To be fair, Jonathan Gannon -- and Drew Petzing and Nick Rallis -- have already had their first return to Minnesota. That happened last year, when the Cardinals spent a week in the preseason there, taking part in a pair of joint practices with the Vikings and then playing a preseason game.

But this weekend will be the first time the Cardinals coach and his offensive and defensive coordinators will go against the team where all three built the foundation of their NFL coaching careers in a game that counts.

Gannon bluntly said "no" when asked if this game would be special to him. But he knows what it will be like -- he spent four years on the Vikings' staff, to this point the longest he has been with any team -- with two seasons the Vikings playing in the dome of U.S. Bank Stadium. (Gannon's first two seasons the Vikings were playing at the University of Minnesota outside while the dome was being built.)

Gannon worked with Petzing, although he left right as Rallis was arriving. Rallis, a Minnesota native who played at the University of Minnesota, noted with the Vikings, "I owe them a lot" for giving him his first NFL job.

"I remember when I first got there, Drew was phenomenal to me," Rallis said. "He showed me the ropes and really started to shape my thought process."

Petzing was the vet, having spent six seasons on the Vikings staff straddling the Gannon and Rallis eras. He said he enjoys going back to Minnesota but once the game starts, "I could probably not care less," Petzing said with a smile.

Still, "our love of the game, that's where it was fostered," Petzing said.

"We have quite a bunch that have played in this stadium as their home base," Gannon said. "They'll be excited to get back and it's always cool, but it's round 12."