Sam

[VikingLord]

Yeah my big sticking point has been... they had a long term plan they started on a few seasons back to culminate in this off season of a lot of cap space, qb prospect they went after, etc. Do you throw that all out the window now? I think if he goes on a deep playoff run, then you consider it. If not, nope, stick to the plan. I have to see it (prove it) before I'd change course personally. We have to build our roster out still. IOL is atrocious and our LOT is amazing, when he's on the field. Which is becoming an issue. Defense needs multiple starters next year. Running game needs to be addressed.

Sam has made great money in his career. He could never work again past 30 yrs old. And some team is going to give him another contract. Agreed a good redemption story is fun. He has been awesome for the nfl as a whole this year imho.

I think both Kapp and you make a critical point and that is even if Sam Darnold recovers and leads the team deep into the playoffs this year, there is (or should be) a plan in place to build a sustainable winner here and paying a QB like they paid Cousins (and were apparently going to pay Cousins again) probably isn't part of that plan, at least not yet. If it were I'd expect them to have made a stronger play in free agency for a veteran starter at QB or even signed Darnold to a deal with an option year. They weren't willing to offer Cousins enough to keep him here and didn't make any other moves in FA that suggested they believed they were ready to win a Superbowl this year. The moves on the defensive side of the ball were similar. The fact that almost all of those moves have outperformed by a substantial margin from expectation doesn't change the fact that all of this was a pleasant surprise, and also doesn't change the fact that the team as it stands right now is not a sustainable winner even if by some miracle they go on to win a Superbowl this year and Darnold reincarnates Nick Foles' improbable performance with the Eagles from here on out.

This team also isn't heading into next year with a lot of draft capital at its disposal, either. More than likely we're looking at another year of strategic moves in free agency on both sides of the ball while the younger players continue to develop. Hopefully there are some players out there in free agency who are young enough to have impact potential and longer futures that KAM can find a way to bring in.

With any luck KAM and KOC are astute enough to keep the long term vision they had going into this year separate from the shorter term results they've obtained with some very astute moves and some better fortune.

And if by some chance Darnold does redeem that performance against the Lions I do hope they do their best to keep him in the fold. Heck, I'd be OK if they resigned him even if he stinks against the Rams and the Vikings bow out early. McCarthy should not be handed the starting job next year just because he was drafted in the 1st. Darnold has been a backup in his career before and could serve that roll on the Vikings, or, if McCarthy isn't ready yet, he could also step into that starting role again until he is. I just don't want the Vikings overpaying for his services any more than I wanted them to overpay for Cousins. It turned out to be the right move to let Cousins walk and if they have confidence in their plan they should be able to let Darnold do the same.

[CharVike]

Yeah my big sticking point has been... they had a long term plan they started on a few seasons back to culminate in this off season of a lot of cap space, qb prospect they went after, etc. Do you throw that all out the window now? I think if he goes on a deep playoff run, then you consider it. If not, nope, stick to the plan. I have to see it (prove it) before I'd change course personally. We have to build our roster out still. IOL is atrocious and our LOT is amazing, when he's on the field. Which is becoming an issue. Defense needs multiple starters next year. Running game needs to be addressed.

Sam has made great money in his career. He could never work again past 30 yrs old. And some team is going to give him another contract. Agreed a good redemption story is fun. He has been awesome for the nfl as a whole this year imho.

I think both Kapp and you make a critical point and that is even if Sam Darnold recovers and leads the team deep into the playoffs this year, there is (or should be) a plan in place to build a sustainable winner here and paying a QB like they paid Cousins (and were apparently going to pay Cousins again) probably isn't part of that plan, at least not yet. If it were I'd expect them to have made a stronger play in free agency for a veteran starter at QB or even signed Darnold to a deal with an option year. They weren't willing to offer Cousins enough to keep him here and didn't make any other moves in FA that suggested they believed they were ready to win a Superbowl this year. The moves on the defensive side of the ball were similar. The fact that almost all of those moves have outperformed by a substantial margin from expectation doesn't change the fact that all of this was a pleasant surprise, and also doesn't change the fact that the team as it stands right now is not a sustainable winner even if by some miracle they go on to win a Superbowl this year and Darnold reincarnates Nick Foles' improbable performance with the Eagles from here on out.

