The Minnesota Vikings could've had Aaron Rodgers.
By all indications, he was interested in coming to Minnesota this offseason as a free agent. But the Vikings opted to trust J.J. McCarthy, and so Rodgers wound up with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Steelers and Vikings play in Ireland on Sunday, although McCarthy won't be on the field. The second-year QB is hurt, and so the Vikings will start Carson Wentz.
It'll be Wentz against Rodgers in a litmus test of what the right choice was for the Vikings.
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Rodgers has $13 million more cap hit than Wentz this season, which matters, too. But the overall outcome of the game will allow for at least some post-script judgment.
"The Vikings had a chance to sign QB Aaron Rodgers, who instead joined the Steelers after the Vikings committed to giving J.J. McCarthy first-team snaps throughout the spring and summer," ESPN's Kevin Seifert writes. "McCarthy will miss his second consecutive game because of a sprained ankle, and Carson Wentz will start. The question the Vikings asked themselves this offseason was if they would be better with McCarthy on a rookie contract and a backup like Wentz, whose cap number is $1.2 million this season, or Rodgers at $14.2 million. Sunday's game will be a litmus test for that question."
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The Steelers and Vikings are both 2-1, so the winner will be feeling great about how their season has started.
The loser may be questioning just a bit how they approached the QB position this offseason.
There's a lot of football left, of course, so one game can't be used for the entire evaluation. But it is an interesting matchup specifically for the quarterback reasons.
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