Are Minnesota Vikings heading towards ANOTHER offseason of QB uncertainty?

Are Minnesota Vikings heading towards ANOTHER offseason of QB uncertainty?

Like a dog in the street. Purple Daily is daily Vikings entertainment. We just want the Vikings to win a Super Bowl before we die. I will ride with this group. Seriously, man. Please. And away we go. Uh Jeremiah serals gave me a an offensive line room O line committee fine yesterday for adding the uh JJ McCarthy dog in a street thing back to the intro of Purple Daily as a love thy captor homer find said listen the guy you can clown him all you want. The guy had a good game and so he deserves he deserves to go back to the front of the Purple Daily episode. Wait, so Sorl said what though? What am I saying? It’s a It’s a Homer fine for me and us for putting JJ McCarthy. Well, I had nothing to do with that. Uhuh. Don’t Don’t You wanted You wanted Matthew Stafford’s voice at I wanted Well, you know what I just wanted? I I I would have preferred like a sound of Sunny sort of crying just a bit. Could have given you that 45 yesterday. It was baby steps. We just took a little minor step. We took a little booty step on Sunday. He got he got so pissed off last night for the first like legit like like anger anger tears for the first time of his life for like 15 minutes and I’ll be honest almost sent mom and dad into a panic cuz we didn’t know what to do for 15 minutes like just tell us what’s wrong like dude like was he hungry was he nicky was just just frustrated as all hell was just frustrated as hell well you know I am shocked by this news considering who his father is yes and the patience that his father I am shocked that Sunny would lash out. You didn’t see it coming. Now imagine what you did to your poor parents when you pulled the same stunt. I know. I know. Sunny already has a mustache and a low level of patience. You know, you know, especially with Jud. That’s my boy. He’s like, that’s my boy. I can’t stand that guy. Stafford takes. Uh this is our state of the Vikings Purple Daily. Every Tuesday we dive deep and we give you kind of where the Vikings are at in some key categories. Talk about the biggest storyline of the week. So we’ll do all those things. MSP Plumbing, Heating, and Air Conditioning is helping to power this deep dive today, Jud. They are indeed. And you know what, folks? All right, the cold is here. We’re sp we’re getting snow. We’re getting all types of stuff. And if you have any issues, if your furnace is perhaps not firing on all cylinders, if that’s such a thing. If you have issues where you know what, you are concerned about its functioning, then you want to make one call. MSB Plumbing, Heat, Heating, and Air can take care of it for you. They’ll be there quickly. I had an experience a couple years ago with this exact thing this time of year. And guess what? They were out here in no time at all and fixed it. They do fantastic work. They are reliable. They’re also your local carrier dealer. Uh and of course MSP and Carrier a winning combination. 651-6154292. Callm MSP.com is the website. Callms MSP.com. They will help you out with whatever you need. Okay. So, let’s let’s start with until they are mathematically eliminated, we are going to continue giving you playoff odds. According to ESPN’s football power index football, I was trying to play around last night. Like I I did the I went on I went on there I went on the the the playoff machine, I should say, on ESPN. I did like the win out tried to figure out like, all right, what if the Bears lose out? Then what if the Lions lose out? Then what if I forget who else I was trying? Maybe like the Niners or the Seahawks and then like the combinations weren’t lining up and then I gave up after like six minutes. So that was my attempt to try to get the Vikings into the playoffs. Yeah. And that’s that’s the mystery of like how have they not been mathematically eliminated cuz part of the So they so they’ve rounded down on ESPN’s FBI 0% chance to make the playoffs. Division is officially mathematically over and uh Super Bowl technically still alive, but they’re rounding down to zero. But to to your point, I was trying to do this a little bit too of Okay, so right now there are there’s wild card teams with like nine wins. The Bears and the Niners both have nine wins and the Vikings if they win out can get to nine wins. So you would need the Bears andor NerS to lose out. But the problem is they play each other in a couple weeks, right? So that actually hurts the Vikings chances even more. Um, so I think they would need And then do the Lions and Bears play each other? Yes, the And then the Lions and Bears play each other in week So you need to like pick a horse basically. Let’s call Let’s say the Bears. Bears cuz the Bears play the NerS and the Lions in weeks 17 and 18, and you need them to lose all of their games, including those games. Well, should we should you actually though pick the Lions because you’ve you’ve split with the Bears, so you have a chance for the Vikings to sweep the Lions, right? So, if that tiebreaker comes into play, wouldn’t you want you’d probably want the advantage over the team you already have the win up on that you don’t have the loss against? Well, or you hope that the Lions lose out instead of eight wins and then the tiebreaker doesn’t I am fine with allowing the season to come to an end. I don’t need to torture this. I don’t need to make it happen. You know what? This is great. This is You know what? Beat the Eagles. Beat the Ravens. Let’s go back in time. Uh, let’s beat a Philadelphia team that, by the way, is just a weird team now. Like, that loss is looking worse and worse. Yeah, we’ll see. We’ll see how sports dad’s tone changes after a bunch of things fall the right way this Sunday. And we’ll see. But again, this this category is not going to die until the math dies. And to this point, the math is not dead. Uh, offensive ranks, scoring offense, the Vikings are 26th, up from 28th. Nice little 31 point performance. 