RandBall: Aaron Rodgers, a heave and a Packers injury were big on Vikings-free Sunday

The best and most relevant way to think about what is happening to the Jets this season — rather hilariously, almost everyone outside of New York and certainly inside of Minnesota and Wisconsin would agree — is to relate it back to the Brett Favre experiment with the Vikings.

The Vikings got one great year from Favre, coming within a play of reaching the Super Bowl. They tried to keep the band together for one more run and it turned into an increasingly desperate disaster (remember the Randy Moss trade?) that resulted in Brad Childress being fired and Favre finally staying retired.

These poor Jets were robbed of the potential for that first year of glory when, after trading for Rodgers, he was injured just four plays into the 2023 season. All they are getting is the second Favre year, complete with a midyear coach firing and a desperate trade for a receiver (hello Davante Adams). The season isn’t even half over, but it’s already over now that the Jets are 2-6 — humiliated most recently on Sunday by the Patriots, who aren’t even trying to win.

If you missed it because you took Sunday off from mandatory Vikings viewing — they got their loss out of the way on Thursday, their second in a row, meaning the London escape over Rodgers and the Jets is still their most recent victory — you missed plenty, as Patrick Reusse and I talked about on Monday’s Daily Delivery podcast.

The Lions won 52-14 over the Titans, getting that whopping total while putting up just 225 yards of offense. They’re 6-1 now and the class of the division.

The Packers pulled out a 30-27 win over Jacksonville to move to 6-2, but they lost quarterback Jordan Love to a groin injury along the way. Coach Matt LaFleur said he has a “high level of concern” about the injury, so don’t be surprised if Love misses at least next week’s showdown against the Lions before Green Bay gets its bye week after that.

The Bears, meanwhile, looked like they were going to pull out a 15-12 win over Washington after scoring the go-ahead TD with 25 seconds left. But the Commanders won on a Hail Mary as time expired — benefitting when Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson spent the first part of the play distracted while taunting Washington fans, only to hustle back and tip the ball into the waiting arms of Commanders receiver Noah Brown.

Had the Bears won, they would have been 5-2 — tied with the Vikings for last place in the mighty NFC North. Instead, the Vikings get sole possession of third.

I think I’d rather be in the NFC South, where Kirk Cousins (four TD passes Sunday) has the 5-3 Falcons in first place. Or the NFC East, so I could play twice a year against Mike Zimmer’s defense in Dallas (another 223 rushing yards and nearly 500 total yards allowed in a loss to San Francisco on Sunday night).