After eight games, the 4-4 Vikings had a chance for the season to break in one direction or another. Four games later, the season has broken badly.

Mainly because the offense is currently broken.

Consider these facts, courtesy of NBC Sports research.

Last week in Seattle, the Vikings were shut out for the first time since November 11, 2007, when they lost at Green Bay, 34-0. (The next most recent goose egg happened at the Superdome in 1991, when the Vikings lost to the Saints by the same score from six days ago: 26-0.)

During the four-game losing streak (Minnesota hasn’t lost five in a row since a 2011 free-fall season that ended at 4-13), the Vikings have surrendered more than twice the number of points they’ve scored, 95 to 42.

The Vikings are averaging 10.5 points per game since making it to 4-4 with an upset of the Lions in Detroit. The Vikings haven’t scored a touchdown for two straight weeks. If they fail to score a touchdown on Sunday against the Commanders, it will be the first time in franchise history that Minnesota has gone three consecutive games without a touchdown.

Receiver Justin Jefferson has had an uncharacteristic run for more than four games. He’s now gone seven in a row without 100 receiving yards, the longest streak of his six-year career.

The problem traces directly to the quarterback position. J.J. McCarthy has been regressing, and undrafted rookie Max Brosmer provided a keen reminder last week of the fundamental difference between thriving in practice and surviving during a game.

It all goes back to March. As the Vikings were sorting out their options for 2025 — and when those dealing with the team were uncertain as to who was making the decisions — someone made the call that they didn’t need to have a viable veteran on the roster. They traded for Sam Howell, whom they re-traded after getting a gander at his training-camp and preseason performances. They kept Brett Rypien, who also didn’t make the initial 53-man roster.

But for the very late arrival of the well-traveled Carson Wentz, the Vikings possibly would be riding not a four-game losing streak but an 11-game slide since somehow beating the Bears to cap Week 1.

McCarthy will get another chance to change minds on Sunday, against fellow 2024 first-round quarterback Jayden Daniels. Then comes a prime-time visit to the Cowboys, during which millions will see whether or not McCarthy is making progress.

Regardless of how McCarthy plays over the final five games, it’s painfully obvious that the Vikings need to create a Colts-style competition for 2026, with a capable veteran competing against McCarthy. And with no effort to thumb the scales toward justifying the top-10 pick invested in the former Michigan QB.

Ownership, which apparently (and conspicuously) skipped the Seattle debacle, has an even more important project for the looming offseason. The Wilfs should reconstruct the 2025 quarterback decision-making process and make decisions regarding who should, and shouldn’t, be making the big decisions going forward.

Who wanted to ride with McCarthy and a smattering of backups? Who, in contrast, was arguing to keep Sam Darnold or Daniel Jones? Who was behind the idea of shooting their shot with Aaron Rodgers, who reportedly wanted to go to Minnesota?

This one is simple. Whoever thought it was a good idea to do what they did should be neutered, if not fired. Whoever was sounding the alarm that was ultimately ignored should emerge from the morass with a heightened level of trust and authority.

It’s a perfectly purple litmus test for the future, and the best way to learn from the 2025 disaster and to make the necessary adjustments to a ship that is currently sinking, thanks to the iceberg that was the mishandling of the most important position on any NFL team.