NFL
By Steve Rogers
The Minnesota Vikings were at home for the first time in three weeks, following their two overseas games and the bye week. For the second time this year, the Vikings were beaten at home by a team named after a feathered flying bird. The Atlanta Falcons in week two and the Philadelphia Eagles last week.
Now the Vikings must take their show on the road and head out west to sunny Los Angeles. They have to face Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers on a short week this Thursday. Maybe getting out to the warmth and good vibes of California is just what the doctor ordered for this Vikings team to get on track.
Quarterback Quandary
Do the Vikings have a quarterback controversy? Or is it more of a conspiracy? At this point, it seems like one, if not BOTH, are true. JJ McCarthy has somewhat expectedly struggled to get his game up to the level and speed of the NFL in his first year starting under center as the quarterback. For a Vikings team with big game aspirations. Their own team goals and aspirations might be blurring their ability to recognize that they must still be patient with the young “rookie” quarterback.
All while trying to maintain the pace of a team with a deep playoff run, if not a championship run as their bullseye target. It’s the NFL equivalent of a highway and city surface street, interesting. The highway is flying by (the Vikings), and the city street is McCarthy, who needs to get up to speed to merge into the flow or path along with the Vikings.
How quickly we seem to forget that in the moment, MOST first-year quarterbacks struggle to get acclimated to the NFL way of life. One of the best examples is Peyton Manning. Manning had one of the worst first couple of seasons BEFORE the light bulb came on, and he suddenly became one of the best quarterbacks, certainly in the recent modern NFL. If not in the history of the league overall.
Quarterback Comparison
The Vikings brought in veteran quarterback Carson Wentz to be able to be a stabilizer and or a fill-in if McCarthy is or does need to miss time for any reason. That is another interesting aspect of this situation. The Vikings didn’t bring in Wentz as a threat to take over for McCarthy. He was brought in to be the life raft, life preserver, break glass in case of emergency backup guy.
With that aside, they have both played multiple games to compare with each other. Wentz just had a clunker game against his first team, the Eagles. McCarthy had the same against the Falcons. McCarthy had a fantastic fourth-quarter comeback win. Wentz likewise led a fourth-quarter comeback. They have both thrown a pick-six. Both have shown the ability to utilize their mobility to extend passing play opportunities and or gain positive yards with their legs. Both are dinged up, dealing with some injuries. McCarthy has an ankle sprain, and Wentz has an issue in his non-throwing shoulder.
So if they are relatively close in comparison performance-wise and neither has shown to have a “Hot Hand” over the other, then why not give McCarthy the room to grow and develop while getting the live in-game experience needed to do so? According to 2026 Hall of Fame nominee Dree Brees, you need at least 50 meaningful game starts to evaluate a quarterback’s trajectory. It seems we’ve seen and passed the best of Wentz at this point in his career. If we know that, why not get the “rookie” back in the game to find out what is or isn’t his best? It’s time to let McCarthy play his way in or out of the starting job. For this game against the Chargers, head coach Kevin O’Connell has named Wentz the starter.
The Chargers don’t have any issues or questions at the quarterback position. They know they have their franchise quarterback in Justin Herbert. Like the Vikings, the Chargers have a trio of potentially dangerous wide receivers. Starting with veteran Keenan Allen, Quentin Johnston, and Ladd McConkey.
This might be a disaster scenario after last week for the Vikings. A top 10 quarterback and his duo of top-flight wideouts lit up the Vikings defense for three touchdowns, and Jalen Hurts had a PERFECT passer rating of 158.3. Now the Vikings must hit the road and face Herbert, another top 10 quarterback with a trio of terrific pass-catching threats on their home turf. Like the Vikings, the Chargers are dealing with offensive line injury issues.
The Chargers are 4.5-point favorites over the Vikings. The over-under is at 43.5. The Vikings are actually outscoring the Chargers by nearly a field goal, 24.2 to 21.6. Both of these offenses are stacked with pass-catching talent. Potentially, we could see another shoot-out like last Thursday night. The biggest question is can the Vikings’ defense can recover from last week and play like it did earlier in the year. If the Vikings can win the turnover battle, they might get the victory as well. With expectations now tempered, I think the Vikings will lose on Thursday in Sofi Stadium to the Chargers 27- 24.
