I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. I am looking forward to watching some football this weekend. I fear the Vikings game will be painful and could get out of hand early. I know the narrative last year after the playoff loss to the Rams was Sam Darnold was not the answer and not worth 20M to 30M or more. Although, I do not think that people thought the team could be eliminated from the playoffs by December. There are some fans who are OK with a losing season as long as the team is developing the QBOTF. Most fans do not like losing seasons. Period. It is especially hard after going 14-3 last year. It has been a major disappointment this year especially at the QB position. I wanted to see something to give hope for the future. It is very tough now. I have hopes but all the eggs cannot and must not be put in one basket going forward. If the QBs next year are JJ and Brosmer, how many fans are going to be confident that the season will be successful (i.e., make the playoffs).
I do like to do mocks but not really off season plans this early. I might do one or two goof arounds but it is grim. I am already looking to next season as the rest of these games may be meaningless. A loss to Seattle would likely end the Minnesota Vikings’ playoff chances, with their odds dropping to about 1% or less. A Vikings win against the Seahawks would significantly increase their playoff odds, from around 5% to as high as 11%. There is still a chance!
I am hoping Max Brosmer has a decent game.
Minnesota Vikings News and Links
Max Brosmer Prepared for 1st NFL Start as Vikings Visit Seahawks
“You go into a locker room, and it can be cliquey sometimes, and that’s not this locker room at all,” Brosmer said. “There’s not a clique in this locker room; everyone is one big melting pot. And coming into that as a QB is really cool, where you feel like you kind of just mesh right in with the huddle and mesh around the team.
“Breaking down the team today was really cool,” he added. “Everything just felt — I felt there was a really cool unity with the team, and I’m proud and honored to be a part of that. And I’m excited for the team to go showcase that this weekend.”
Vikings Head Coach Kevin O’Connell has spoken highly of Brosmer throughout the year and did so again this week, noting his confidence in the QB goes all the way back to training camp and “watching the way he was able to efficiently run our offense” with whomever he took reps with.
“And then to have him command the huddle the way he did this week — [I’m] not sure the ball hit the ground today, just with the efficiency at which we were operating and throwing and guys were flying around,” O’Connell said. “So I think there’s confidence in Max, and like I said, I’m excited to see him as a guy that I’ve been watching behind the scenes do a lot of work and continue to just make it about the stuff that’s important.”
“I pride myself on being the most prepared guy on the field at all times,” Brosmer said. “That’s just something that I feel caters to my strengths. I was never the most athletic guy, never the strongest guy, but I felt like I could do it better with my mind on the field. And that’s playing NFL quarterback.”
“I think it’s great to have nerves because that’s what locks you in. But the nervous piece comes with anxiousness, and that’s not me. And that’s not this team,” Brosmer said. “You know, I think the nerves you grow up playing with from third and fourth grade, and you’re like, ‘I can’t wait for game day.’ Riding in the car with my mom to go play, you know, Saturday with the guys, with the kids, playing pee-wee football.”
“You have those nerves, and that’s what makes you great,” he said. “You go to the NFL, it’s the exact same thing. You have to have those nerves to play great. This team capitalizes on and owns those. That’s why we have the playmakers in this room to go win the football game.”
Vikings’ Justin Jefferson, Aaron Jones back J.J. McCarthy
Receiver Justin Jefferson and running back Aaron Jones both acknowledged McCarthy’s struggles in the first six games of his career. Jefferson described McCarthy’s 2025 debut as “tough” but predicted improvement in the future.
“It’s early,” Jefferson said. “He’s new to the game. He’s new to the NFL. He’s learning just like everyone else has to learn as a rookie, and he obviously had to go through the mental stage of having to overcome an injury the first year. So just a tough transition for him. But I feel like just him learning these past couple games, and of course learning [during] the stretch of this season, I feel like he’s going to bounce back in a different way than everybody else is going to think so.”
Vikings underestimated the pressure placed on J.J. McCarthy
Through six NFL starts, it seems as if Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy doesn’t have it. Whatever “it” is — that thing that allows a quarterback to thrive in the NFL — it’s not there.
The numbers make that clear. Six touchdown passes, 10 interceptions, passer rating of 57.9. If he had played enough games to make the list of qualifying passing leaders through 12 weeks of the 2025 season, McCarthy would be dead last. By nearly 20 points.
He fails the eyeball test, too. McCarthy’s performances just don’t have the right overall look.
Throw in the fact that he can’t consistently avoid injury, and it adds up to McCarthy being (so far) a top-10 bust.
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In the abstract, did it make sense to find out what they have in McCarthy? Yes. But the Vikings whiffed on the broader strategic question as to the potential impact that passing on Darnold, Jones, and Rodgers would have on the pressure cooker occupied by McCarthy.
