Monday Mailbag:

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By Matthew Coller

Happy Monday, everyone! Hope you had an enjoyable weekend of watching absurd amounts of football. Let’s jump right into your questions…

Matt D… Any thoughts on Malik Willis? Liked what I saw in his limited sample size and he seems like he’d have more upside than some of the other options out there for one year backup/JJ competition guys.

I am a Malik Willis enjoyer. I was so impressed by the way that he way he came off the bench against Chicago and seemed completely prepared to run the offense and then his performance against Baltimore was legitimately phenomenal. On time, accurate, scrambling when they had no running game. That’s QB1 type stuff.

Considering that we’re probably going to see Clayton Tune now that the Packers are locked into the No. 7 seed, Willis’ final impression on the rest of the NFL is going to be him playing absolutely awesome, which means that I don’t think the Vikings can get into the mix for him. He’s going to get QB1 offers. This is a league that paid Justin Fields $20 million per year last offseason. You have to think that the Raiders, Steelers (if Rodgers retires), Jets, Cardinals etc. are going to be willing to pay top dollar for him and make him their guy. He’s not going to sign somewhere where he’s competition, especially when the other QB is a top-10 draft pick who the fans want to be the guy.

Kip N…Matt
How many firings or coaching changes will we see this offseason cause of the choices made and arrogance of a HC and front office that put the world on a young QB who needs time for sure but also can’t stay healthy? Had they just signed Rodgers or brought back Sam, team would be in the playoffs and looking like a dark horse SB contender at least, nothing is for certain but as a fan, I’m upset and need a lot of reasoning from Purple Insider to calm me down….

While the season has been mildly salvaged by the recent performances, everything should be on the table when it comes to reviewing how they arrived at this point. I have been of the opinion that it doesn’t make much sense to blow up the leadership (i.e. HC/GM) when they set up the entire plan to have a 2-3 year window. Having it fail spectacularly this year puts them under the white hot light for sure but they should have an opportunity to fix it when you have a very strong overall roster going into next season and a coach who was able to keep the train on the tracks enough to play for a +.500 record.

As far as the rest of the staff, it’s hard to know what they’ll be looking at after this year but I’m not sure how any HC could run back the same group of assistants after posting the 31st ranked QB rating in the NFL. Could KOC switch OCs? OL coaches? Run game coordinator (though I thought the run game was pretty effective this year considering the RB and OL injuries).

I saw Albert Breer refer to the rumors over the last two years that there might be a GM change. His line was “I’ll believe it when I see it.” I feel the same way. At the same time, I thought one of the reasons Kwesi Adofo-Mensah was brought here was to be able to say no to moves that were inefficient. They won the inefficient championship for last offseason and justified all the sub-optimal moves like signing Allen/Hargrave/Fries, re-signing Jones/Murphy Jr. and drafting a guard in the first round as moves you make when it’s win-now time.

Yet they didn’t make the win-now move at QB by turning to a completely inexperienced player who turned out to be miles and miles away from ready.

Bill B… Matt, I am not a JJ McCarthy skeptic, give him a chance but why not emulate the GB model of just taking another QB early? If they both work out you have trade capital.

The Green Bay model would have been to develop McCarthy behind the scenes this year and next year before starting him. Interesting that it keeps working for them, huh.

Anyhoo, in theory, you are not a crazy person Bill. There is a pretty solid line of thinking that teams without locked in QBs should keep picking them and taking shots on projects until it works. But I don’t see the Vikings as being in that position. If they draft a guy and he’s not ready to be an above average QB right away, then they are looking at wasting another year of an elite WR duo, Pro Bowl TE and super talented defense.

If we’re being honest, most teams that have been in this position after two years have not gone back to the young QB. Indy with Anthony Richardson, Arizona with Josh Rosen, San Fran with Trey Lance, Buffalo with EJ Manuel, Jets with Zach Wilson etc.

They would have to really strongly believe in a massive jump in 2026 in order to go into next season without a veteran starting-caliber QB alongside McCarthy in camp.

I want to issue a warning label right now: No matter what ideas are brought up for Vikings QBs next year, you are going to hate them. No player is ideal. They all scream purgatory or worse. You’re just going to have to be realistic.

Brad L…How would you rate McCarthy’s level of unluckiness when it comes to injury?

I’ve said it many times on the pod: I can’t stand when players are labeled as “injury prone” because there is so much luck involved in staying healthy. However, there is such a thing as playing in a style that invites injuries. I think that’s JJ. He runs around like a madman, hangs onto the football too long and takes a ton of sacks… those things increase the odds.

Brad L… Other than pride, what have we got to play for in this final game?

At the end of the day, people just look at the record. They don’t ask, “were the last couple games meaningless?”

I’m also not ruling out the idea that JJ McCarthy could play. They would have put him on IR if they were sure it’s over.

Outside of that, I’d say they’re playing for Harrison Smith to get a win in his last game. Also, get Justin Jefferson 1,000 yards or everyone goes to jail.

Robert S… Matt, sometimes I wonder if KOC factors in that he has subs instead of starters on the field to execute the play call or how the game has been going to that point. When that punt went out on the one, I was thinking that if the Vikings tried to pass down there, based on how the offense had been playing, the Vikings were going take a safety. Either Brosmer gets sacked or offensive holding in the end zone. On the other hand, the last pass to Jefferson was great. Was that a good call or do I think so only because it worked?

To your larger question, my biggest beef with football analysis is that it’s always based entirely on the results rather than the thought process behind it. Passing out of the end zone with the way Brosmer was playing is not very good thought process unless you figure that taking a safety isn’t the worst thing in the world in that situation.