27th in yards per play and 29th in offensive expected points added. So by most measurements they are a fringe bottom five offense even after a 31point performance. Defensive ranks after the shut out they are 12th in scoring defense up from 18th a week ago. Sixth in yards per play defense and seventh in defensive expected points added. So nice little run here for this defense. not as dominant with the takeaways and everything as they were a year ago, but it is a formidable top 10 defense by most measurements. And then where does JJ McCarthy rank after his best game of his young career among qualified quarterbacks? He is still last in passer rating. That’s 34th among the qualifies for passer rating. Uh the qualifying uh lines are a little bit different for each of these, but QBR 33 quarterbacks qualify. He’s last expected points added and completion percentage over expected as one sort of all-encompassing metric. He’s he’s caught Dylan Gabriel in that metric. So, he is tied for last now. Pulled Dylan Gabriel down the run catching up. Uh and then PFF grade, he’s actually 39th out of 44 qualified quarterbacks. So, he’s he’s making his way up the ladder. So all of those four categories in aggregate, he is the 35th ranked quarterback in the NFL. Which brings us to our biggest storyline even after a good performance and Kevin Oonnell catering and tailoring things more toward McCarthy and it resulted in a blowout win over a bad defense and making it very clear at his press conference that he had had to do that. He was very distraught about the fact that well I mean you got to do this and you got to do that and then he said and then he said you know I’ve seen the word simplification I wish it were cuz I’d be what was his quote Phil getting more sleep right now sleep yeah it’s like dude I have just a quick side street on that this is the second time that that he has essentially gone to the podium after a win mind you where he had to sort of tailor the dumb down or whatever the playbook simplify miserable and no one’s saying that that it’s not work. Obviously, you’re taking something that is here’s my playbook and I’m curating it in a certain way. Of course, it’s going to be work to do that, even if you’re making it more simple. Uh, but he gets up there and it’s like, okay, from a macro perspective, he went into the lab as a head coach, as a play caller, and he modified what wasn’t working into something that would work against a bad defense. But you don’t have to apologize. It’s still one of 32 NFL teams. They got Von Miller over there. They got Frankie Louvu. Like they got they got some good players on that defense, too. And you beat the breaks. It wasn’t like you won the game 16 to 12 or something. You beat the hell out of that team with a good offensive game plan. Exactly what you should do. And people are finding whether it’s fans or media or even Kevin Oonnell, everyone feels like dirty after that game. Everyone should feel great after that game. Well, it was a bad defense. Okay. Well, if you’re playing a bad defense, go score 30 points and beat the crap out of them, which they did. So, like, why is why does he feel bad waking up after you didn’t you didn’t do anything that was like you you modified your game plan in a way that helped your team win by a wide margin. You should celebrate that, right? Every everybody should be saying that. Let’s wait and see that. I’m fine with that. But Okonnell But what O’Connell has done again and and this was the Cleveland game with Carson Wentz. Okay, so this is not a McCarthy thing. What Oonnell has done again though is basically say he he feels that he is the the Beethoven of play calling and he’s like and I had to go play with this garage band. What are we doing here? Like you can hear it. You can hear the fact that that he is basically saying I’ve had to take this you know peace de resistance of offensive play calling and dumb it down like you can hear it clear as day and and it’s not just a McCarthy thing because this goes back to WZ too but that’s what gets me it’s like you found a way to win okay you won by you won by a lot and if you want to tell people to calm down actually no problem with that but he like he is distraught when he cannot run his game plan. What was the comment he made yesterday about, you know, you can he tried to avoid the word simplify, but like, you know, you can kind of pair things down or whatever, but at the end of the day, this is still the National Football League and you’re trying to you’re trying to maybe simplify things, but also know that this is the National Football League and there’s only so much you can do. You got to go out there and but he used he used it as like a hey man, like at a certain point you have to come up to what I want you to do as a NFL quarterback. And that’s true, but I would flip that around on him and say, “Dude, this is the National Football League.” And if you’re trying to get a young quarterback or a new or even like Wentz, like a guy that’s just jumping into this thing after not being part of any of the offseason program and your expectation is that they are hunting for all of those chunks that Cousins was getting. Darnold having started in the program after being in a Shanahan system and then starting in the program back in April all the way through the offseason taking a bunch of reps like it’s the NFL man. It’s unrealistic to expect a newbie to come in and drive your car the way that you want. So I mean I can play I can play the other side with the this is the National Football League comment too. what he what he did was praiseworthy on Sunday and he feels like it’s a detriment or a black mark on him as a play caller. Yes. It’s the opposite, dude. It means you’re flexible and you’re adjusting, but he doesn’t want to be. Yeah. Like like that’s your problem. He does not want to be flexible. He does not want to adjust. And in retrospect now there is an entire discussion like I was all for I was you know what you drafted this kid top 10. You need to find out like like let’s stop with this. She would bring Darnold back for a couple of years. What I didn’t realize and if if someone had gone in the future and told me at the time was, well, but the coach isn’t really going to like what the kid can do. Like like the question now is why didn’t you just keep Sam? Like that’s the question now. I did not realize he wouldn’t adjust. I had no idea like like we have never seen him with a guy like this before. If I had known this was coming, I would have said, “Yeah, just you know what? Trade McCarthy stay on Sam.” But the stuff at the podium, the only thing I like about it is it does give a good it gives a window into who he is and and like he doesn’t play as nice there. There’s a lot of times at the podium he plays nice. Uh on this one, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to read into what he’s saying. And I do think that it presents it it presents a very good uh picture of who he is and what he he wants. and wins are nice, but clearly the high-flying circus act is nicer to him. The the high-flying circus act the the last two games of with Darnold last year and then basically going into this year and you’re still running your 11 personnel which we detailed yesterday is one of the worst offenses in the league and you’re throwing a hissy fit over something like buddy look look at the numbers. you crapped your your your system with the other quarterback that you apparently maybe wanted crapped himself in the two biggest games last season. It didn’t work. Okay. So, he he’s he’s gone. Now, you have to use JJ McCarthy. You apparently I think were on favor of drafting a year and a half ago and there’s going to be some speed bumps. You can’t completely go the same speed you were was before and your offense that you’re