MINNEAPOLIS — With Vikings Legends in the house, Isaiah Rodgers had two legendary house calls.

An interception returned for a touchdown plus a forced fumble and recovery taken the distance, and another ball jarred free made Rodgers the first NFL player since at least 1991 with a pair of defensive scores and two forced fumbles in the same game, a never-in-doubt 48-10 beatdown of Cincinnati.

(There is a very real possibility that Rodgers became the first player, ever, to record such a statline in a single contest. The complete play-by-play data available to us, however, only goes as far back as 1991.)

"I was shocked when I saw it on the big screen," Rodgers said afterwards about the history-making double-tap flashing across the video board; the same board that showed teammates jokingly fanning him off because of his HOT afternoon. "That's all credit to the scout team throughout the week. They just prepared me throughout the entire week, just focusing on my cues and just going into this week so I didn't have to feel any type of discomfort or anything. … I was very comfortable going into the game."

Rodgers has long had a believer in Defensive Coordinator Brian Flores, who has previously mentioned watching and liking the cornerback at UMass when Flores was on the Patriots staff.

Head Coach Kevin O'Connell said he "was pretty surprised that we were going to have a legitimate chance" to acquire Rodgers' services in free agency this past spring when he sat down to review tape of the 2020 sixth-rounder that had bounced from Indianapolis to Philadelphia and won a Super Bowl with the Eagles.

"What a performance today," O'Connell reflected. "Just spectacular."

Rodgers' first shining moment occurred with 6:25 left in the first quarter Sunday when Bengals quarterback Jake Browning felt pressure, climbed to his right and attempted a pass with defenders converging on him. It was deflected by Harrison Smith, in his first game action of 2025, and intercepted.

Then, Rodgers broke a shoestring tackle, ran shielded behind blocks from Levi Drake Rodriguez and Jonathan Greenard (two of the players who pressured Browning's pass) and tight-roped the sideline for an 87-yard pick six, the franchise's longest since Xavier Rhodes ran the length of the field against Arizona in 2016. In a too-neat-to-fathom coincidence, Rhodes was in the building along with close to 90 Legends.

"That's actually my mentor, which is crazy," said Rodgers, who spent two seasons with Rhodes on the Colts after he closed his Vikings tenure with a third Pro Bowl. "I'm definitely going to reach out to him."

Rodgers repeated the end zone experience just after the first half's 2-minute warning. Browning released a quick throw to the flat to tight end Noah Fant, and Rodgers flew downhill from the secondary to execute a "Peanut" punch (made famous by Charles "Peanut" Tillman). In a nano second, the cornerback collected the fumble, rose to his feet and glided 66 yards for an improbable scoop-and-score – and the second defensive touchdown in his career.

"He was jogging. I was running for my life. He was staring at the offensive players, like you can literally look in his eyes. He's staring at them knowing he's just gonna out run them," Joshua Metellus shared. "He hasn't run full speed in the first three weeks of the season yet. If you think that was his fastest, no, he has different levels. I had the luxury of playing against him when he was a kick returner, too. He's a guy who can fly. So as soon as he grabbed that ball and [he got] two feet on the ground, we knew he was scoring. Just a matter of, 'Could we get our breath back on this next drive?' Because I was dead tired."

Ironically, that moment keyed Minnesota's "2-minute defense."

On the third play of Cincinnati's subsequent series, Rodgers did the most insane thing, flinging his fist into the cradle of Ja'Marr Chase, who wanted more after a 15-yard catch, and springing the ball loose.

"[I was] telling everybody on the sideline, 'I'm not done yet'," Rodgers quipped.

He added, "I just want to showcase who Isaiah Rodgers is and who Isaiah Rodgers can be."

Smith piped in: "There should be an asterisk next to that record, because that was just one half," the 36-year-old safety said of Rodgers' deeds. "He obviously has the skill set for it, as you saw today, in every facet. He's extremely fast and just has a good feel for the game, and he's very calm. He doesn't get rattled very easily. That quality, I have found, is pretty invaluable in this sport, because you can – a lot of guys look the part in practice, but game day tends to change people."

Jeff Okudah recovered it, and three plays later, Vikings running back Jordan Mason rumbled into the purple paint for his first of two short-yardage touchdown rushes. A 31-3 lead didn't quite suffice, though.