This team also isn't heading into next year with a lot of draft capital at its disposal, either. More than likely we're looking at another year of strategic moves in free agency on both sides of the ball while the younger players continue to develop. Hopefully there are some players out there in free agency who are young enough to have impact potential and longer futures that KAM can find a way to bring in.

With any luck KAM and KOC are astute enough to keep the long term vision they had going into this year separate from the shorter term results they've obtained with some very astute moves and some better fortune.

And if by some chance Darnold does redeem that performance against the Lions I do hope they do their best to keep him in the fold. Heck, I'd be OK if they resigned him even if he stinks against the Rams and the Vikings bow out early. McCarthy should not be handed the starting job next year just because he was drafted in the 1st. Darnold has been a backup in his career before and could serve that roll on the Vikings, or, if McCarthy isn't ready yet, he could also step into that starting role again until he is. I just don't want the Vikings overpaying for his services any more than I wanted them to overpay for Cousins. It turned out to be the right move to let Cousins walk and if they have confidence in their plan they should be able to let Darnold do the same.

Both of you posted a good read and highlight some interesting things. One could actually say we have a sustainable winner right now and that has been in place since the 1st season. We only missed the playoffs because we hit an unlucky break when Cousins was hurt. Otherwise it was more than likely 3 out of 3. Of course if the goal is to win multiple Super Bowls in a row then your goal is such an out of reach deal that it would take the best drafting, best coaching, best trading and best FA signings. We have already proven we can't do that with the people we have in place. IMO this junk OL we put out there will be our downfall. You need to play well at the LOS first if you want it all. Sammy looks to get out of the pocket once he senses a break down in blocking. Sometimes it works and sometimes it don't. Usually a don't work is a big loss of yardage. Hard to be consistent playing like that. I'm not sure what their plan is. If it's the Super Bowl it looks like we will be short this year. We can't beat the Lions and the Rams got us the last time we played them. The Eagles with that ground game and defense could be even more difficult.

[chicagopurple]

I have been beating my chest for 2 decades screaming for the front office to stop ignoring the OL. We have gone nowhere for so long largely because we have neglected the OL. The few times they actually spent some draft resources on the OL they made awful picks. They have repeatedly drafted some lineman with past histories of back injuries which is just plain idiotic. The one good lineman we have currently has proven to be fragile. It never ends. I dont know why every GM we have had for 2 decades all have made this same error. I was no fan of Kirk Cousins, but even HE might have carried us further into the post season IF he had an OL capable of sustaining a pocket for more then 2 seconds. It is really sad when you try and identify what year it was that we last had an OL that was impressive. Many of you might not have even been born back then....its pitiful.

[VikingLord]

I know the interior OL gets a lot of focus for it's issues, and I know there is a temptation to blame the OL for all that ills the Vikings offense, but in fairness to them, I don't think they deserve all of that criticism.

Let's start with the recent Lions game. The Lions threw the kitchen sink at the LOS on over half the offensive snaps. They consistently brought pressure and often multiple pressures. Most OLs are going to break down at least some of the time in those scenarios, and it's up to the QB, the receivers and the coaches to adjust to that.

Let's look at the other team's offense in that game. The Vikings also pressured the Lions. They got to Goff too and put him under some substantial duress at other times. They forced several batted balls, what should have been an intentional grounding and safety in the endzone, picked him off twice and nearly had a third that should have gone for a pick 6 by Van Ginkel. And everyone says the Lions have this fantastic OL, right? Well, I'm not so sure I agree with that. What the Lions had in that game that the Vikings didn't was the ability to adjust to the pressure and make the Vikings pay for bringing it. There were no adjustments by the Vikings, or if there were, they were too little too late.