running with 11 personnel wasn’t working. So, yeah, you got to make some adjustments. I I agree with Phil. I think it’s a good and positive sign that you adjusted, but the the the tone and the hissy fit nature that he’s throwing is it’s very uh it’s very frustrating and it’s also completely kind of shifted my entire view of him, which I didn’t I didn’t think it was this possible to have this kind of view of him after what I thought he was going into this season. And that’s a segue. So, we’re we’re already like we’re already definitely into the meat of the biggest storyline here, which is as the season comes to a conclusion in the next month, offseason quarterback uncertainty looms again for this franchise. And Mike T, one of our OG listeners here on Purple Daily, Mike T sends this email. It’s feedback Friday on a State of the Vikings Tuesday, but I thought this was an appropriate jumping off point for a bigger discussion here. So he says, “Not sure I’ve ever been more offended by a take in my years listening to Purple Daily than I was on Monday. Jud has concluded that they are pulling the plug on JJ McCarthy and they already know it.” This kind of your speculation and Kevin Oonnell is already ready to move on. He firmly believes, though we now have proof of concept for an offensive approach that could work in the development process, that Kevin Oonnell just can’t help himself because he has a kick-ass offense. If that take by Jud turns out to be true, I am completely out on Kevin Oonnell and this organization until he’s gone. It means after six games and you can’t include the seventh game because Judge said that it may have already been determined. Again, you’re not reporting that, but just kind of reading the tea leaves because there they went into the seventh game like, you know what, all those highly important mechanical discussions we had where we basically like mandated that until you get to a certain standard mechanically, we don’t feel comfortable putting you into an NFL game is the way that they were speaking about it a month ago. just forget about all that stuff until the off seasonason and go have fun, right? Uh and turns out he had the best game of his young career so far. But uh so after six games, KO is is admitting to having failed his quarterback and we will be destined to a future of reclamation project quarterbacks. If he can’t alter his system or adjust in the interest of long-term development and potential long-term success, he’s not the coach we hoped he was. Let that sink in. six games and JJ McCarthy is 22 years old being asked to do a lot of things that veteran quarterbacks can’t do. I’m going to hope that he’s actually turned a corner and this is part of Kevin’s development as a coach and play caller. But if that’s true, uh, and if that’s true, the future should be bright if he’s adaptable. JJ will be someone’s franchise quarterback at some point. Let’s just hope we don’t write him off and become like the Cleveland Browns who are now bemoning the decision years down the line to abandon Baker Mayfield after Kevin is fired for his arrogant brand of offense that won’t win in the playoffs. Mike T coming in now. Okay. Yeah, that’s really hot. That’s all great points, but here’s my comeback as far as as what I think the Vikings think about that. I think Okonnell and the Vikings think, hold on a second here. Cousins, we had what? 13 wins. Darnold, we had 14 wins. If I get a guy like if I get a Stafford with the arm, right? And and in his case, a Super Bowl championship. I can immediately do everything I want. And right or wrong, in his mind, he can win a championship. So like this is the difference in I I agree with Mike’s points. I think they’re great points. And and quite frankly, again, I felt to start the season, I was on the McCarthy side of let’s find out here and it might not be be good. I didn’t think it would be this bad at times as it got. But anyway, um but I don’t think that’s how Okonnell thinks. And I think it’s very clear he thinks if I have a guy that can do what I want, execute my game plan, we can win. And I would argue that separate from that that when you get to the playoffs, I don’t know that his play calling can win. But he’s not going to say that. and he’s not going to think that. So, I’m on team Mike here, but my hot take was based off what I think the Vikings think. And and there was nothing that Okonnell said at his Monday press conference that moved me off that spot, to use a quarterback term. I didn’t get moved off my spot. I’m still in the pocket there saying this is this is how I interpret it. You know, Florio had a big kind of takeout piece on Pro Football Talk this weekend, and I I thought his general point I thought was a really good one, which is you have to go back, if you’re the ownership group, you have to go back 18 months ago and figure out and kind of untangle, okay, how did how did we start on the path to where the Vikings wound up in November, where you’re out of the playoffs basically by Thanksgiving? Was it because the way Florio framed it was you had some faction internally that wanted to move off more certain options at quarterback for the uncertainty of drafting a quarterback where where you’re taking on some risk, but you are opening up this window where you could you have cap space and flexibility. And if your quarterback whisper head coach can get it to click pretty quickly with that young quarterback, boom, now you’ve entered maybe like a wide open four-year window of contention. But it also felt like with all these little nuggets of Sam Darnold, are they going to keep him? Even back to Kirk Cousins after the Achilles. I mean, Kevin was on national TV kind of stumping for the Vikings to resign Cousins, which would have been a wild mistake to give him $45 million a year all the way through the Aaron Rogers flirtations and the Justin Herbert report that as Florio pointed out, there was a canary in the coal mine trying to give a warning signal and and you have to figure out who was on which side of these decisions. And for the people that were adamant you could push forward with JJ McCarthy as the only solidified quarterback on the roster because remember they they didn’t have a backup until the draft and then they cut that back up after seeing him for like two months. Was everyone involved in in that? And and if the and if that’s the case then all right well sometimes you make mistakes and smart smart people make mistakes. It doesn’t mean you have to just fire everyone every time they make a mistake. But if if Kevin was over here, maybe even before the draft of JJ McCarthy saying, “I don’t feel comfortable with this unless it’s Drake May. I don’t feel comfortable with this.” And the front office came out and said, “Dude, you’re being paid to develop quarterbacks and at some point we have to do this. So if you think you can make it work with McCarthy, we’re going