Murphy: Another tumble in a nightmare season
Brian Murphy recaps a brutal afternoon for the Vikings in Green Bay
By Brian Murphy
Sunday marked the 130th time the Vikings and Packers gathered Minnesotans and Wisconsinites together for a passive-aggressive stare down through bloodshot eyes and an NFC North reckoning we are all dumber for having witnessed.
It was a rivalry game the Vikings spent four quarters trying to forfeit in a half-baked season that should be flagged for false advertising and unsportsmanlike transparency. The postseason is a pipe dream after Minnesota’s 23-6 loss at Lambeau Field, a defeat so thoroughly embarrassing it only will be un-scrolled in a temperature-controlled room for future lectures.
All of which begs the question of what the franchise’s brain trust was smoking when they sold J.J. McCarthy as the obvious successor to Sam Darnold and a 14-win season that seemed to solve its relentless quarterback quandary.
McCarthy is failing because he is not a viable NFL quarterback. Not yet anyway. And because he was set up to fail by a head coach whose credibility as a quarterback guru has turned to ash and by a front office that spent $300 million on a roster that either forgot how to make impact plays or is simply incapable.
Rivalry games are where pride shows up for battered teams, where Kevin O’Connell finally simplifies things for his 22-year-old quarterback so he can survive a road environment that ended up swallowing him whole.
Instead, with Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason cooking in the first half and the Packers within reach, O’Connell chose to hand off to tight end T.J. Hockenson on fourth-and-1 only to be stuffed. Later, KOC wasted a timeout as Minnesota’s 11th special-teams player frantically tried to get off the field on a Green Bay field goal attempt. There are bad optics and then there is panicking to keep 10 men on the field.
The Vikings spent 60 minutes tying a bow around a game that, once again, was theirs for the taking and handed it to the Packers with a heartfelt note thanking them for the opportunity.
McCarthy, once again, was the headliner for all the wrong reasons. Inaccurate, erratic, late on reads and wild early and often. You can laminate his scouting report after six NFL starts.
McCarthy held the ball too long and stared down his first options like they owed him money. He tossed two more interceptions, including a bad overthrow of Jordan Addison in the fourth quarter that added to his growing catalog of tipped balls and telegraphed passes.
After three straight losses, the offense has bottomed out but seems eager to keep digging. McCarthy, who has thrown 10 interceptions and just six touchdown passes, was sacked five times. He threw for just 87 yards as the historically dysfunctional Vikings produced 4 net yards in the second half.
If not for Will Reichard’s power leg and icy demeanor, which produced field goals of 52 and 59 yards, Minnesota would have been shut out despite 86 first-half rushing yards from Mason and Jones.
But the revival of the running game and reunion of all five starting offensive linemen failed to protect McCarthy or O’Connell from themselves.
Trailing 10-6 to start the second half, the Vikings’ defense forced a Green Bay three-and-out only to have special teams stomp on another rake and the Packers break open the game.
Daniel Whelan’s punt bounced inside the 10-yard line and then hit the body of Minnesota’s Myles Price, who was blocking a Packers player. Zayne Anderson recovered at the Vikings’ 5 to give Green Bay first-and-goal, and it quickly cashed in.
“We did not play in any way, shape or form the type of half that would give us a chance to compete,” O’Connell groused.
O’Connell did everything he could to water down play calling and swaddle McCarthy in the pocket with solid protection and a productive running game. But growth has been reduced to simply not regressing, which remains a tall order.
With the Vikings trailing by multiple scores yet again in the second half, McCarthy was forced to carry a burden for which he is totally unequipped, dropping back in the face of a ferocious Micah Parsons pass rush with predictable results.
At 4-7, the handwringing has only tightened for a season that was supposed to be enlightening, not drag the team into the Dark Ages.
The Vikings aren’t losing because of injuries, youth, or bad luck. They’re losing because they’re an unserious team with a franchise quarterback that is still a rumor.
They lost because their head coach keeps calling games like he’s unlocking a cheat code only he believes exists.
They lost because every week we’re told the mistakes are “correctable” like penalties and special teams gaffes when absolutely nothing gets corrected.
Still gnashing your teeth about Sam Darnold’s late-season collapse?
Losing home-field advantage in Detroit and a wild-card playoff to Los Angeles in January soured the Vikings and their fans on the resurrected quarterback and parted the seas for the McCarthy era to begin in earnest.
Now it’s unclear whether McCarthy will start on Sunday against Darnold in Seattle as he was placed in the concussion protocol on Monday. Former Gopher Max Brosmer will get the start of McCarthy can’t play.
With the way the Vikings handled the QB situation this offseason, nobody would have ever thought they would be at this point through 11 games. Alas, Vikings football, everyone.
Watching the Coller, Manny and Murphy round table on YouTube. Coller says, “ Ya know, when I was driving down there to Green Bay, I just thought…” Murph dead pans, “What am I doing with my life?”
Perfectly good coffee blasted out my nose! You crack me up, Murph! 🍺