When Minnesota's defense trotted back onto the field with all of 28 ticks to go before Cincinnati could retreat to the visitor's locker room, Browning handed off to Samaje Perine, who didn't make it far before Jalen Redmond clubbed out the football. Fellow defensive lineman Jonathan Allen trapped it in a scrum.

Shortly after that, kicker Will Reichard added to the historic half with a club record-long 62-yard field goal.

The old adage "the best offense is a good defense" was adopted and applied to the fullest extent.

Rodgers, who immortalized himself as the first Viking with multiple defensive touchdowns in one game and the third player all time with a 60-plus yard INT TD and 60-plus yard FR TD (joining Chicago's Eddie Jackson in 2017 and Washington's Brig Owens in 1966), wasn't alone in having a fabulous defensive day.

Metellus nabbed his fifth career pick, intercepting an errant throw by Browning as time in the third quarter, and the remotest possibility of a comeback trickled away.

Ivan Pace, Jr., bounced back from some missed tackles in Week 2 to record a team-high eight stops and levied his weight into Browning's frame on three instances. Eric Wilson and Theo Jackson did their best Rodgers impressions, logging punchouts, and undrafted rookies Chaz Chambliss and Austin Keys got on the sack sheet with sacks late in the game.

The elite production matched the energy, which few players better embodied than Rodriguez.

With long dark hair spilling out of his helmet, the 2024 seventh-round draft pick played spirited on the inside, finishing with four tackles that included two for a loss. On his first TFL, happening late in the initial quarter, Rodriguez backed up the already backed-up Bengals with a seamless takedown of Cincinnati running back Chase Brown. Rodriguez dropped Brown again, instantaneously, for a 3-yard loss on the snap right before the Bengals finally experienced the end zone via a short pass with 4:05 left.

"I saw the Red Sea part, and I had to go make a play. You've got to be prepared for your opportunity, or opportunity will pass you by," Rodriguez said. "The camaraderie we have [on this team] is unmatched."

Smith has noticed Rodriguez doing his job at a high level with an enthusiasm he appreciates.

"He's always positive, like, unbelievably positive, and sometimes as a grumpy old vet, you need that energy from other guys, so I actually feed off Levi a lot every day," Smith explained, adding it's a fair assessment to think Rodriguez has improved in the room with vets Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave.

No doubt, the returns of The Hitman and Andrew Van Ginkel were notable aspects of the Vikings taming the Bengals. Playing on a predetermined pitch count, Gink' cleaned up a swift inside spin and pressure by Greenard on a third-and-8 in the first quarter for his first sack of 2025 and got a freebie to eclipse 30 career sacks (30.5), tracking Browning before he ran out of bounds at the line of scrimmage on the first third down after the intermission. In his 193rd career game – and only his second as a non-starter – Smith shuffled in for some important downs here and there and delivered a hurry and pass defensed.

All told, the stats and score reflected Minnesota's defensive dominance.

The Bengals receiving duo of Chase and Tee Higgins combined for six catches and 65 yards. Chase had the aforementioned fumble, and Higgins was denied in a 1-on-1 scenario with Rodgers on a go-ball in the end zone. Brown and other Cincinnati backs didn't fare any better on the ground, totaling 53 yards on 21 attempts (2.5 avg.). Brown's 10 carries for 3 total rush yards – nope, not a typo – was the antidote to last week's letdown.

Browning wound up clipping 70.4 percent of his passes but for what? Next to nothing. The former Vikings backup averaged 5.2 yards per pass, with a touchdown and two picks, amounting to a 63.8 passer rating.

Minnesota on Sunday became the first team league-wide since 2014 to do the following: force four fumbles, intercept two passes and tally two defensive touchdowns in a game; it was of epic proportions.

"Shout out to Flo.' All week he's just been telling us, 'Get back to Vikings football,' " Rodgers attested. "I told him [after the fact]: 'That's why I came here.' I want to be a part of a defense and create turnovers. That's why they brought me here – and he knew why I came here – and we just displayed it this week.

"I just knew," the 27-year-old on his third NFL team continued, "once I finally got my shot, whether it was Year 6 or Year 10, whenever that time came, I knew I was going to be the best Isaiah Rodgers I could be."

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