Regardless of whether McCarthy can ever develop as a high-end NFL quarterback, the rare (and potentially unprecedented) pressure he was surely feeling may have short-circuited the process, irreparably.
That’s not an excuse for McCarthy. It’s an indictment of the Vikings, flowing directly from the perception that emerged in March among those who were dealing with the Vikings that it wasn’t clear who was making the decision as to whether the quarterback for 2025 would be Darnold, Jones, Rodgers, or McCarthy.
Put simply, there seems to be a current void of effective short- and long-term strategic thinking within the Vikings organization. Kevin O’Connell is a great head coach, able to sculpt every lump of quarterback clay into an effective performer. (Well, except one.) An NFL team needs much more than that to truly thrive.
When it comes to creating a clear path for a young quarterback to check the various boxes, the Vikings instead threw an array of obstacles in McCarthy’s path, in the form of one-at-a-time decisions that added to the expectations and the pressure. Especially after missing all of his rookie season due to a knee injury suffered in his lone preseason game last August.
Who decided it would be a good idea to turn up the heat on McCarthy, one lost veteran opportunity at a time? Did anyone within the organization consider the various factors and complications with an eye toward assessing whether it would result in, to no surprise, McCarthy thinking too much and/or trying too hard?
That brings us back to the question of who, if anyone, is even making those big decisions as it relates to the structure of the roster and the various factors and dynamics that can, and apparently did, torpedo a team that was tantalizingly close to plucking the No. 1 seed a season ago. It’s almost enough to make Vikings fans long for the days of the ill-fated Triangle of Authority.
Currently, maybe it’s a dodecahedron. Whatever the number of cooks, the absence of an Executive Chef is making the Vikings seem like a bunch of dodos as it relates to the handling of J.J. McCarthy.
Note: JJ McCarthy received a fully guaranteed $21,854,796 contract. Pressure comes with those pay checks!
“Confidence is always high no matter what because the guys in that room, because (of) the trust and faith in my abilities,” McCarthy said. “It’s just we’ve got to put things together. We’ve got to keep putting days together, plays together and execute better at the end of the day.”
“I’ve got to be better,” McCarthy said. “I’ve got to do a lot of things better.”
“Getting on the plane and watching the film and continuing to just stack the days and wake up every single day ready to get better and just make small increments each and every day and continuing to just perfect my craft,” McCarthy said. “The weaknesses that are exposed, make sure I’m on track with those and getting back to the right spot every week.”
Vikings’ Justin Jefferson Doesn’t Hold Back About Sam Darnold
In Week 13 NFL action, the Vikings are set to hit the road to face Darnold and the Seahawks. For Justin Jefferson, it’s a tough reminder about the success that he had with Darnold last season.
Jefferson racked up 103 catches for 1,533 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2024 with Darnold as his quarterback. So far this season, his numbers sit at just 60 receptions for 795 yards and two scores.
Ahead of this week’s matchup, Jefferson spoke out with some strong words about his former quarterback.
“He’s definitely balling,” Jefferson said. “It’s hard to miss it when the number one receiver is at the top in the NFL. He’s been killing it. Some people might mention the bad games he’s had, but overall, he’s leading his teams to victories. It will be tough to win in their home environment. We need to lock in, execute our plays on all three phases, and come out with the win.”
Darnold has played in 11 games this season with Seattle. He has thrown for 2,785 yards, 19 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions, while completing 69.5 percent of his passes.
McCarthy, on the other hand, has completed just 54.1 percent of his pass attempts for 929 yards, six touchdowns, and 10 interceptions.
Note: At least JJ has the same number of interceptions as Darnold right?
Sam Darnold’s Seahawks Are Everything the Vikings Thought They Were Building
For the first time this season, Kevin O’Connell will get to see a high-flying offense featuring a quarterback with a big arm throwing to the most productive receiver in football. Complementing that will be a defense that ranks tied for fifth in EPA allowed per play, seventh in total yards allowed, and seventh in points allowed.
Unfortunately for O’Connell, that team will be wearing navy and action green.
The Seattle Seahawks are 8-3, fielding the team the Minnesota Vikings envisioned they were building last offseason. Sam Darnold leads the NFL in yards per completion (9.3) and yards per attempt (13.5). Jaxon Smith-Njigba leads the league with 1,313 yards and is on pace to become the first receiver in NFL history to eclipse 2,000 yards. And the defense is a terror, with interior defensive linemen Byron Murphy and Leonard Williams leading the team with six sacks apiece.
It’d be painful enough to see them have this kind of success with Darnold one season after he led the Vikings to a 14-3 record, throwing for 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns. But Minnesota is 4-7 in large part because of its inept passing attack that ranks 28th in total yards.