to draft him.” He said, “I I like I mean, I like him. I There’s a lot of mechanical stuff to be like, where is the answer?” It feels like based on the way that he has been you have to twist his arm and and and ring it out until he adapts his playbook. It feels to me like he knew from the get-go this is a bad idea. And the look on his face even on the sidelines during like that game on Sunday they’re beating the crap out of the commanders and every time they show Connelly like he looks depressed on the sidelines. So I’d love to know where was he behind the scenes on all of this the last 18 months? First of all, the look on his face when he is not getting the properly executed in his opinion quarterback play goes back to um to Mond, right? Or Dobs. Josh Dobs. Josh Dobs. When Josh Dobs started to actually when he installed his game plan with Josh Dobs and Dobs is scrambling around. It was fun to watch actually for a while. Um he had that beused look like this isn’t what I’m doing. And and where I will not give him a pass though on this McCarthy thing at all is on the fact that you cannot declare I believe the previous spring that you are the quarterback killer that we have passed on many a quarterbacks cuz I don’t want them and then say but I got overruled in this case. You are the quarterback guy. You are the guru. I am not. There’s a lot of things to dump on guys like Quazy and Griggsson about. I refuse to do it on this. To me, this is his baby. It didn’t work out like he anticipated. I don’t know at some point. You know what? There’s probably behind the scenes stuff we for sure don’t know. But at the end of the day, this is his and I’m not going to give him a pass. So, he he doesn’t get the Well, I got overruled here. I think he wanted Kirk back um on Darnold. If he had really wanted Sam back, they could have franchised him and I think they do. I think he I think this was his guy and and it didn’t work out. And I guess the hubris in retrospect is he clearly thought that he could get McCarthy because McCarthy has a strong arm. Like that’s the that’s the deceiving thing. Sports dad got deceived too. Um Okonnell and I sort of in the same boat here. Uh when we went and saw McCarthy pass in the OTAAS, the mini camp and training camp, it’s like that dude’s got an arm. He saw that arm and he said I I can work with this. But then you started to see the issues and and how things changed in games. And so to me, JJ McCarthy is 98% Kevin O’Connell’s baby and it didn’t work. And that’s on that’s on McCarthy slightly, but that’s also on a misjudgment by Okonnell, I think. So, so let me let me pose this next question. Let’s because I think there’s like there’s two different ways that we are having these conversations. There’s through the prism of what we think the Vikings are thinking and doing and and what we know they’re thinking and doing, but then there’s what we think as longtime football opinionists and and observers and fans. So, based on what you guys have seen from McCarthy so far in seven games and in the last game where he hit a high note there, how comfortable are you guys with where he’s at right now? Like if if you had to make a decision right now, not based on what you think the Vikings would do, but based on what you think watching football, are you interested in watching him play 17 games in 2026 for the Vikings? Yes. Yes. I I Yes. I I understand it was bumpy, but um I I’m certainly not bailing on this thing quite yet. I do think they misjudged going into this season having the capable backup. And you know, I guess in theory, like if is our tone changed if they had signed Carson Wentz initially and he was here longer because I mean I mean Wentz won a couple games, right? I mean if if you go in any season, your backup has to start. And you can say well that can that guy win at least two games if he has to start and Wentz technically did win two games, but they didn’t have an adequate backup plan. And I do think that hurt them a lot. That being said, I you you can’t just in my opinion bail on this and if the other contingency plan is well uh we’re gonna trade a second a conditional first round pick for M. Jones unless it is someone that is like which is the pipe dream is is the Herbert of the Burrow which again I I don’t know why those franchises would even remotely give up on those guys. Unless it’s someone like that I’m not interested. I’m not interested at all and I want to see JJ McCarthy get a full run again in year two as a starter. So, right now, yeah, I’m still I’m still in on JJ McCarthy as my QB1 in 2026. I very much am. But I I mean, this would involve a discussion from the very very top with Okonnell. Uh because you cannot you cannot decide and this is what I fear is they’re going to, you know, they’re going to work on the mechanics in the spring and the summer and then they’re going to say, “Okay, let’s go back out there and do it again.” So, I very much want to give McCarthy a chance. I personally would I I would have I would actually have the come to Jesus with the head coach, not the quarterback. Um, and yeah, I’m with Declan in fully with Declan. I would I would get a backup QB who can start because not because I think JJ sucks, but because he’s hurt so much. So, like like that’s my at this is such a sad thing to say at the end of the day in our discussion here. The real talking point should be can he stay healthy. That should be the real talking point right now because that’s a major concern. Um but yeah, I would I I would want to see Okonnell bring him along though and and that’s where I don’t think that they’ve done right by McCarthy because if you’re going to force feed him this diet again, like you’re setting him up to fail. You’re just setting him up to fail, which is frustrating. Yeah. I’m I mean count me in on I’ve seen enough on the upside. I’ve seen enough flashes, seen enough with his demeanor and his personality and leadership and the way teammates I mean there was a clip too of Justin Jefferson who has just had the driest spell of his career. Thorp put this clip out of the all 22 where it was um it was that I think it was a similar concept to the throw he missed badly throwing to Jordan Addison on that kind of deep out. Yep. Where Jefferson’s underneath and Jefferson pulls a couple defenders and it opens up a window on that second level to hit like a 20 yard pass on third down by the way. Third and 12 I think it was to Jordan Addison. Jefferson was wide open as well, but the bigger chunk throw was over the top layering it in to Jordan Addison. And Jefferson rather than being like, “Why can’t I get the ball ever when I’m wide open?” You see him turn around and point at McCarthy and give him the yes, that was the correct decision. even though I was open to throw it. So, it’s like he still has at least some level of buyin from teammates. We’ve we’ve seen and heard it throughout 18 months. And I feel like