Also, look at the overall offensive ratings for this team this year. They finished 12th overall, 6th passing, 21st rushing and 9th scoring. I don't know if that is considered successful or not, but other than the rushing total it is all top half in the league.

I do think the Vikings need to improve the OL, especially the interior of the OL, but I don't think the OL is why the Vikings lost to Detroit. Not by a long shot. And if they lose against the Rams I also doubt it will be because the OL blew it. It is far more likely that if the Vikings lose to the Rams it will be because their QB was off again, the receivers failed to execute, and/or the coaches failed to adjust quickly enough. It could be because the defense falls apart or the kicker fails in a key moment. It's a team game and at this point the entire OL is not even in the list of the top 10 things I think will cost this team it's next game.

The first order thing that will impact the outcome of this game is the play of Sam Darnold. His play is crucial, just as it has been all year. If he's holding the ball, not trusting what he sees, not getting into a flow and not testing the opposing secondary down the field the Vikings are cooked. It's really that simple. I'd even go so far as to say his level of play is 80-90% of what will determine the outcome of that game, and probably every game from here on out should the Vikings advance. If Darnold is firing and the Vikings are putting TDs on the board, everyone else's job becomes that much easier. So here's hoping we see the return of the Sam Darnold we have seen for most of this season.

[CharVike]

I know the interior OL gets a lot of focus for it's issues, and I know there is a temptation to blame the OL for all that ills the Vikings offense, but in fairness to them, I don't think they deserve all of that criticism.

Let's start with the recent Lions game. The Lions threw the kitchen sink at the LOS on over half the offensive snaps. They consistently brought pressure and often multiple pressures. Most OLs are going to break down at least some of the time in those scenarios, and it's up to the QB, the receivers and the coaches to adjust to that.

Let's look at the other team's offense in that game. The Vikings also pressured the Lions. They got to Goff too and put him under some substantial duress at other times. They forced several batted balls, what should have been an intentional grounding and safety in the endzone, picked him off twice and nearly had a third that should have gone for a pick 6 by Van Ginkel. And everyone says the Lions have this fantastic OL, right? Well, I'm not so sure I agree with that. What the Lions had in that game that the Vikings didn't was the ability to adjust to the pressure and make the Vikings pay for bringing it. There were no adjustments by the Vikings, or if there were, they were too little too late.

Also, look at the overall offensive ratings for this team this year. They finished 12th overall, 6th passing, 21st rushing and 9th scoring. I don't know if that is considered successful or not, but other than the rushing total it is all top half in the league.

I do think the Vikings need to improve the OL, especially the interior of the OL, but I don't think the OL is why the Vikings lost to Detroit. Not by a long shot. And if they lose against the Rams I also doubt it will be because the OL blew it. It is far more likely that if the Vikings lose to the Rams it will be because their QB was off again, the receivers failed to execute, and/or the coaches failed to adjust quickly enough. It could be because the defense falls apart or the kicker fails in a key moment. It's a team game and at this point the entire OL is not even in the list of the top 10 things I think will cost this team it's next game.

The first order thing that will impact the outcome of this game is the play of Sam Darnold. His play is crucial, just as it has been all year. If he's holding the ball, not trusting what he sees, not getting into a flow and not testing the opposing secondary down the field the Vikings are cooked. It's really that simple. I'd even go so far as to say his level of play is 80-90% of what will determine the outcome of that game, and probably every game from here on out should the Vikings advance. If Darnold is firing and the Vikings are putting TDs on the board, everyone else's job becomes that much easier. So here's hoping we see the return of the Sam Darnold we have seen for most of this season.

The Lions did rush for 178 yards and we have a good rush defense. I saw holes at the point and the backs running through them. I'd take there OL over ours right now but I doubt they would do it. If Darnold goes out and can't hit anything again then he needs to be pulled. Completing low 40% is terrible and no whispering or OL help can fix that. Get Mullens in there and see what happens. When we played the Rams in Oct we couldn't run the ball. Jones avg 3.1 a pop after 19 carries. I'll pin that on the OL. Jones has proven he's a solid back and can find holes if they exist. KOC can't sit and wait for a TD it's been 5 quarters already. If we get stuffed he needs to make a switch at half time.