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Minnesota’s lack of a passing game is also affecting Justin Jefferson, who is publicly saying all the right things despite having the worst statistical season of his career. He has caught 60 passes for 795 yards, which still ranks eighth in the league, but has only two touchdowns. Jefferson has gone six straight games without reaching 100 yards, a mark he has only exceeded twice this season (both with Wentz under center).
Jefferson is averaging roughly 72.3 yards per game, which isn’t bad for most receivers and is 10 yards above the 61.9-yard average from WR1s across the league. Still, it’s well below his NFL-record 93.5 receiving yard average over his career, and he entered the season averaging 96.5. Jefferson hasn’t publicly criticized the situation yet, but could that change Sunday when he witnesses the NFL’s most productive receiver playing for the opposing team?
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Defensively, the Vikings have been good enough to win, but far from the dominant force they believed they could be when they added Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave in March. The veteran defensive tackles were supposed to give the Vikings the kind of interior pass rush that the Seahawks have.
Allen and Hargrave appeared to make Harrison Phillips expendable. However, they haven’t pressured quarterbacks (43 combined pressures and 5.5 sacks) and aren’t as consistent in stopping the run. The Vikings are tied for 19th in EPA allowed per run (-0.03) after ranking first in 2024 (-0.17) and tied for 13th in 2023 (-0.10) despite lacking star power.
The Vikings rank 11th in total yards allowed and 18th in points allowed. That’s adequate defense, and perhaps a more productive offensive attack would help force opposing teams into riskier approaches.
Sam Darnold: Grateful for time with Vikings, excited to keep building with Seahawks
“I’m very grateful for the time that I spent there,” Darnold said, via the team’s website. “All the people that I created relationships with, all the people in that locker room, all the coaches there, the people in that building, but I am very excited to be here and to continue doing what we’re doing this year.”
Vikings score predictions for Week 13 trip to face Darnold, Seahawks
Joe Nelson: Vikings 38, Seahawks 13
The truth about J.J. McCarthy being a bust and Max Brosmer beginning a heroic journey begins, as the undrafted rookie throws for 300 yards and five touchdowns to lead the Vikings to a shocking blowout victory. Sam Darnold throws four interceptions. The world rights itself in three hours, leaving nothing more than questions about who will trade for McCarthy in the offseason.
Editor’s note: Joe does not ever pick Vikings losses, a strategy that worked better for him last season than in this one. The last time a double-digit NFL underdog won by at least 25 points was in 2008.
Insider floats surprising QB reunion as ‘ideal fit’ for Vikings
In a look at the latest buzz surrounding teams heading into Week 13, Fowler noted that Minnesota’s quarterback issues will affect their 2026 plans. Fowler wrote that executives around the league are wondering whether the Vikings will bring in a “veteran/reclamation project” QB to compete with McCarthy next season, like the Colts did with the Daniel Jones-Anthony Richardson situation.
It’s Jones who Fowler sees as an “ideal fit” for the Vikings, adding that Minnesota “really liked Jones, and their situation will be far different than the one from a year ago.” Though after an incredible 2025 season, in which he has the Colts sitting in third place in the AFC through 12 weeks with an 8-3 record, Jones is likely to be the envy of a lot of QB-needy teams this offseason. That’s if, and it’s a massive if, Indianapolis lets him walk after the season.
Vikings could revisit this 2022 draft name if free agency plays out right in 2026
Four years later, Linderbaum makes even more sense for the Vikings. He’s a proven commodity in a good offense, and Baltimore recently declined his fifth-year option for 2026, which opens the door for him to test free agency next spring.
Note: Let the dreaming begin. No chance that Linderbaum would want to come to Minnesota unless the QB situation improves dramatically. Not many free agents will sign up for losing unless they are getting a pretty big bag.
Yore Mock
Trade Partner: ChiefsSent: Pick: 43Received: Pick: 45, Pick 153…Trade Partner: TexansSent: Pick: 45Received: Pick: 49, Pick 117…Trade Partner: CommandosSent: Pick: 153, Pick 227Received: Pick: 146
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Pick 12 Spencer Fano OT Utah 6’6” 308Pick 49 Dillon Thieneman S Oregon 6’0” 205Pick 74 Julian Neal CB Arkansas 6’2” 208Pick 97 Eli Stowers TE Vanderbilt 6’4” 235Pick 117 Nick Singleton RB Penn State 6’0” 224Pick 146 Kenyatta Jackson EDGE Ohio State 6’6” 265Pick 164 Logan Jones IOL Iowa 6’3” 302Pick 207 Bryce Lance WR North Dakota State 6’3” 209Pick 237 Red Murdock LB Buffalo 6’1” 240
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