Losing that game really sucked because it was there to be won. In my opinion, the play of the QB doomed the offense on some critical plays. There were a couple of plays that seemed boneheaded. You really do not expect a veteran QB to do dumb things or not see a player in the flat that is wide open (expecially when it may have been the first read). This season is beginning to turn and it might get uglier. By the time JJ comes back the team could be looking further up at other teams in the playoff hunt. That will put more pressure on JJ which is tough but it comes with the territory and those pay checks.
It is fair to wonder if the Vikings made the right decision this offseason at the QB position. It is not saying they would give up on JJ but they could have easily given him another year to actually practice on the scout team against the first string defense all season (when they had the chance). Plus, he may have gotten in due to injury. Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones are playing fairly well so far. Darnold and Jones are 5th and 7th in passing yards and 5th and 9th in passing yards respectively. Aaron Rodgers is 10th in passer rating.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/stats/player/_/table/passing/sort/QBRating/dir/desc
I will not debate the contract of Darnold and whether it was doable because it was. I could see them not wanting to go multiple years on him. But a one year deal to Jones or Rodgers would likely have seen the offense do better.
I would also say that the free agent moves seemed like they were “going all in” especially with the Kelly, Allen, Hargrave, Smith, and Jones signings. I mean, if you are going to roll with JJ and allow for any struggles then why not try to with more younger free agents?
A little note: I have no clue how any free agent discussion went or the offers made. It could simply be players chose to go somewhere else.
Now we have to hope and pray that JJ McCarthy comes back and plays fairly well. I want to believe it will happen but there simply is not much evidence thus far besides the one quarter in Chicago. That is all. The rest is just smoke being blown.
As Bum Phillips use to say (paraprasing) … We could be in more trouble than a little bit!
Minnesota Vikings News and Links
We’re nearing the midway point of the 2025 NFL season, and the Minnesota Vikings may soon be on their third starting quarterback of the year. Coach Kevin O’Connell confirmed as much this week, admitting undrafted rookie Max Brosmer is “an option” in the event Carson Wentz can’t stay on the field as J.J. McCarthy’s replacement.
Just like the Vikings drew it up, right?
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This season was all about ushering in the J.J. McCarthy era. The 2024 first-round draft pick may have entered this year with zero real NFL experience thanks to his rookie-year injury. But O’Connell and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah underscored his internal value at every turn of the offseason, repeatedly looking the other way when it came to more proven alternatives:
First, the Vikings declined to enter a bidding war for Darnold, who sunk under pressure in the final two games of 2024 but captained an explosive offense for much of his first year in town, as he’s now doing with the Seattle Seahawks. In some ways, this mirrored the club’s polite refusal to pay big bucks to Kirk Cousins the year prior.
At the same time, the Vikings also declined to enter a bidding war for Daniel Jones, the ex-New York Giants castoff who finished 2024 on Minnesota’s practice squad. Jones now looks like a major bargain for the Indianapolis Colts after signing a modest deal, suggesting the Vikings only viewed him as a true Plan B.
As the offseason wore on, the Vikings gave mixed signals about interest in Aaron Rodgers, their longtime Packers rival, repeatedly championing McCarthy’s potential while leaving the door open for the veteran. In the end, Rodgers put pen to paper with the Pittsburgh Steelers, who were unafraid to court the former MVP.
Not a single one of these moves was entirely objectionable at the time. Consider:
Darnold was a legitimate gunslinger for much of 2024 and still relatively young at 27 (now 28), but his end-of-season flameout was so drastic — and his free agent price tag so steep — that the one-and-done partnership made some sense.
Jones, meanwhile, would’ve been an even greater — albeit cheaper — gamble after struggling to stay healthy or push the ball downfield over more than five years with the Giants. No one had him pegged for such a sharp Indy breakout.
And Rodgers, though very accomplished, was 41 years old coming off two bruised and sluggish seasons with the New York Jets. Banking on him rediscovering high-level form would’ve also meant going “all in” on 2025, effectively redshirting McCarthy for half his initial rookie contract.
Instead, the Vikings went the route they took after a half-decade of solid, if unspectacular, work from Cousins: They said thanks but no thanks to the more proven commodities, preferring to lean on infrastructure over a splashier investment under center. They figured the greater setup would be the perfect launching pad for a green youngster like McCarthy.
