Rodgers will miss playing inside 'hostile' Vikings dome

The Green Bay Packers will use their indoor practice facility at the Don Hutson Center to prepare for the Minnesota Vikings, but they'll leave the doors open.

No need for climate-controlled temperatures this week. For the first time in more than three decades, the Packers will travel to Minnesota for an outdoor game.

The Vikings are calling TCF Bank Stadium on the University of Minnesota campus their home during this season and next while the new Vikings Stadium is being built.

TCF Bank Stadium, located on the University of Minnesota campus, is also where the Minnesota Golden Gophers play their home games. Unlike many outdoor NFL stadiums, the field at TCF Bank Stadium has an artificial turf surface.

"It will be different," McCarthy said. "I think we're used to playing outside. So I think we'll be OK. We'll obviously practice outside, and we have the field turf inside too. So we'll also do some work with the doors open on the field turf.

"I'm curious to get out there on the field. I've heard some different things about it, so it will be unique."

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers will have to make one of the biggest adjustments.

The Packers are just 3-3 at Minnesota since Rodgers' first season as a starter in 2008, but he's played some of his best games inside Mall of America Field – the Vikings previous home. Rodgers has 15 touchdowns and one interception on the road against the Vikings. He's exceeded 300 passing yards four times.

"I've liked the environment in there," Rodgers said of the Vikings' old dome Tuesday on his weekly ESPN Milwaukee radio show. "It's loud, it's a hostile environment. It's exciting, playing in those type of environments. This'll be loud. They've got a solid fan base as far as generating noise, but we're expecting some cold weather there. That'll be a very chilly game, I'm sure."

Rodgers, of course, has fared well in the cold. He's fresh off setting NFL records for 322 passes thrown without an interception at Lambeau Field, one of the NFL's coldest environments. He's tossed 29 straight touchdowns during that streak.

-rwood@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @ByRyanWood