[J. Kapp 11]

I know the interior OL gets a lot of focus for it's issues, and I know there is a temptation to blame the OL for all that ills the Vikings offense, but in fairness to them, I don't think they deserve all of that criticism.

Let's start with the recent Lions game. The Lions threw the kitchen sink at the LOS on over half the offensive snaps. They consistently brought pressure and often multiple pressures. Most OLs are going to break down at least some of the time in those scenarios, and it's up to the QB, the receivers and the coaches to adjust to that.

Let's look at the other team's offense in that game. The Vikings also pressured the Lions. They got to Goff too and put him under some substantial duress at other times. They forced several batted balls, what should have been an intentional grounding and safety in the endzone, picked him off twice and nearly had a third that should have gone for a pick 6 by Van Ginkel. And everyone says the Lions have this fantastic OL, right? Well, I'm not so sure I agree with that. What the Lions had in that game that the Vikings didn't was the ability to adjust to the pressure and make the Vikings pay for bringing it. There were no adjustments by the Vikings, or if there were, they were too little too late.

Also, look at the overall offensive ratings for this team this year. They finished 12th overall, 6th passing, 21st rushing and 9th scoring. I don't know if that is considered successful or not, but other than the rushing total it is all top half in the league.

I do think the Vikings need to improve the OL, especially the interior of the OL, but I don't think the OL is why the Vikings lost to Detroit. Not by a long shot. And if they lose against the Rams I also doubt it will be because the OL blew it. It is far more likely that if the Vikings lose to the Rams it will be because their QB was off again, the receivers failed to execute, and/or the coaches failed to adjust quickly enough. It could be because the defense falls apart or the kicker fails in a key moment. It's a team game and at this point the entire OL is not even in the list of the top 10 things I think will cost this team it's next game.

The first order thing that will impact the outcome of this game is the play of Sam Darnold. His play is crucial, just as it has been all year. If he's holding the ball, not trusting what he sees, not getting into a flow and not testing the opposing secondary down the field the Vikings are cooked. It's really that simple. I'd even go so far as to say his level of play is 80-90% of what will determine the outcome of that game, and probably every game from here on out should the Vikings advance. If Darnold is firing and the Vikings are putting TDs on the board, everyone else's job becomes that much easier. So here's hoping we see the return of the Sam Darnold we have seen for most of this season.

I don’t disagree with you on Darnold’s play. It was bad against the Lions, and he simply can’t repeat it.

But I disagree with you wholeheartedly on the O-line. Darnold was pressured on more than 50% of his dropbacks against the Lions and hit 10 times, both season highs by a wide margin. Worse, their inability to establish a running game against a team selling out to stop the pass really hurt. Cam Akers broke off one big run, but beyond that, the Vikings were putrid on the ground. It was especially bad in the red zone, where they had 3 total runs out of 14 plays, for a total of 3 yards. For the season, the Vikings finished 19th in rushing had just 9 rushing TDs, fourth-worst in the league. That’s after finishing 29th in 2023 with only 7 TDs.

Sam Darnold’s bad play does not absolve the bad play of the O-line. It’s an are that needs to (finally) be fixed, or it won’t matter who the quarterback is.

[psjordan]

I don’t disagree with you on Darnold’s play. It was bad against the Lions, and he simply can’t repeat it.

I think it goes beyond "he simply can't repeat it". His performance (admittedly under adverse conditions) was historically bad.

From Bill Barnwell at ESPN:
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"One person who didn't handle the blitz well recently was Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold. While he didn't throw an interception, the prime-time loss to the Lions in Week 18 might have been his worst performance of the season. He missed T.J. Hockenson twice on third down for early conversions and then left what looked like four different touchdowns on the field inside the 10-yard line. Some of those were overthrows, but Darnold simply didn't seem willing to throw a pair of would-be touchdowns to Jordan Addison on pick plays, even as his feet and helmet were pointed in that direction.