No one questioned the decision internally. Especially not McCarthy’s teammates, who kept pointing to the veteran support at the skill spots, the bolstered line featuring new starters in Ryan Kelly and Will Fries, the exotic defense, the proven culture-building of O’Connell. McCarthy himself called the Vikings “stacked” in an interview with CBS Sports, and he drew lots of locker-room praise for the veteran-level composure he learned under Jim Harbaugh at Michigan; if his play were uneven, at least his posture would not be.
Except this entire plan hinged on McCarthy’s play not being so uneven … and McCarthy staying on the field in the first place. The 22-year-old looked 22, like an unofficial rookie, in his first two starts of the season, struggling to find a sustainable rhythm through the air. Even before he was revealed to have suffered an ankle injury in Week 2, McCarthy already seemed in danger of ceding snaps to Wentz, who arrived late as the top backup:
[Early-career] hiccups are absolutely not a problem … if the Vikings are intent on playing this slowly, affording their new point guard the patience he might very well require. That’s a fine approach to take, and it’s one plenty of rebuilding teams have exercised, declining to put the weight of the NFL world on a first-time starter’s shoulders. It’s just not the approach O’Connell and Co. seemed to take by suggesting they could transition from proven arms like Darnold and, previously, Kirk Cousins and still end up in the thick of the NFC postseason conversation.
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Did they grossly miscalculate the stability (or lack thereof) of Sam Howell, their initial pick to be McCarthy’s backup, when they acquired Howell from the Washington Commanders during the draft? Did they also need all summer to determine they’d botched that bet? And why wait until late April to make that gamble at all? Is it because neither Adofo-Mensah nor O’Connell could make up their minds regarding a last-second pursuit of Rodgers, who didn’t actually sign with the Steelers until June?
We don’t know how the rest of the year will play out, but all of a sudden a one-year Rodgers deal doesn’t seem like it would’ve been such a bad idea. If the infrastructure was so rich, after all, imagine where A-Rod might have Minnesota at this juncture. And imagine how much richer McCarthy might be from watching and learning. But no, the Vikings played a different hand: Why ruin McCarthy’s chance at claiming the franchise for himself, and laying the foundation for a long run as “the guy,” just to hope an aging has-been can go the distance before retiring? It turns out the choice to let J.J. go unchallenged as the new No. 1 just might ruin any playoff chances instead.
At this point, these are just what-ifs. They’re revisionist reflections on the past. What’s done is done. The Vikings made 2025 about McCarthy. And then McCarthy sputtered out of the gate before going down (again). It should be no surprise, a few weeks later, they’re hurting to get things under control at the quarterback position, not so unlike halfway through the 2023 season when Cousins was sidelined and O’Connell was left to squeeze what he could from Joshua Dobbs, another last-minute backup addition, and assorted leftovers. In a weird way, this situation is almost worse, given that Cousins’ exit all but gave Minnesota the green light to move on and finally look to the future. McCarthy is — or was supposed to be — that future. He was also set up, this year, to be the present.
Vikings offensive snap counts vs. Eagles (out of 69)
LG Donovan Jackson: 69
RG Will Fries: 69
RT Brian O’Neill: 69
LT Christian Darrisaw: 69
QB Carson Wentz: 69
WR Justin Jefferson: 68
C Blake Brandel: 67
WR Jordan Addison: 64
TE T.J. Hockenson: 57
RB Jordan Mason: 53
WR Jalen Nailor: 41
TE Josh Oliver: 32
FB C.J. Ham: 12
RB Zavier Scott: 9
WR Adam Thielen: 8
C Michael Jurgens: 2
TE Ben Yurosek: 1
Top 5 PFF grades on offense (min. 20 snaps)
- Nailor — 74.6
- Addison — 73.7
- O’Neill — 72.6
- Mason — 70.6
- Darrisaw — 69.3
Bottom 5 PFF grades on offense (min. 20 snaps)
- Wentz — 45.9
- Brandel — 51.1
- Jackson — 53.1
- Fries — 55.3
- Hockenson — 56.5
Vikings defensive snap counts vs. Eagles (out of 50)
LB Blake Cashman: 50
S Josh Metellus: 50
CB Byron Murphy Jr: 50
S Harrison Smith: 50
CB Isaiah Rodgers: 49
OLB Jonathan Greenard: 47
DT Jonathan Allen: 44
S Theo Jackson: 42
LB Eric Wilson: 42
DT Jalen Redmond: 37
OLB Dallas Turner: 30
DT Levi Drake Rodriguez: 24
DT Javon Hargrave: 18
CB Jeff Okudah: 11
OLB Tyler Batty: 3
DT Elijah Williams: 2
OLB Bo Richter: 1
Top 5 PFF grades on defense (min. 20 snaps)
- Rodriguez — 79.2
- Jackson — 72.9
- Allen — 69.1
- Smith — 68.8
- Greenard — 66.7
Bottom 4 PFF grades on defense (min. 20 snaps)
- Rodgers — 29.3
- Cashman — 29.7
- Hargrave — 34.8
- Murphy — 55.5
As Vikings players sat in the locker room after Sunday’s disappointing loss to the Eagles, the reality of what lies ahead inevitably started to creep into their minds. They weren’t going to have much time to process this defeat, because they have to quickly turn their attention towards preparing to travel west and take on the Chargers on Thursday night.