again if you had to make the decision right now short of uh Joe Burrow coming available to that point, I feel like you would regret bailing early without letting this play out for another year and a half in some form with JJ McCarthy than you would if you went for the sugar high of a Mac. Jones to just let’s instantly get better at quarterback but maybe cap our ceiling. But like the Vikings organization and even fans are so used to chasing that short-term quarterback sugar high and mostly don’t have the stomach or patience to let a a young inexperienced guy work his way through. Um, and it’s I think it goes back to Ponderman. It’s like we have Christian Ponder post-traumatic stress syndrome here still because he was so bad and such a bust. We assume that every quarterback that would ever pass through these doors that struggles in their first eight to 10 starts is, “Oh, well that’s Christian Ponder. I don’t need to see anymore.” Well, okay, maybe. Like, yeah, maybe. But I still argue you can’t possibly know after seven games. You can’t. So, you can think that you know and then bail for the sugar high, but but there’s I mean there there’s been examples that have walked through your door on the other side of that. Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield over here in the NFC. So, I I just feel like you would regret not playing this process out for more games more than the other way around if you’re the organization. Well, if I owned this team, what I would say is you’re starting McCarthy in 26. I don’t care if you win three games. I don’t care because what I want what I would want and this is not how the Vikings and the Wils operate at all but what I would want is let’s find out and then you know in 27 it’s a good QB draft class. Now the issue with that is you’ve got to have faith in your evaluators like this is that that this is the flip side too. So like if you get a top three pick you got to have faith that that you’re going to ride the correct horse here. But that being said, yeah, like you could, if we weren’t so fixated on can you get to nine wins or the Wolves weren’t or 10 wins, you could let this thing play out, let nature take its course. Okay, he’s terrible for I I mean, let’s just say he starts 17 games, which is probably a long shot because he’s hurt a lot, but let’s say he starts 17 games and he’s not good. Okay, that’s a large sample size now. like like now we now we’ve sort of got a little bit more about that you can sink your teeth in into what what approximately at that point hopefully like 25 starts or so now you sort of know a little bit to to say this quarterback class is really good we were really bad it was awesome and I want a top pick and and yes McCarthy might develop but the reality is we can now get like a top three pick but nobody who works for the Vikings has that chip in their brain to accept that As frustrating as it is to watch right now, guess who’s done it right? The Patriots. The Patriots have done it right. Great run, fantastic run. Then you just suck. And there was a lot of people that cover that team, too, that thought Drake May was a dud after like the first 10 games last year. Oh, he’s he’s reckless. He turns the ball over too much. He’s just not he’s not the guy. Like this. It’s like football. It’s how football operates now. It’s like this is the this is the slow cook long-term position in sports and and our attention span for needing an answer on it now is as short as ever. So, in that spirit, if the Vikings do decide to go into the alternative option bin, I I’ve been thinking about this a lot the last couple days, and there’s a name that popped into my head and I want to th I want to throw something by you guys here in a second after we shout out Mystic Lake. I think you’re going to probably be mad at this, but we’ll talk about Mystic Lake first and then we’ll we’ll get into more of the meat of this. Oh, well, guess what then? I I need to make a quick stop at the Hop House. Exactly. Right. Mystic Lakes Hop House, their newest bar, a sports bar. Phil’s about to tick me off, but guess what? When I think about the Hop House, it’s Kumbaya, as Doogie likes to say, on this show because I’m thinking about a place with I mean, look at that. If you’re watching this right now, look at all of those TVs. Look at all the football that you can watch every sport. And again, I will say it, the most important thing is Hop House not only has the TVs, but they know what they’re doing. And so you’re going to get all of the games. If if you want to watch um a variety of sporting events, Hop House is a great place to stop. Also great food, great drink. Hop House Mystic Lake, check it out. And and also if you make a reservation to stay at their hotel, you can make an entire weekend of things both at the Hop House and uh playing and staying at Mystic Lake. Also, look at this glorious bottle of uh Pendleton whiskey sitting right here. It’s been few and far between. in the celebratory sips of Pendleton Whiskey after victories this year. But uh you know got one last weekend. It was great. Pendleton Whiskey is an official whiskey partner of the Minnesota Vikings. Not just poured, it’s earned like the victories and like the weather in Minnesota. We have to kind of grind it out sometimes. Uh and with Pendleton whiskey, it’s smooth enough to sip after a win and bold enough to remind you of the work it took to get there. It’s the whiskey you want for your Vikings game days. Stop into your local liquor store and see uh hopefully they have these 10-year stadium anniversary bottles for you. If not, maybe ask nicely and they will uh make that happen. 2025 Pendleton Distillers Proximosspirits.com, please drink responsibly. And also Roku is the official TV of uh Purple Daily and Score North. And it’s it’s a great time of year for sports. You got you got the winter sports. We got a plethora of college postseason games coming up in football, the NFL, and sometimes it’s hard to figure out what platforms sporting events are on. And that’s where if you’re a sports fan, Roku makes it really easy, recommending based on your favorites, based on your history, uh the different games and leagues that you are interested in right on the home screen there. So, and during holiday season, they’re recommending all these fun festive holiday channels to the Mackey’s, the Cocktail Jazz channel, the Ule Logs and everything. Uh Roku TV, America’s number one TV streaming platform, and uh this new line of smart TVs the last couple years that are available in retailers near you or Roku.com to find more information. So, I mean, the big question here going forward is what would if if Jud’s theory is correct that they’ve kind of decided, nice job on Sunday, JJ, but we’re we’re going to we’re going to go into the pond here and get a bigger fish and you could still be here and like learn from that fish. But, uh, if if they’ve already kind