It's good that the Vikings were generating open receivers and getting into the red zone, but Darnold played poorly at an inopportune time. His 34.2% off-target rate was the second-worst of his career, trailing only the infamous "Seeing Ghosts" game against the Patriots in 2019. Darnold was also hit on nearly 30% of his dropbacks and was limping on the sideline by the end of the game."
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I have absolutely no idea which Sam Darnold will show up against the Rams, nor do I know as a coach what you do to prepare him to play without hesitation going into a game with a pretty fierce pass rush. My gut tells me it's 70% chance a repeat of the Lions game and 30% chance the "good" Sam Darnold will show.

And in the spirit of Lucy pulling the ball away, I can EASILY see him crumbling in the Rams game JUST so our offseaon QB plans can be as muddled as humanly possible.

[VikingLord]

The Lions did rush for 178 yards and we have a good rush defense. I saw holes at the point and the backs running through them. I'd take there OL over ours right now but I doubt they would do it. If Darnold goes out and can't hit anything again then he needs to be pulled. Completing low 40% is terrible and no whispering or OL help can fix that. Get Mullens in there and see what happens. When we played the Rams in Oct we couldn't run the ball. Jones avg 3.1 a pop after 19 carries. I'll pin that on the OL. Jones has proven he's a solid back and can find holes if they exist. KOC can't sit and wait for a TD it's been 5 quarters already. If we get stuffed he needs to make a switch at half time.

The observation I make in response to your points are that the Lion's running backs are considerably more effective than the Vikings running backs. The cutback abilities, the explosiveness, and even the patience and vision displayed by Gibbs is way beyond what either Jones, Akers or Chandler bring to the Vikings backfield. Even Montgomery would probably be a hair above any of the backs the Vikings field. That isn't to say the Vikings running backs aren't good players - they are, and they're capable of busting some big runs. But just with Gibbs alone the Lions have a pretty elite capability behind Goff. He makes their OL look better as he's better at locating cutbacks and exploiting them.

The Lions OL is probably objectively better than the Vikings OL, but I don't think it has a 1st-order effect on the outcome of games, and I wouldn't blame the Vikings OL for the loss against the Lions last Sunday. That falls almost solely on Darnold's inability to see and throw. He holds the ball at times and refuses to throw even to open receivers, which then leads to him either getting sacked or having to escape the pocket and scramble. It's been happening all year, albeit not at the level we saw in the second game against the Lions. Further, it's a trait Darnold has displayed since entering the league, but once again, as psjordan's post pointed out, even by Darnold's past standards that second Lions game was historically bad.

[VikingLord]

I have absolutely no idea which Sam Darnold will show up against the Rams, nor do I know as a coach what you do to prepare him to play without hesitation going into a game with a pretty fierce pass rush. My gut tells me it's 70% chance a repeat of the Lions game and 30% chance the "good" Sam Darnold will show.

And in the spirit of Lucy pulling the ball away, I can EASILY see him crumbling in the Rams game JUST so our offseaon QB plans can be as muddled as humanly possible.

I would say it's unlikely we'll see a repeat of the second Lions game just because A) that game was historically bad even by Darnold's past standards and B) while he's struggled like that at times in games this year, he's had good stretches in the same games where he found his groove and ended up saving the day. Having a whole 60 minutes of poor performance by Darnold simply hasn't happened yet even in the losses prior to last Sunday, and as your post pointed out, it hadn't happened to him since that 2019 game against the Patriots prior to this season. To have two games in a row playing at that level would be very unlikely. I expect him to bounce back at least to a degree. I'd put the odds around 90% we see him play better, and around 75% he plays much better, at least for some periods of the game.

Whether that will be enough to get the win I don't know, but Darnold has displayed a resilience this year and ability to shake off a bad play or performance and get back on track, so there is no reason to expect him to just collapse at this point as bad as that last game went for him.