“Based on our normal game week clock, it’s already Wednesday afternoon,” right tackle Brian O’Neill said. “This one’s gonna be flushed pretty quick.”
“Your mind immediately goes to having just four days to turn this one over, which is as tough as it gets in the National Football League, not gonna lie,” said quarterback Carson Wentz. “We’ll be all right though.”
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From a physical standpoint, players began their recovery process immediately following Sunday’s game. Wentz said at his postgame press conference that he’d be icing his body as soon as he left the podium. On the mental and strategic side, they watched the film on Sunday night and will discuss it to some extent in meetings on Monday, but the coaching staff had to turn the leaf towards the upcoming opponent much quicker than usual.
“Quite frankly, I’ve never been a huge fan of the Thursday night games for this reason,” Wentz said, “but it kind of just is what it is. It’s part of the business.”
Minnesota Vikings cornerback Isaiah Rodgers has received “some of the most racist comments” he has seen since entering the NFL, Rodgers posted Monday on X in the wake of a 28-22 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
A screenshot Rodgers posted on Instagram showed multiple messages that included the N-word. In another, a social media user wrote: “ur worse than Hitler.” In a separate screenshot, the same individual later apologized.
Rodgers was the Vikings’ primary defender on two big plays that sparked the Eagles, including a 79-yard touchdown pass to DeVonta Smith in the third quarter and a 45-yard completion to A.J. Brown in the fourth that sealed the game. He took full responsibility afterward, saying, “I put it on me,” while adding: “I came here for a reason, and those type of plays I know I can make. So, I put it on me.”
In a post on X, Rodgers wrote that “Racism is real.”
The Vikings released a statement later Monday decrying the comments while calling on their fans to “continue to fight to eliminate racism.”
“We are disgusted by the racial slurs directed at Isaiah Rodgers following yesterday’s game. As we have said previously, there simply is no room for racist words or actions in sports or society. We support Isaiah and all players who, unfortunately, experience this type of ignorant and prejudicial behavior far too often,” the statement read, in part.
Minnesota is on the road for a “Thursday Night Football” showdown with the Los Angeles Chargers on October 23, which means a short week for a banged-up quarterback room facing several questions.
“J.J. McCarthy acknowledged late last week that his injured right ankle still isn’t fully healed,” Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk wrote October 20. “Monday’s practice report indicates he’s still not at 100 percent.”
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ESPN’s Adam Schefter told “The Pat McAfee Show that there was “a chance” McCarthy might return the following week against the Detroit Lions coming off another 10 days rest, which essentially slams the door on McCarthy playing Thursday night in L.A.
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Judd Zulgad of SKOR North suggested on Sunday that Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell give undrafted rookie Max Brosmer a look as the potential starter in three days time.
“If McCarthy isn’t ready to play Thursday — and given how Wentz performed Sunday — is suggesting Brosmer to start really that big of a stretch?” Zulgad wrote. “After watching Wetnz against the Eagles, I’m not sure it is.”
In the third year of his rookie deal, Addison approaching a pivotal offseason with the Vikings, who can exercise his fifth year option and potentially strike an extension this upcoming offseason.
However, the Vikings have already awarded big-money contracts to many members of the offense, including Justin Jefferson. Whether the Vikings want to pay two receivers premium contracts remains to be seen.
Given the circumstances in Minnesota, Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer says Addison fits the bill of a potential trade target for an AFC foe in need of help at wide receiver.
Referring to the New England Patriots’ interest in trading for Brandon Aiyuk, Breer considers Addison a candidate that the Patriots would make a call about acquiring in exchange for “big-time draft capital” before the NFL trade deadline on Nov. 4.
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