Getting Jefferson a catch at the end of the game did make sense because they were pretty safely ahead.

Here’s the thing: When your QB is playing that bad, nothing is right. I would say that for this entire season. We can pick apart KOC’s play calling, schemes, adjustments, postgame comments, haircuts, vest choices and everything else under the sun all day long but the reality is that his quarterbacks played impossibly bad football. No coach can overcome that.

As an offensive coordinator, the great Kyle Shanahan authored offenses that ranked 27th (2014 Cleveland), 26th (2011 Washington) and 25th (2010 Washington). In San Francisco he’s ranked below 20th twice (2018, 2020). What do you think all those seasons had in common?

Hunter S… Do you think the Vikings will be open to trading JG this off-season? Even though OLB is important, it seems like we have a surplus of talent there that we can’t maximize and we should exchange some of it for a star DB or another spot.

I get where you’re coming from on that. Greenard might need a contract adjustment and he’s standing in front of Dallas Turner. He would be worth a lot in the trade market, for sure. The problem is that you don’t have Jonathan Greenard anymore if you trade him. Hot take, I know. But they are trying to put together an elite defense for 2026 in order to go to battle with all the good/great QBs in the NFC, so if you are lopping off one of the better pass rushers in the NFL, you’d better be getting back something incredible. I’d rather see them just figure out how to get Turner on the right edge in a pass rushing role more often. Maybe splitting reps with Greenard like when the Eagles had all those great rushers.

Andrew K… Do you think next year will continue this year’s approach (going all-in thinking we can make a strong playoff run - and is this even possible? - Seems like we got a one year reprieve from salary cap issues and now they’re back.). Or - will the Wilfs decide to be more conservative and not spend so much on high priced veterans?

What would you do?

I would go back in time and trade away Kirk Cousins after 2022 and lose every single game and then draft Drake Maye. Sorry, that’s not what you were asking.

There is no other choice but to do everything they possibly can to win in 2026. I remember back in 2022, I was doing a podcast with Andrew Krammer and we were talking about the Vikings approach to the trade deadline. Andrew expressed some concern about trading future draft picks and I got a little amped up and yelled “THERE IS NO FUTURE.”

That’s how this feels. There is no way that this regime can spend that much of the Wilfs’ money and not return the favor with a trip to the playoffs next year. That’s what everyone has to understand about the QB situation. They cannot saunter into 2026 feeling like they’ve got all decade to figure it out. Regimes generally do not get five years to win a single playoff game these days, like it or not.

What that means is finding immediately improvement in the secondary, an answer at center, a WR3 or convince Nailor to stay (unlikely) and someone younger to add to the backfield. There really isn’t that much to change because of they way they’ve gone wild in the last two offseasons. It really all comes down to the QB decision.

I would take a shot at Kyler Murray. (Please see earlier PSA about hating every idea).

In 2024, he was the 9th highest graded QB by PFF. Is he a perfect fit? Nope. Is he likely to be a perfect personality fit? Probably not. But the guy once threw to DeAndre Hopkins 160 times in a season for 1,407 yards. Also, what’s the Cardinals’ record without him? It would be a quick, short-term fix.

Paul…I know it’s a long shot but what are the odds? Brian Flores leaves for a better position. We promote Daronte Jones to defensive coordinator, leaving an opening at defensive backs coach and we fill that position with Harrison Smith.

The odds are high that Jones will be promoted to DC. I would be very surprised if Harry wanted to step right into coaching a position group like that. Maybe.

Kip N… Favorite Christmas gift you got ?

My wife got me a Randy Rhodes Jackson Flying V guitar. It’s sick.

Jason… Uh… what is this season? How is the team so good and so bad? How do you build into next season with such uncertainty around the qb situation?

It’s pretty simple. When they have performed really well defensively, they have won. When they were not great defensively, they lost. Five of their eight wins have included the D giving up less than 20 points. The Lions game at Ford Field had a late TD get them over 20. Dallas got a free touchdown on JJ’s INT, otherwise 19 points. Week 1 JJ threw a pick-six to make it 24 points.

They have also had the best combined kicking/punting in the NFL.But it’s really hard to be that great on defense and special teams every single week.

Honestly, it’s a miracle with this QB play that they have eight wins with the 31st ranked QB rating.

If you want precedent though, the 2024 Colts achieved a middling record while ranking 31st in passer rating and then replaced their QB and were en route to a good season until Daniel Jones got hurt. Just saying.

Mark W…Should they start Rypien to get Jefferson to 1000 yards? It couldn’t be worse...could it?

In the past, it was reported that Flores would be selective about taking another HC job (implication: no more crazy owners; also, it’s more than just the money to him). None of the likely openings seem to fit this description, which is good because I want him to return. Which potential openings would be appealing/more appealing than Minnesota to him?

I would usually say that it can always get worse but it literally can’t. I’m not fully convinced that JJ is going to miss Week 18 but if he can’t play, then rotate all three QBs until somebody shows that they can throw to Jefferson. I do agree that Rypien probably gives them the best chance to get there.

If it was only about Flores getting a HC job, I’d say that the odds remain fairly low that it happens given the lawsuit. But with him being a free agent and so many teams needing defensive help, I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets a dozen calls. Dallas is No. 1 on my list. You know Jerry Jones saw that and said “I want it.” I could see the Commanders bringing him in and taking the keys from Quinn or firing him. That ownership group has the dough. The Raiders could fire Carroll, hire someone else and throw the bag at B-Flo. Atlanta makes a lot of sense if they fire Morris. Is Baltimore a crazy thought?

A lot is going to change in a couple weeks.