdown pass on fourth-and-goal at the 1 late in the third quarter. Then there was linebacker Brandon Chillar's taunting penalty that moved the Vikings into the red zone on their first touchdown drive. Then second-string left tackle Daryn Colledge suffered a knee sprain in the second half and had to be replaced by rookie third-stringer T.J. Lang. And then there was that safety midway through the fourth quarter. And then, well, you get the point.

It was ugly, and Rodgers wasn't entirely to blame. After all, he did throw for 384 yards, two touchdowns and a 110.6 passer rating. But it was Rodgers who set the ugliness tone early.

He held the ball too long and was stripped on a sack on the game's ninth play. Two possessions later, he telegraphed a sideline pass to Greg Jennings that cornerback Antoine Winfield easily stepped in front of for the interception.

The Vikings would take control quickly enough. With 10:32 left in the third quarter, cornerback Al Harris and recently signed safety Derrick Martin clearly weren't in sync on the defensive call. Harris seemed to think it was zone. Martin acted as if he though Harris was responsible. All of that allowed Bernard Berrian to race between the two of them down the left sideline and pull in a perfectly thrown pass from Favre for a 31-yard touchdown.

"We had plays called to stop all those long passes," Woodson said. "We just didn't execute them."

At that point, it was 28-14, and you could feel all of Wisconsin bracing for today's ribbing from a giddy Vikings faithful.

The Vikings are 4-0, the Packers are 2-2 and Favre just made a prime time case that he might still be the best quarterback in the division as he sits just four days from his 40th birthday.

"I'm going to be OK," Rodgers said when asked about losing to Favre. "I'll keep playing."