I'm looking at this postseason like the 1987 team. That team lost it's final game and backed into the playoffs as the lowest ranked seed that year, then had to open in New Orleans against the 2nd best team in the league before they had to travel to San Fran to face the best team. They crushed both of them because nobody had any expectations of them at that point and they could just play ball.

After last Sunday everyone thinks Darnold is cooked. I understand why. But no way KOC and McCown let him think that, and he shouldn't think that about himself. He's put too much good stuff on tape this year and has too many guys around him that support him and believe in him for him to come out and lay another egg. I fully expect the Sam Darnold we will see this Sunday will be ready to rip LA a new one. He should be pissed after that last game and ready to set the record straight, and I think that's exactly what he'll do.

[VikingLord]

But I disagree with you wholeheartedly on the O-line. Darnold was pressured on more than 50% of his dropbacks against the Lions and hit 10 times, both season highs by a wide margin.

Part of that is his own fault, though. He had guys open in windows and just didn't pull the trigger or didn't see them, something he's done all year for stretches of games. He also didn't throw the ball away some of the times when he broke from the pocket. That 17 yard sack he took early was particularly bad as I thought for sure he'd just launch that towards the sideline before Smith took him down. Smith made a good move to get pressure on the play, but Darnold could have and should have avoided that particular sack.

Worse, their inability to establish a running game against a team selling out to stop the pass really hurt. Cam Akers broke off one big run, but beyond that, the Vikings were putrid on the ground. It was especially bad in the red zone, where they had 3 total runs out of 14 plays, for a total of 3 yards. For the season, the Vikings finished 19th in rushing had just 9 rushing TDs, fourth-worst in the league. That’s after finishing 29th in 2023 with only 7 TDs.

Part of that is the OL and run blocking for sure, but another part is the quality of the running backs. On the one Gibbs' rushing TD, he was hit well short of the goal line, but he just kept his balance and his legs churning and then got an assist into the endzone. I can't recall the last time I saw any of the Vikings RBs do that. They either have a lane into the endzone and punch it in or they get dropped right away.

Personally, I think KOC also prefers pass plays as he probably thinks they are more effective in general. It's just his philosophy and style. I think if you swapped KOC with Dan Campbell and KOC had a running back like Gibbs he would still call a higher percentage of pass plays near the goal line. That's speculative on my part, but that's what we've seen KOC call all year, and that alone could explain the relative dearth of rushing TDs.

For the record I do agree that the interior OL could be and should be improved. I think they've made some attempts at doing that but it hasn't panned out. Bradbury was a first round pick. Ingram was a second rounder. O'Neill was a 2nd rounder and Darrisaw was a first, plus they went out and got Robinson when Darrisaw went out. So they haven't ignored it, but maybe just didn't get as lucky in the draft as they ideally could have.

[CharVike]

The Lions did rush for 178 yards and we have a good rush defense. I saw holes at the point and the backs running through them. I'd take there OL over ours right now but I doubt they would do it. If Darnold goes out and can't hit anything again then he needs to be pulled. Completing low 40% is terrible and no whispering or OL help can fix that. Get Mullens in there and see what happens. When we played the Rams in Oct we couldn't run the ball. Jones avg 3.1 a pop after 19 carries. I'll pin that on the OL. Jones has proven he's a solid back and can find holes if they exist. KOC can't sit and wait for a TD it's been 5 quarters already. If we get stuffed he needs to make a switch at half time.

The observation I make in response to your points are that the Lion's running backs are considerably more effective than the Vikings running backs. The cutback abilities, the explosiveness, and even the patience and vision displayed by Gibbs is way beyond what either Jones, Akers or Chandler bring to the Vikings backfield. Even Montgomery would probably be a hair above any of the backs the Vikings field. That isn't to say the Vikings running backs aren't good players - they are, and they're capable of busting some big runs. But just with Gibbs alone the Lions have a pretty elite capability behind Goff. He makes their OL look better as he's better at locating cutbacks and exploiting them.

