As the Minnesota Vikings sit solemnly on the steps outside, watching their ex take another date to the prom, something is being lost in all of the drama.
Former Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold will be leading the Seattle Seahawks into Super Bowl LX against the New England Patriots. Minnesota famously, and probably regrettably, let Darnold walk out the door after a 14-3 regular season. While the Vikings contingent wallows in what could have been, there’s an ironic twist in all of this that could change the perception of Minnesota’s current quarterback situation.
Darnold was brought to Minnesota with low expectations and promptly exceeded them. And yet, the Vikings weren’t exactly eager to give him $100 million to stay with the franchise. He was still a bit of a wild card after trudging through six mostly unsuccessful seasons before joining Minnesota, and he flopped in the last few games of the year. But now that he’s proven his career year with the Vikings wasn’t a fluke, fans are left fuming that the franchise moved on from him so quickly.
So why, then, are so many ready to cast aside J.J. McCarthy after just 10 starts?
Letting Darnold go prematurely will forever be looked at as a glaring mistake by the front office. And although McCarthy certainly isn’t putting up MVP numbers, he’s young, talented, and cheap. Yes, his play has left a lot to be desired, but we’re only begging for another Darnold-esque blunder.
It can certainly be argued that Darnold’s 14 wins and 35 touchdowns were a much more compelling argument to retain him than McCarthy’s double-bogey-riddled scorecard from his first season as the starter. After all, Darnold was getting MVP hype at one point during his lone season with Minnesota. But the point remains. While McCarthy lacked the raw numbers of Darnold, his age, contract, and even a few birdies on the card in 2025 are enough to see what he’s got in 2026.
That’s also not to say the Vikings shouldn’t bring in some veteran competition. There should always be some contingencies in place. In fact, the Vikings would be doing themselves an incredible disservice by not adding a Marcus Mariota– or Kenny Pickett-type player to push McCarthy. Maybe in Make Believe Land, where a Joe Burrow or Lamar Jackson trade becomes possible, it would be a no-brainer to pursue. But for now, any route of exploring an expensive starter via trade feels irresponsible.
McCarthy won his last four games of the season, all while completing 64% of his passes and posting seven total touchdowns to just two interceptions. It’s not Earth-shattering stuff, but could he realistically have ended the season any better than that after what we saw over the first half of the year?
The goal of the offseason seems to be to fix some mechanics and to let McCarthy become more comfortable with the playbook, so there should be some optimism that Kevin O’Connell can still turn him into a starter.
The problem, and why there are such loud calls for the Vikings to cut the McCarthy experiment short, is that the Vikings have a solid, yet aging roster with little opportunity to improve it substantially in the near future. Minnesota will be in cap hell this offseason, and have prominent veterans like Brian O’Neill, Aaron Jones, and Andrew Van Ginkel tipping over to the wrong side of 30.
The Vikings have never been a team to go full rebuild, and that creates potential problems when timelines don’t exactly line up. Still, McCarthy went 6-4 as a starter despite the turnovers and throws into Row G. With defensive coordinator Brian Flores back, this team still has a chance to make some noise in the postseason — pending quality quarterback play, of course.
Jared Goff, Baker Mayfield, and now Darnold are part of a growing number of quarterbacks who have thrived with a second, third, or even fourth team. The NFL is an impatient league, but the Vikings are typically a little more tolerant than their peers. Hopefully, they prove that sentiment with McCarthy, who will surely go on to win multiple MVP awards should the Vikings move on prematurely.
Ultimately, Darnold’s somewhat surprising and immediate success shouldn’t be a reminder of an alternate timeline in which the Vikings are playing on February 8. It should be a reassurance that the Vikings have another chance to build an even more promising future by staying patient with McCarthy.
It’s always easy to look back and identify regrets. Not so easy, though, is looking forward and knowing that you’re doing the right thing. For Minnesota, they have a chance at redemption by giving McCarthy another run at this thing in 2026.
