Beating an old bully from Wisconsin currently ranks atop the to-do list for a new Vikings regime casting a fresh-faced look at figuring out how the heck a team from Minnesota can finally win a Super Bowl.
It would help, of course, if the Purple's 38-year-old nemesis acted his NFL age entering his 18th season. But, no, Aaron Rodgers, the two-time reigning and four-time overall league MVP, stole the opening bell for NFL training camps this week by arriving in Green Bay on Monday looking happy, healthy and exactly like a buff Nicolas Cage in "Con Air."
"The first path to getting into the dance is winning your division," Vikings General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said when asked how much of his "competitive rebuild" was focused on A-Rodg and the Cheeseheads.
As Rodgers' enemy fans in the NFC North know all too well, the Vikings, Bears and Lions generally fare about as well against Rodgers as the bad guys did against Cage in "Con Air."
Rodgers is 58-21-1 within the division, including 17-10-1 against the Vikings. Since becoming a starter in 2008, he's won eight of 14 division titles, including the past three, in seasons in which Anthony Barr didn't break his collarbone in Week 7.
Rodgers, of course, has a bigger goal that's eluded him and dented his legacy a bit the past 12 seasons: A return to the Super Bowl for the first time since winning his one ring during the 2010 season.
He and 42-year-old coach Matt LaFleur – now entering his fourth season as the longest-tenured coach in the division – have compiled three straight 13-win seasons, two straight No. 1 seeds and still no Super Bowl appearance. And they head into this year after trading All-Pro receiver Davante Adams to Las Vegas and losing Marquez Valdes-Scantling via free agency.
It will take another MVP-caliber performance by Rodgers for the Packers to finally break through. If Rodgers does win again, he'd tie Peyton Manning's record of five overall and Brett Favre's mark of three straight.