The Lions OL is probably objectively better than the Vikings OL, but I don't think it has a 1st-order effect on the outcome of games, and I wouldn't blame the Vikings OL for the loss against the Lions last Sunday. That falls almost solely on Darnold's inability to see and throw. He holds the ball at times and refuses to throw even to open receivers, which then leads to him either getting sacked or having to escape the pocket and scramble. It's been happening all year, albeit not at the level we saw in the second game against the Lions. Further, it's a trait Darnold has displayed since entering the league, but once again, as psjordan's post pointed out, even by Darnold's past standards that second Lions game was historically bad.

There is no doubt that not all backs are created equal. Seeing where to go is very important and many things are involved with that. I don't think our OL was the 1st order effect in this Lion game because the way Darnold was playing he looked like he was seeing things for the 1st time. Nothing seemed to work for him. I've seen him make throws when he basically threaded a needle on throws 20+ yards down field. He couldn't hit people even if they were wide open. I don't know what the problem was but he seemed lost. Based on the follow the WR routes shown they seemed to be covered closely and perhaps that had an effect on him. The throw he missed to Addison in the corner of the end zone was several yards beyond him. On that play Addison broke wide open. Seemed like he lost trust with everything he was seeing. I'm just guessing because it's beyond me. Perhaps the timing was off.

[J. Kapp 11]

All pro-Darnold arguments are over for me. He’s gone full Jets mode.

Bring on McCarthy.

Thank you, Sam, for making me look like a complete idiot.

[StumpHunter]

You watched the all 22 this season, looked at how long he was taking to throw, as well as some of the advanced offensive metrics and it was clear that not only were some of his numbers a bit of a mirage, they were also unsustainable.

He had players open on nearly every play in the regular season, and the Vikings were getting away with him holding the ball too long and making the incorrect read because if he missed them on 1st or 2nd down, he would still have another shot on 3rd to make a big play.

Teams adjusted the past two weeks and the very mentally limited QB collapsed in two big spots.

The good news? There is now no decision to be made about overspending on the QB versus using valuable cap resources on improving the rest of the team. Even if they want to bring Darnold back (which I doubt), he probably doesn't cost us more than he did this season. More good news? KOC's offense is virtually QB proof and if two mediocre QBs like Cousins and Darnold can win 13+ games in it, imagine what will happen if JJ McCarthy is actually good?

[J. Kapp 11]

You watched the all 22 this season, looked at how long he was taking to throw, as well as some of the advanced offensive metrics and it was clear that not only were some of his numbers a bit of a mirage, they were also unsustainable.

He had players open on nearly every play in the regular season, and the Vikings were getting away with him holding the ball too long and making the incorrect read because if he missed them on 1st or 2nd down, he would still have another shot on 3rd to make a big play.

Teams adjusted the past two weeks and the very mentally limited QB collapsed in two big spots.

The good news? There is now no decision to be made about overspending on the QB versus using valuable cap resources on improving the rest of the team. Even if they want to bring Darnold back (which I doubt), he probably doesn't cost us more than he did this season. More good news? KOC's offense is virtually QB proof and if two mediocre QBs like Cousins and Darnold can win 13+ games in it, imagine what will happen if JJ McCarthy is actually good?

Yeah, I had become a staunch supporter of Darnold. As I’ve written, I’m a sucker for a redemption story.

Today, I just feel like a sucker.

As far as I’m concerned, Darnold should be gone. With $75 million in cap space and an organization that is recognized around the league as one of the best places to play, the Minnesota Vikings need to take this opportunity to put together an offensive line that can actually compete with teams like Detroit and Philadelphia. They need to find defensive backs who can cover and maybe play the kind of press coverage that has been used against our receivers.

And we all need to pray that KOC can turn JJ McCarthy into a franchise quarterback.

[chicagopurple]

Its kinda like Darnold has had too many concussions......slow thought process. After watching this team, I feel the same way...