It is amazing how people have such short memories, which makes second guessing so easy. That could be said for sports, politics or everyday life.
Last year at this time only a handful of people were saying the Vikings should resign Sam Darnold and let J.J. McCarthy sit for another year. A majority, not all, but the overwhelming majority of Viking fans were wanting J.J. McCarthy to start and expected him to have the same success as C.J. Stroud, Jayden Daniels, and Bo Nix did their first year under center.
Sam Darnold was blessed by getting $30 million a year from the Seahawks, a coach who was determined to stick with a running attack with Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet and the best defense in the NFL this season. Meanwhile Kevin O’Connell wasn’t patient enough with the run game early this season, forced young quarterbacks to make plays in short yardage situations that was a major factor in why they lost games early this season.
There is no question J.J. McCarthy had his struggles this year. At times he was inaccurate as any quarterback I’ve ever seen. But O’Connell has a track record of making quarterbacks fit his system more than playing to the quarterback’s strengths. Josh Dobbs, Jaren Hall, Nick Mullens, Max Brosmer and Carson Wentz all fell victim to this the last three years.
Yes, the Vikings need to bring in a solid quarterback to challenge McCarthy and certainly be available if #9 keeps getting hurt, but the second guessing on 2025 is ridiculous if you remember the mindset of Viking fans after they lost to the Lions and Rams to close out the season. No matter what Darnold and the Seahawks do the rest of the postseason has any relevance to what 2025 would have looked like if he would have stayed in Minnesota.
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