Perhaps they should have stuck with Sam Darnold.
The Minnesota Vikings, who won 13 games in 2022 and 14 games in 2024, are in the midst of a tumultuous stretch where several reporters are pointing out that there’s some internal strife beginning to manifest.
“It’s felt to me…that there’s been like an underlying tension with this team and in its staff,” The Athletic’s Alec Lewis said on his eponymous podcast. “You just get the sense that the joy that has been there in two of the three seasons, where they have won double digit games, you just don’t feel that.”
The backdrop to this report is the rampant injuries at key positions and, arguably, mismanagement at the quarterback position.
Kevin O’Connell is considered one of the league’s best coaches. Getty Images
Starting quarterback J.J. McCarthy has played poorly in limited action and dealt with a right high-ankle sprain that has kept him out for much of the season. It comes after he missed his entire rookie season with a torn meniscus.
Backup quarterback Carson Wentz is now out for the year after revealing that he’s been dealing with a shoulder injury for the last month and playing poorly through it.
Wentz was in obvious pain as he suffered through the Vikings’ 37-10 loss to the Chargers last Thursday night.
The Vikings bet it all on J.J. McCarthy this offseason. Getty Images
The optics of using the veteran Wentz in that spot, while McCarthy has missed six weeks with an ankle sprain, raised some eyebrows.
“I’m not an idiot,” Wentz said about the injury. “I know what I was signing up for going out there. Nobody was forcing me, pressuring me, any of those things. Everybody’s handled this tremendously. Communication’s been phenomenal from coaches, trainers, all the things. I knew what we were doing all along.”
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Another Vikings insider and former ESPN Radio host, Matthew Coller of Purple Insider, said that this is a big piece of a fractured locker room.
“This is more evidence of a s–t show with the training staff this year,” Coller said, citing a person with knowledge of the situation. “So many mismanaged injuries: [Andrew] Van Ginkle, [Brian] O’Neill, [Christian] Darrisaw, Wentz and McCarthy.”
Coller added that another person he spoke to said, “This is how you lose a locker room. Everyone is going to be in the cold tub, saying, ‘What the heck are we doing?’”
Carson Wentz gets sacked by the Chargers as he plays through a shoulder injury. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
O’Connell, who is a former NFL QB, is in his fourth season as Minnesota’s head coach and is widely considered one of the best offensive minds in the game.
The worrying quarterback situation comes after the Vikings let Darnold — and former Giants quarterback Daniel Jones — go in free agency last offseason, both of whom are having Pro Bowl-level seasons.
There had also been reports that the Vikings passed on bringing in Aaron Rodgers this offseason because of their trust in McCarthy.
Rodgers, meanwhile, has been starring for the Steelers, although they have not had a strong season defensively, limiting the team’s upside.
McCarthy is expected back this week for his third career NFL start, as the Vikings face the NFC North rival Lions on Sunday.