of decided that or if they do decide that after the season, the big question is what would Kevin Oonnell’s list of ideal options look like? because he’s going to be the one regardless of what happens to the front office. Like Kevin’s going to be the one that gets the say in what happens at that position. And I think there are two general bins that he would be fishing in. Bin number one that you guys have talked about is the fully formed badass veteran quarterback that he knows can do this at a high level. Jud threw out Matthew Stafford yesterday as kind of a an end stamp on his hottest Vikings take. Matthew Stafford is the man who helped vault Kevin Oonnell into head coaching candidacy back in 2021. They won a Super Bowl together, but this would require a Rams breakup somehow and it just I don’t know. We have to kind of see how that manifests. It actually they almost broke up last year, but we have to see how that manifests. Aaron Rogers would be in this bin. And you could argue very strongly that he’s no longer badass, but maybe Kevin would put the quarterback beer goggles on just like he almost did with those flirtations last summer. Um, some people might say that Kyler Murray is in this bin. I don’t know if I see that. Just like weird vibes as a leader. He doesn’t really play in structure as much as maybe Kevin wants. We’ve brought up the Burrows and the Herberts. Do there is there some way where they have a falling out? I don’t think so. But like there’s the fully formed bin. All right. But then there’s bin number two, the next Sam Darnold. And I think M. Jones is the obvious candidate in that bin via trade. He’s got one year left on his deal. Former first round pick, 57 career starts racked up, and 27 years old, been in the league now for like six years, can speak the language at a high level, understands the general sort of Shanahanian system and tree. Uh, and he had those breakout eight or nine games. So, that’s going to be an obvious name in the Sam Darnold bin. But, I want to bring to you a less obvious name in the next Sam Darnold bin. I’m putting myself in the shoes of Kevin Oonnell. When they signed Darnold a year and a half ago, everybody thought, what are they thinking? Like, what? How? Sam Darnold, he’s garbage, right? But Kevin saw something different. He saw first round talent, athletic, just needs the right and he and he spent some time in the right quarterback rehab schools before getting to Okonnell. The world sees this, but I see this and what’s possible and it comes to fruition, right? So, hear me out on this. Not stumping for it. I’m just trying to put myself in the shoes of Kevin Okcon. high first round draft pick just like Sam Darnold. Drafted by a garbage franchise just like Sam Darnold. Started over 30 games in his early 20s for that garbage franchise just like Sam Darnold. Things didn’t go well. Uh this quarterback had a passer rating in the mid70s in those 30 plus games. So like a Christian Ponder range passer rating and a QBR below 40 in his final season with said garbage franchise just like Sam Darnold. Uh the team only won about 35% of games started by this quarterback and decided n I think we’re good. We’ve we’ve seen enough at this point just like Sam Darnold. Then the quarterback eventually moves into a Shanahanian system as a backup to try to rejuvenate his career and kind of goes into hiding for a little bit just like Sam Darnold. When Darnold rolled into Vikings camp, he was 27 years old. If this quarterback were to roll into Vikings camp this summer, he would also be 27 years old. May I interest you in the next Sam Darnold? Zach Wilson. Y figured it was him. I’m I’m trying to put myself in the shoes of Kevin Oonnell and I know that 80% of listeners and viewers just clicked stop on the episode and are never coming back. I understand that. Right. I’m just trying to put myself in the shoes of Kevin Okonnell. Yeah. I mean, I would have to know what the development has been since since he left. Uh, where where is he now? Miami. Miami. Miami. Okay. He was in Denver for a a a cup of coffee, right? He was Yeah, he was with Shawn Peyton. I think that was the last year of his rookie scale deal if I’m not correct. So, he went Okay. Mhm. Did they trade Did Broncos trade for him? Yeah, it was a like a day three, seventh round. It was Yeah, it was a ham sandwich and actually seventh round pick in 20h 63. But who’s keeping track? Led to the Vikings getting Will Riker. The Broncos announced that they had acquired Wilson with a 2024 7th round pick from the Jets in exchange for a 2024 sixth round pick which was the pick used to select Will Riker. Oh, okay. The Vikings. So, in a roundabout way, Zack Wilson brought the Vikings the best maybe the best kicker in the league and and perhaps Crazy’s uh best pick or second best pick, which is an incredible thing. Uh this isn’t so Yes. At first, you’re right. Like it’s like what are you talking about? I’m in Philadelphia. I know you’re still in the lead. Mackey wants Zack Wilson to be the starting quarterback for the That’s not aggregatorsite. You do your thing. You do your thing out there. I can’t stop you from doing it. Um so all right, let’s tie this together. Like like let’s explore this space since you just threw this out there. Uh Miami right now. I’m pretty certain Mike McDaniel gets fired. Okay. I’m pretty certain he’ll be looking for a job. I don’t know how close he and Kevin are, but he definitely uh what I think they were together or they or they basically come from the same tree. They so they’ve never as far as I know never actually coached together, but they both have come from like the same Shanahanian tree. Cleveland, Washington, those Washington guys that that like Washington four all left I think right before Okonnell got there like like they like passed like passing ships in the night. But anyway, my point is if you let’s say that you made a change coaching staff-wise, now Okonnell’s not going to give a play calling, but let’s say you h you brought on McDaniel as well, like as your OC or something like that, okay? And if he if he gives you a a ringing endorsement on Zack Wilson, like at first it sounds stupid and then it seems just far-fetched, but then like when you put the pieces together, it’s plausible. Darnold sounded stupid and far-fetched. It’s like what are they? This is reckless. Why are you doing this? But they see it differently behind the scenes because they know more what they’re looking at. And those guys are also like coaches, especially guys like that who essentially, I think it’s fair to say, run in the same offensive circles like Kyle Shanahan, no question, gave Kevin Oonnell a good endorsement of Darnold, right? Hey, he did a good job here. He’s not going to start here. Um, and at the end of the day, it’s not nearly, I don’t think, as competitive non-game day as it used to be. So yeah, I mean I could as here’s a question. So are are