Greg Jennings will be remembered as a Green Bay Packer, no doubt about it. He spent seven seasons in Titletown, won a Super Bowl and made two Pro Bowls. He played for a Hall of Fame quarterback in Brett Favre and a future Hall of Fame quarterback in Aaron Rodgers. It's where he made a name for himself.
But after leaving Green Bay, Jennings was part of the rival Minnesota Vikings for two seasons. It was during that time he got to know the Minnesota fan base, which still has never seen its team hoist the Lombardi Trophy. In his second season, he got to know Mike Zimmer, and when the Vikings pulled off their miraculous victory in Minneapolis last Sunday, Jennings thought of his teammates and old coach.
"Knowing so many of the guys within the locker room, I know how they work, I know their mindset and I know the mentality of Mike Zimmer," Jennings says. "He's had so many things that he's had to overcome, not only in football but even in his personal life. It would just be great to see him overcome all the surgeries on his eye and still have an opportunity to hoist that trophy, that would be special, not just for the players and my relationship with them, but knowing Mike Zimmer and the relationship that I was able to develop with him."
When Jennings left Green Bay, the Packers had won the previous two NFC North titles. They went on to win two more while Jennings played with Minnesota, but he watched the infrastructure of the Vikings change as the team transitioned from Leslie Frazier to Zimmer in 2014.
"He's come in and I honestly feel that he's revived even [general manager] Rick Spielman when it comes to drafting guys," Jennings says. "Starting with a defensive mentality, inside out, we saw him build up the defensive side of the ball, but because of the way they've been able to draft, they have so much depth, and his M-O is, 'I'm not going to play the 11 most talented guys or who everybody thinks should play, I'm going to play the 11 best guys who can work together and accomplish what I'm trying to implement.'
"He doesn't get caught up in the names and who's done what in their career. He cares about what are you doing right now to make us a better team and how do you fit and how do you mesh with the other 10 guys. That's what makes this Minnesota Vikings team very dangerous and special because they have depth and they can utilize anyone at any position."
Jennings shipped out of Minneapolis for one sunny season in Miami in 2015 before retirement. Although he was not part of Vikings teams that won the NFC North in 2015, started 5-0 in 2016 and reached the NFC Championship Game (and counting) in 2017, Jennings has kept tabs on his old fans.
"Having been in Green Bay for so long, I felt like the fans were a little bit fickle, where if things are going great, they're all in, but if things aren't great, they jump against their team," Jennings says. "But at the end of the day, it's about having success, and when you're having fun, the fans know that you're having fun and that permeates through the entire state. It goes beyond just the organization, your fan base feels it, there is a certain excitement. Even if they were not to win it, even the year before last year when they were on the brink and you could kind of feel the excitement of what was to come, the fans have had their share of heartbreak, but it's one of those deals like this is what they deserve, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for these guys who are playing to provide excitement for the fans. It's been unbelievable just to be here and see it and see the buzz and hear the buzz as the Vikings continue to have success."
Jennings, an analyst for Fox Sports who debuted as a color commentator for one game this season, spoke to ThePostGame on behalf of PepsiCo's "Game Day Grub Match: Athlete Face-Off" campaign. In the series, Jennings battled Rashad Jennings and Nick Mangold in a three-part cooking challenge with Anne Burrell and Josh Capon among the judges.
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