LONDON — The Jets made the trade for Aaron Rodgers with moments like this in mind.
Trailing by six to the undefeated Vikings, Rodgers and the Jets got the ball back with 3:07 left on the clock at their own 30-yard line.
After a slow start that included two Rodgers interceptions, the Jets had battled back to put themselves in position to win.
But they didn’t.
Like so many of his Jets quarterback predecessors, Rodgers could not make the play when the Jets needed it and threw an interception to Vikings cornerback Stephon Gilmore with 44 seconds left to seal the 23-17 Jets loss at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
It was Rodgers’ third interception of the game, just the sixth time in his Hall of Fame career he has thrown that many.
The Jets started slowly and spotted the Vikings a 17-0 lead with one touchdown coming on a pick-six from Rodgers.
They fought back to make it a one-score game in the fourth quarter but fell short and are now 2-3 in this season that is filled with lofty expectations.
“We’re playing below our potential,” Rodgers said of the Jets offense. “Too many mistakes. You know, I thought until now, I think we’ve only had two turnovers, which was good, because you give yourselves a chance. But we’re slow starters. Too many mental errors. Just too many mistakes in general. That’s hard to overcome, and then you know for me, I’ve got to take care of the football. Can’t turn the ball over three times and win in this league.”
Even though it looked like the Jets might be able to.
They cut the Minnesota lead to 20-17 on a 1-yard touchdown pass from Rodgers to Garrett Wilson with 6:04 left in the fourth quarter.
The touchdown was set up by a Brandin Echols interception of former Jets quarterback Sam Darnold, who had an underwhelming day.
The Vikings then moved the ball but stalled at the Jets 23-yard line, settling for a 41-yard field goal from Will Reichard.
That swung the ball back to Rodgers, who found Wilson for 16 yards and then Allen Lazard for gains of 7 and 6 before another Wilson catch for 9 yards and a 6-yard gain by Breece Hall.
The Jets were now on the Vikings 26-yard line, knocking on the door.
After two incompletions, Rodgers tried to hit Mike Williams down the sideline, but the ball was underthrown and Gilmore picked it off, ending the Jets’ comeback hopes.
The Vikings are now 5-0.
“I just kind of underthrew it a little bit,” Rodgers said.
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As much as the fourth-quarter interception was the dagger, the Jets were more upset with what happened in the first quarter.
The Jets’ first four possessions all lasted three plays.
After two punts, Rodgers threw two interceptions in the first quarter for the first time in his career.
The first interception came after a Quincy Williams fumble recovery set the Jets up at the Vikings 42-yard line.
But instead of taking advantage of the turnover, the Jets gave the ball back and then some.
On third-and-6, the Vikings blitzed Rodgers and he tried to throw a quick pass to Wilson.
But he lost sight of outside linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel, who snagged the pass and then raced 63 yards for a touchdown and a 10-0 Vikings lead.
On the next possession, Rodgers sailed a pass intended for Lazard and Vikings safety Camryn Bynum picked it off.
“Obviously, I was below my standard,” Rodgers said. “I just found out that I’ve never thrown two picks in the first quarter before. So, that’s a first. One of them cost obviously a seven. The other could have cost three. In a game where you lose by six, plays like that are exponentially highlighted. Three turnovers for me is definitely out of character and disappointing.”
The Jets battled their way back into the game with a Lazard touchdown just before halftime and then a Greg Zuerlein field goal in the third quarter and Wilson’s touchdown in the fourth, but they fell short.
“You know, the biggest thing that we’ve got to be able to do,” Jets coach Robert Saleh said, “the biggest thing we talked about going into this game was playing clean ball and Minnesota had been feasting on pick-sixes and putting their offense in position to get easy lay-ups, and unfortunately that pick-six was a big difference in the game.”
The Jets have been slow starters this season, scoring just 14 points in the first quarter in their first five games.
“We put ourselves in a hole early,” Wilson said. “Didn’t give our defense much support. So, we were fighting an uphill battle the rest of the game. In this game, it’s going to be hard to win that way. We’ve got to find a way to start faster.”
The Jets defense played well after a shaky start and they allowed just 16 total points and six in the second half.
They were flagged for several questionable pass interference calls that hurt them but it was hard to find much else they did wrong against an explosive Vikings offense.
Rodgers injured his ankle in the third quarter but stayed in the game.
Rodgers said it is a low ankle sprain.
He was moving slowly in the second half but did not exit the game.
The Jets now return home to play the Bills on “Monday Night Football,” trying to break this two-game losing skid.
“There will be a lot of people outside the building who won’t be sticking with the Jets,” Rodgers said. “So if we stick together I still have a lot of confidence in this team. I think it’s a team that’s going to make a run, and whether that run starts next week, the following week, or whenever it might be, I’m confident in our guys and I’m confident in the leadership and confident we’ll get this thing straightened out.”
