Nothing that happened at SoFi Stadium in Thursday night’s 37-10 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers was new to the Minnesota Vikings. Carson Wentz taking sacks? That’s happened. The running game being a non-factor? Minnesota hasn’t eclipsed 100 yards on the ground since Week 3.
The run defense getting shredded? That had happened in four of the first six games of the year. And the passing defense that had led the league in EPA per pass through the first five weeks of the season allowed Jalen Hurts to post a perfect passer rating last Sunday.
Through six games, every phase of the team had let the rest of the roster down at some point. The inconsistency at every level was probably well-represented by the team’s 3-3 record, which could be viewed as equally frustrating and lucky, depending on how you viewed their fourth-quarter comebacks against the Chicago Bears and Cleveland Browns.
It was fitting that the team fell below .500 on Thursday because every phase played a role in their 27-point loss to the Chargers. LA sacked Wentz five times, and he only completed 15 of 27 passes for 144 yards. The Vikings couldn’t — or wouldn’t — turn to the running game, which accumulated only 34 yards on 11 attempts.
It didn’t help that Brian O’Neill was inactive for the game. Christian Darrisaw, who was listed as questionable going into the game, got the start but was pulled after nine plays. Justin Skule and Walter Rouse replaced them, bookending an offensive line that featured Blake Brandel making the third start of his life at center.
The defense didn’t put up a fight, either. Isaiah Rodgers‘ pick-six was overturned on the second play of LA’s opening drive. Minnesota’s defense responded by letting the Chargers march 83 yards for a touchdown, taking a 7-0 lead that the Vikings believed they had four minutes into the game.
Minnesota’s run defense, which held the Philadelphia Eagles to 45 yards on Sunday, was gouged for 207 yards on 43 carries. Justin Herbert continued what Hurts had started, completing 18 of 25 passes for 227 yards and three touchdowns. His lone blemish, an interception in the third quarter, came after the Chargers had already built a 24-3 lead. It led to a Vikings touchdown drive, but only after LA’s defense committed two penalties to extend it.
“We got outplayed, we got out-coached,” Kevin O’Connell said afterward, like an estimator calmly telling you that you’ll need a new roof after a tree fell through it in a storm.
For six games, the Vikings were operating like a used car. One week, a tire blew out. After it got replaced, the “check engine” light turned on. The following week, the alternator went out.
Thursday was like if you lost a tire on the interstate during rush hour, veered into the median, and screeched to a halt as the engine overheated, all while the seatbelt alarm was ringing in your ear because the car had mistaken the groceries in your passenger seat as another unfortunate soul along the ride.
“Collaboration” was the buzzword in Minnesota when the Vikings hired O’Connell and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah in 2022. Everyone in the organization would work together toward a common goal. One person wasn’t going to dictate decisions; they’d listen to everyone’s input.
Minnesota’s decision to move on from Sam Darnold to make way for J.J. McCarthy could’ve easily instigated a lot of finger-pointing. After going 14-3 in 2024, were the Vikings really willing to risk starting a young quarterback on a Super Bowl-ready roster?
When McCarthy suffered a high ankle sprain in the Week 2 loss against the Atlanta Falcons, some speculated that it was a “soft benching.” In his first two games, McCarthy had completed only 24 of 41 passes for 301 yards, two touchdown passes, and three interceptions.
Wentz replaced him in Week 3, completing 14 of 20 passes for 173 yards and two touchdowns in a 48-10 win over the Cincinnati Bengals, improving the Vikings to a 2-1 record. Would the Vikings actually put McCarthy back in if Wentz kept playing like this?
However, the Vikings have lost three of four games since then. Wentz played well in his first three starts, but made atrocious mistakes against the Eagles. Still, could the defense pin the loss on Wentz when they let Hurts post a perfect passer rating? What about three weeks prior, when they let the anemic Pittsburgh Steelers rushing attack run for 131 yards to keep the Vikings’ defense off balance?
Following Thursday’s loss, NFL Network’s Ian Rappaport appeared on the Amazon Prime postgame to discuss the Vikings’ plan at quarterback when they face the Detroit Lions on November 2.
“It’s really hard to imagine a scenario where J.J. McCarthy is not the starting quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings,” Rapaport told host Charissa Thompson.
Following the Week 2 loss to the Falcons, there were questions about whether O’Connell was willing to derail a Super Bowl run to prioritize McCarthy’s development. Now, sitting at 3-4 in a tough NFC North division, it’s fair to wonder if the Vikings would even be a playoff team if they had brought back Darnold.
In their first six games this year, the Vikings showed that everyone played a role in their 3-3 start. Thursday’s loss, however, was a collaborative effort. No one in the locker room could blame anyone else without admitting that they, themselves, weren’t good enough.
Now we likely get to see McCarthy again. He still faces the pressure of living up to his top-10 draft status. But dreams of replicating what Darnold did in 2024 are dead. Darnold isn’t in Minnesota, and neither, it seems, is the team that surrounded him.