you saying you’re saying that in your bin are they making Zack the starter here or bringing him in to compete with JJ? I think I think in this case you would bring him in to to compete and to push and you would and then again Vikings fans you’ve already probably you’ve been sick to your stomach these last five minutes. I understand this lands very poorly and that’s fine. Gota explain but but Sam Darnell landed poorly as well and but but there was clearly something there. There’s a reason why these dudes are like top five picks in the draft talent-wise. And I think to answer your question, you would you’d rather have I’d rather have a quarterback rehab upside development guy pushing JJ McCarthy than like Joe Flacco. or Carson Wentz, 33 years old. Yeah, I I want to be I want to be tapping into some upside here, not just getting myself up to a nine- win standard with a glass ceiling. And that’s where Sam Darnold was kind of brilliant. And they didn’t have they didn’t have the guts to franchise tag him cuz the market kind of settled in where it was. And it, you know, they probably would have had to eat the 50 million. But would it in retrospect would it have been so bad to franchise tag Sam Darnold and he plays one year $50 million and now you can figure out what to do with him. So I’m just like if you’re looking for an asset that may be Sam Darnold like that could appreciate in your structure, Zach Wilson is a name to keep an eye on. This is probably in some ways this this borders on as far-fetched just hearing it at first as Stafford does. But I think it definitely deserves like I think all of these deserve a bin. So like yes like like and and if it’s not Zack, could it be a guy like Zack? Absolutely. But I could see it. I could see it. M. Jones is the more fully formed version of this cuz we’ve cuz it’s like all right he went into he he was deemed a bust went into hiding then got right got his chance started eight games it looked awesome we haven’t had Zack Wilson hasn’t gotten to the go see what you’ve learned portion of the proceedings you unless he gets a few games at the end of the season and but two is healthy at this point and the Dolphins technically are in the hunt looking for a playoff spot still. If we if we were to put like these scenarios on eBay, right? Like I feel like like I feel like I feel like M. Jones would would be highly priced now. Like he’s been polished up. He’s been he he has been somebody found him at a yard sale and he turned out to to be like an antique of great, you know, like oh wow. And he’s been polished up. And so if you went to eBay to go into this bin to buy a quarterback, you’re going to pay there. Like Mac Jones, you’re going to pay. Oh my god, I can’t believe I found this. Zack Wilson’s at the yard sale still. Yeah, it’s it’s the motto I this my sports card model when buy today’s cards at yesterday’s prices and Zach Wilson is still the yesterday price. Mac Jones has gone up. So unless you’re getting in this case, which continue my hilarious card analogy, unless you’re getting a numbered rare version of that card, everyone now wants that card. That that card has shot up and skyrocketed value. You want to try to find something that is lower in value like Zach Wilson. And when you look at the numbers, too, just from uh Zach Wilson’s Jets tenure and Sam’s tenure bouncing around between the Jets uh pre Minnesota, like there’s a lot of similarities. The touchdown percentage is similar. The completion percentage is similar. Zach Wilson took more sacks, but like is that all indicative too just on the quarterback or is it their offensive line being absolutely dog water? So there’s there’s a comparison here. Like there is a world I think where Zach Wilson who has now been around a couple nice coaches and Shawn Payeyton and I actually I think Mike McDaniel stays. If if they would have if if if they would have blown everything up, they would have done it now and now Miami’s winning games. And I also think that they’re just going to ride they’re going to ride the Tua thing and then if that continues to fall off then they’ll probably go get a new quarter or new head coach and quarterback in like a year or two. But he’s been around now two nice offensive systems that there could be at least a better quarterback version in there than the guy that got drafted top five overall. I think that it is again I think that type of name should not be dismissed. Yeah, it it’s just to put a bow on this. I understand that it’s like a it’s like Pavlov’s dogs when you hear a name like that now and they have big fans just cringe. Zach Wilson, what are you what are you talking about? But you also cringed six months ago at the notion of M. Jones. You would have cringed four years ago at the notion of Baker Mayfield. You cringed at the notion 18 months ago of Sam Darnold. You cringed not that long ago at the notion of Daniel Jones. And there’s probably a couple other names like it. Gino Smith people cringed at ahead. There there in the last five years cringing again. There is Yeah. Well, now he’s kind of gone over the He’s like 37 now. uh he’s back into cringe mode, but there is a market that you can capitalize on because of the impatience of franchises or the the poor development process and strategies of franchises and that market didn’t exist like 10 years ago, but it exists now. There’s a bunch of dudes out there like right now the top pass ratings in the NFL, Sam Darnold’s fifth, Daniel Jones before the injury was eighth, M. Jones was 10th. So 30% of the top 10 pass ratings are guys that were laughable a year or two ago. And all I’m trying to do with this exercise is put ourselves in Kevin Oonnell’s shoes and trying to look around the corner to see well who’s the ne who’s the next guy in that bin. If you’re out on McCarthy, rather than going over and, you know, trying the 42-year-old Aaron Rogers thing over here, can you tap into that newfound middle market and and buy a stock low and ride it up to where it was supposed to be when they were drafted high in the first round to begin with? Yeah, the the only Wilson fits that category. He does. The only thing is that this is assuming then that they are are willing to give McCarthy a second chance or or a season now, which I don’t know about. Like that’s the thing is the Darnold thing was super convenient because it was like, okay, they drafted McCarthy before he got hurt. He might win the job, but he probably won’t. He’ll probably sit and watch, which I think we were all on board with at the time. The question now is, are you going to bring in a guy I would McCarthy have a chance to win the job? Would it be a true competition? I’d be curious on on that. But I do think that that I think what you’re talking about, Phil, I think that that is in my opinion the Vikings are going to go big game hunting, but I mean that might not work. It just might not work. And so I think that this