The Vikings Are Becoming A Rorschach Test..
Perhaps it’s surprising to hear Colin Cowherd say that the Minnesota Vikings have the worst roster in the NFC North. The Vikings filled crucial needs in free agency, and Mel Kiper and CBS seemed to like their draft class. However, Cowherd doesn’t think Minnesota should have let Sam Darnold leave in free agency.
“I think the Bears eke into the playoffs. Jordan Love, I like. I think they’re worried about him … they’ve got a couple other needs defensively, and they went with a wide receiver again,” Cowherd avers. “Vikings will be a very good fourth-place team. I think letting Sam Darnold go, they may regret it.”
Imagine someone saying the Vikings would regret letting Darnold go before last season. They’d touch that radio dial and tune into another station.
You’d think Darnold’s jitters in Detroit and his playoff performance a week later would eradicate that take from the Western Hemisphere. However, the Vikings are becoming a study in the absurd. They’ve always kind of been that way.
How is someone supposed to process Gary Anderson’s missed kick in after a 15-1 season in 1998, or Brett Favre throwing across his body in 2009? Take that history and add two 13-plus-win seasons and one-round losses as favorites in the playoffs, and it stretches the limits of the human mind.
The Vikings always leave everyone with more baggage than they had before the season. They’re an empty vessel for your luggage, and like with most overhead compartments, it’s becoming a tight squeeze. Squint, and you’ll see what you want to see. You’ve fit your bag in there before. Maybe go in wheels-first or try it on its side.
Cowherd thinks the Vikings are a lesser team because he’s a Darnold fan. That makes sense. Last year Darnold looked like the quarterback the experts projected him to be when he joined the league. He’s an example of what happens when a skilled quarterback plays in Kevin O’Connell’s system. Who lets 14 wins, 35 touchdowns, and 4,319 yards depart into the night sky?
Except that was on Minnesota’s itinerary. Darnold was here for a good time, not a long time. Darnold was a trooper, but it was always all about J.J. McCarthy. The Vikings traded up for him to be their franchise quarterback. Darnold was the connecting flight; he just extended across the season because of McCarthy’s injury.
However, we all know what happens to best-laid plans. Tarvaris Jackson had wheels and a cannon arm, and Christian Ponder almost won too much at Florida State. Teddy Bridgewater was Minnesota’s franchise quarterback until a devastating knee injury.
Why should anyone believe things will work out better with McCarthy?
Except the Vikings have never had a coach like O’Connell. They’ve never been as organized as they are under the Wilfs and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. Randy Moss was a SuperFreak, but Justin Jefferson obeys traffic laws, and almost everything he does on the field is priceless. For everything else, there’s MasterCard.
Minnesota has insulated McCarthy with a strong offensive line and diverted Aaron Rodgers and his chemtrails to create a runway for their quarterback of the future. We don’t know whether J.J. takes off with Jets flanking him, O’Connell in his cockpit, and an inflatable T.J. Hockenson under his seat. The Vikings are giving McCarthy every opportunity to take flight.
The Green Bay Packers have Jordan Love, but we don’t know if Matthew Golden will become a WR1. The Detroit Lions beat Minnesota in a Motown “slobber knocker” to take the division. However, Dan Campbell lost both coordinators: Ben Johnson to the Chicago Bears and Aaron Glenn to the New York Jets. Chicago is banking on Johnson getting the most out of Caleb Williams and a team that won five games last year.
Minnesota has set McCarthy up to succeed. If he can fly the plane the Vikings should hit an altitude no other team in this division can reach. However, if the controls flummox him, everyone will be sweating this one out. Whether you believe he’ll land Minnesota’s 747 depends on what’s in your overhead compartment.
