NFL schedule 2018: Each team’s biggest game

Green Bay Packers: at Minnesota Vikings

The scene of the (perceived) crime: U.S. Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, Minnesota-Sunday, Oct. 15, 2017.

About halfway through the first quarter, as some people were still returning home from church, Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was flushed from the pocket and rolled to his right. He spotted tight end Martellus Bennett wide open (and I mean, wide open), and threw a pass that Bennett promptly dropped.

But it was what happened to Rodgers after he threw the ball that made news. Vikings’ linebacker Anthony Barr finished his pursuit by hitting a vulnerable, fully extended in follow-through, Rodgers. He may or may not have driven the Packers’ signal caller into the ground with a little extra at the end of the hit or simply “finished the play”, depending on which side of the Minnesota-Wisconsin border you reside on or where your rooting interest lies. But the end result, Rodgers suffering a broke right collarbone, derailed the Packers’ season and turned a 4-1 record entering the game into a 7-9 finish.

Rodgers’ initial reaction to Barr’s hit, even with the idea he was injured badly, was overkill and head coach Mike McCarthy followed suit by pouting about the hit post-game. If the Packers-Vikings rivalry needed another layer, Rodgers’ healthy return to U.S. Bank Stadium and the potential sideshow involving Barr will provide it this coming season.