is door two because I, you know, I just don’t see them I don’t see them going to get a true backup who’s not going to play. I I don’t see any scenario under which Kevin Oonnell allows JJ McCarthy to come into camp as again the clear-cut guy. I just don’t see it. It’s unfortunate in some ways, but I don’t see it. Hey, let’s do uh one quick shout out here and then let’s do a quick round because I know you got to jump into Thor Talks Purple here in a few minutes to record that episode. But or Aura Frames and then we’ll do a couple just favorite least favorite things. No question about it. Let’s talk about the the perfect holiday gift and that is Aura Frames. They’re fantastic. Why? Because, get this, you can preload photos before it ships. You can share photos and videos. That’s right, straight from your phone. A great gift box is included. Uh, save on the perfect gift by going to oruraframes.com to get $35 off Aura’s bestselling Carver Matt Frames using the promo code PD at checkout. That’s aura.com. Promo code PD. That’s a frames.com. This deal exclusive, by the way, to our audience. And the frames are going to sell out fast. So, order yours now to get it in time for the holidays. Support the show also by mentioning us at checkout. We appreciate that. Terms and conditions apply. Whoever you buy this for, heck, it might be a gift for yourself, is going to love it. Or frames. Okay, let’s do uh let’s just hit on a few from each category here. Uh we’ll start with your favorite current Vikings things that we haven’t talked about. Just kind of rapid fire here. Uh Harrison Smith. Harrison Smith. Uh it’s been a tough year. Certainly not what he expected. Uh, we talked about the fact that he got emotional postgame. This is almost certainly his last year, but I love the juxtaposition just quickly. Okay, I love this. On the same week that Adam Thielen back here, I’m thrilled to be back said, “I’d rather go to another team.” He goes to Pittsburgh, caught one pass. Okay. on the same week, Harrison Smith, who for the most part keeps his mouth shut and to me is the ultimate Viking type of player, uh, has a nice game and and the one good thing, I know it’s been a bad year, but the one good thing about that Green Bay finale, boys, is it’s going to be a great sendoff. Harrison Smith, I hope they show him a ton. He He was the last player that they introduced on defense on Sunday, which was cool. Harrison Smith, though, deserves every flower that he’s getting. And if you want to, well, why? Because look at what a guy. I’m a Viking. I’m Adam Thelen. Well, now I’m a Steeler. And Harrison Smith, man, he is just the ultimate team Viking type of guy. Adam, in fact, I’ll jump over to least favorite things. Adam Thelen’s quote this week in Pittsburgh about rediscovering his joy for football. I get things aren’t going well in Minnesota, but this is now the second time that and and he’s and he’s of course he talks out of both sides of his mouth. I I I get wanting to go compete and do your thing, but two things. He framed it as he want it it was less about like he wants to maybe compete for a Super Bowl, but he wants to contribute to a team and be it’s almost like this weird self I don’t know if like narcissistic is the word, but it’s the word I thought of. Okay. He wants to be a contributor and show what he can do. Um and so this is the second time where he he has felt like he’s not getting that from the Vikings. So, he’d rather peace out to a bad Carolina team and now to a Steelers team that does have a chance to go to the playoffs and win a division. But then, like in your sendoff letter to say, “Don’t worry, I’ll come back and retire as a Viking.” As if like we’re all waiting with baited breath for him to come back and retire as a Viking, there’s just a weird inflated sense of self with him that kind of rubs me the wrong way. And uh for a guy to be kind of that like highmaintenance and outspoken and have about 10 yak yards on the season at age 35 like dude it’s at some point football keep keeps moving forward and you kind of got to understand your your role in this and I don’t know if he does. That Packers finale could have been really cool. It could have been Harrison Smith and Adam Thelen riding off into the sunset but I got to go get mine. Caught one pass, buddy boy. Hope you enjoyed it. Uh, one one sorry, it was one yard after the catch in Pittsburgh on that one. So, he now has 11 yards after the catch in his uh 19 target this year. Yeah, Phil, you cleaned that up before you you hear from the Thelen family about your mistake right there. Okay, I will. Dax, uh, yeah, favorite thing Jordan Mason uh, over the last five games averaging over six yards per carry. Um, still only playing in a sparing role and and kind of dispelling Aaron Jones who just I don’t know if he’s like Superman. this dude just is able to play through injuries and every time I think he might be done, he comes back and is still effective. But Jordan Mason um having a great little end of the season here. I still and they signed him to a contract so he’s going to be likely RB2 or the complimentary piece to whatever running back plan there is in 2026. Uh so Jordan Mason, I like what he brings. Again, the the heavy personnel usage and the 13 personnel that we talked about yesterday in the deep red. Love that. So Jordan Mason definitely my favorite thing going right now. football. By the way, for for O line committee, we’re doing a Rams the Rams ran for like 250 yards on the Cardinal. The Rams running game is absurd. So, I went and cut up uh a Rams film breakdown for Jeremiah and Alex to break down this week on all line committee. And it’s it’s just like 123, two tight ends, three tight ends, one after another. They’ve just decided, “Yeah, we got Puka over here. We got Devonte Adams, and then we’re just going to run tight ends and running backs right at you. We’re going to run it down your throat. Three tight ends lined up next to each other on the left side of the formation over here. Build a wall. It’s very refreshing. Adaptability makes a lot of sense. It makes a lot of sense in 2025.” Now, that’s Jud’s going to be on Thor Talks Purple. Got to go. I got to go. Guy Thorist. We’ll have a doogie episode, a purple daily, O line committee, hot takes Tuesday as well. So, tons of football content. And we launched football takes corner football takes. You can find that youtube.comscorn football takes. Our first episode dropped yesterday with Thor. And uh we’ll see you guys soon here. We just want the Vikings to win a Super Bowl before we die. See you.

Minnesota Vikings state of the offense! Is their still a path for the Vikings to make the playoffs; Are the Vikings heading towards another season of quarterback uncertainty; Who else would the Vikings bring in to compete with JJ McCarthy; Plus, the latest Vikings news and more on Purple Daily.
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