Packers ride hot start by Rodgers to win over Vikings

GREEN BAY, WIS. >> All that mattered to Aaron Rodgers on Sunday was that the Packers won.

That’s it.

Rodgers threw two early touchdowns and Green Bay held on for a 21-16 victory over the Minnesota Vikings.

“The biggest thing is that we’re 2-0,” he said. “I know we owe a lot of that to our defense and (defensive coordinator) Mike Pettine and his staff and those guys for being opportunistic and making plays when they had to. But I think there’s still a lot of great potential in this offense.”

On a day when the Packers honored late Hall of Famer Bart Starr at halftime, Rodgers put on quite a show — particularly early. Rodgers completed nine of his first 10 passes for 134 yards and two touchdowns and had a perfect 158.3 rating through the first quarter. He finished 22 of 34 for 209 yards.

Rodgers and new coach Matt LaFleur experimented with Rodgers wearing a playcall wristband in the hope that it would speed up the play-calling process and get the offense out of the huddle quicker.

“Yeah, this is probably the wordiest offense I’ve been in since Cal,” said Rodgers, who played college ball at California after transferring from Butte Community College. “I think it just helps with communication. He doesn’t have to say 12 syllables to me, and then I say 12 syllables in the huddle. It helps speed things up a little bit. But we didn’t use it a whole lot. We only used it about five or six times.”

After scoring on each of its first three possessions, Green Bay’s offense failed to muster another point. But the hot start was enough to win.

The Packers remained unbeaten under LaFleur after opening the NFL’s 100th season with a victory at rival Chicago. They also beat the Vikings (1-1) for the fifth time in the past seven games at Lambeau Field.