It was a gross Wild Card weekend for Minnesota Vikings fans.
Multiple lopsided games, two of their division rivals won playoff games, and, worst of all, Green Bay seems to have unlocked Aaron Rodgers 2.0 at quarterback.
For a Vikings team that was beset by injuries and completely knocked off course this past season, one could argue that things should’ve been much more ugly than they turned out. But as the Vikings enter this offseason shrouded in uncertainty, with two division rivals seemingly surging ahead in their timelines, it’s hard not to have anxiety about where Minnesota stands in the division hierarchy — especially at the quarterback position.
Vikings fans may have had fun with plenty of Jordan Love-related schadenfreude up until this season. But it’s hard not to come away from Wild Card weekend pretty convinced that Green Bay found another freak at quarterback. Quarterback envy wasn’t exclusive to the NFC North either; how could any Vikings fan not marvel at what C.J. Stroud is doing in Houston?
I get it. If it was as easy as snapping your fingers and drafting a future Hall of Fame quarterback, everyone would do it. For every Patrick Mahomes, there’s a Mitch Trubisky. Even in this past draft, Bryce Young and Stroud are on vastly different career trajectories. But having a young star player at quarterback, especially on a cheap rookie contract, is such a tremendous force multiplier for the entire franchise.
The Vikings signed Kirk Cousins years ago because they were convinced they had a Super Bowl-caliber roster and were tired of squandering it with a revolving door of mediocrity at the position. And for all the Kirk hate out there, he accomplished the goal of solidifying the position for the Vikings. He even gave them a few bites at the apple to try and make it count in January. Despite the many twists, turns, headaches, and triumphs, the Kirk Cousins experience in Minnesota was far from a failure.
But this Wild Card weekend made it abundantly clear: This team needs to invest in its quarterback of the future now. And if Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is looking for possible blueprints to follow, Houston and Green Bay provide two prime examples.
Beginning with Houston, it’s amazing what hitting on a quarterback can do for your organization. What was once viewed as one of the most dysfunctional franchises in the sport after the Deshaun Watson/Bill O’Brien/Nick Caserio/Jack Easterby clown show is now one of the hottest young teams in the league, all because they struck gold at the most important position. Stroud is the dream scenario for any team when they take their shot on a QB at the top of the draft: a Day 1 starter who got better and better as the season went on. Guys like that are tough to find but transformational for a franchise when it happens.
Love’s emergence is on the opposite side of the spectrum. He was a project quarterback with a high upside and a wide array of outcomes when they drafted him. And yet, for all the jokes and consternation it may have caused with Aaron Rodgers, the investment in Love is seemingly paying dividends in his first season as a starter. Love got the opportunity to sit and learn the LaFleur system inside and out before taking the field. Therefore, even if he still had early growing pains, his floor had been raised to the point that he was less likely to spiral into negativity and crisis of confidence like so many young quarterbacks we’ve seen.
The good news is that whichever direction Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell feel like they should approach their first swing at a new young quarterback, they’ve got many of the pieces in place to make it happen successfully.
The Vikings have offensive weapons galore, featuring Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, and T.J. Hockenson. They’ve got a solid offensive line with two elite tackles in Christian Darrisaw and Brian O’Neill. And they have a bright, young McVay/Shannahan disciple as their play-caller and head coach. If there was going to be a situation where a young quarterback could come in and find immediate CJ Stroud levels of success next season, it’s in Minnesota.
And if they’d dead set on competing in the short term to capitalize on the prime of players like Jefferson and Hockenson, they should do what Green Bay did with Love and Rodgers. Re-signing Cousins shouldn’t preclude Minnesota from taking their swing at a quarterback of the future on draft night. If this team wants to continue to lean hard into the “competitive” part of their “competitive rebuild,” then they have my support, so long as they don’t keep ignoring the part where we’re also supposed to build for the future.
It will be fascinating to see how the Vikings approach the position this offseason. But if this team rolls into training camp with the same quarterback room they did last offseason, I’ll be beyond disappointed. Many coaches and GMs are defined by the first swing they take on a young quarterback. After two years of maintaining the status quo and hoping for success, it’s time to begin turning the page at the very least.
Just once, I’d love for opposing NFC North fans to groan because the Vikings have a young stud quarterback. Even if it means making a few mistakes along the way, I’m ready to get hurt again.
