Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - POSTGAME REACTION: McCarthy exits early, comments on future

Episode Date: January 5, 2026

Matthew Coller and Dane Mizutani talk about the Vikings beating the Packers with JJ McCarthy injuring his hand again and exiting the game early. What does it say about their future? What did McCarthy say after the game? The Purple Insider podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. Also, check out our sponsor HIMS at https://hims.com/purpleinsider Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, everybody. Welcome in to the Minnesota Vikings postgame show here on Purple Insider, presented by Fanduil, Matthew Collar, along with Dane Mizatani for one final ride here at US Bank Stadium. And there was a lot to think about today coming out of this game. The Vikings win. They get to nine and eight, so an above 500 record. And had it gone a different way to get to a nine and eight a different path. Maybe it would feel different. Maybe if other teams in the NFC had left the door open for the Vikings to be in the playoff race. Maybe if this had meant something to knock in the Packers down, it all would have again felt not like a preseason game. But that doesn't mean that nothing happened. J.J. McCarthy played the first half of the

game looked very much like J.J. McCarthy with some ups and some downs. And then comes out in the second half and throws his first pass, shakes his hand, walks over to the sideline and takes him out of the game, himself out of the game, which he said after that he was feeling throbbing, and he said he had, you know, the good cop and bad cop on each shoulder or the angel and the devil on each shoulder. And one was saying, you got to go back in. And the other was saying it's better to take yourself out and said that he learned his lesson from staying in the game against the New York giants where he fumbled because he could not grip the football. But unfortunately for McCarthy, this does count as another injury, even if it's the same, another quarter of football that he does

not play because he is banged up. So we thought, well, maybe he's going to have one of those crazy 300-yard days to end the season. And the other thought was, well, only bad things can really come of a game that doesn't matter at all to the starting quarterback. And there it is, Dane, a bad thing came to the starting quarterback. Now, it doesn't sound from what McCarthy said like there's going to be any persisting issues. He said it's been X-rayed. It's stable, so it should not slow down his offseason too much. He said maybe a tiny bit of a setback, but not too much. And most players should be taken a little bit of a rest after all this anyway. But the big point is just that it's another contest where he was not able to play. And he finishes the season with out of a

potential 68 quarters playing 32 of them. for the Minnesota Vikings and the overall performance statistically at the end of the season was underwhelming at best for J.J. McCarthy. We talked to him. He said that he believes he's shown them enough to be the starting quarterback, presumptive starting quarterback for next year. But he also kind of left the door open for the possibility that that might not happen. We also heard from Justin Jefferson who said he wants to get together with McCarthy in the offseason and so forth. But Dane, if you were looking for any last shred of something to hang on to, something to take away from the game to point to as you went to the offseason, some confidence, momentum, belief, whatever it might be. You did not get it today in this victory over the Packers.

No, you didn't. And in some ways, it's a perfect encapsulation of what J.J. McCarthy has been to this point. In the first half, he was up and down, which he has been to this point in career. There have been highs where he's shown growth. He's shown improvement. You can squint and say, I think I can see a franchise quarterback. And there have been lows where you look at him and say, does this guy have a career long for the NFL?

Like we've seen kind of a bell curve throughout the season, and that was kind of reflected in his first half performance today. Some good throws. The one to Ben Sims rolling to his right, dot, you know, on a line, about the two-yard line. It's as good as you can throw the football in the NFL. Well, but at the same time, there were misses, there were wild throws, there were off platform, just chucks to the middle of the field. And that just speaks to kind of how the season has gone from him from a perspective of when he's on the field.

But why, I feel like this game was a perfect encapsulation of what J. Jim McCarthy is to this point in his career. It's because he didn't finish the game. To this point in his career, you can't count on him to finish the game, to play the game. Actually, you can count on him sometimes finish a game and then pop up the next day with an injury that darn near lands him on injured reserve. We saw that, obviously, after the Falcons game, finishes the game, high ankle sprain. We saw that after the Packers game, finishes the game, concussion. It's just there's one thing after another, and I think there has been learning lessons for him this year to how to take care of your body better. it's probably, or I would assume something he will improve at over the course of his career,

just how to make sure he stays on the field or puts himself in the best position to stay on the field. But today, you just kind of leave shaking your head because this could have been, while it would have been wrong to use this as a jumping off point, because the Packers were playing backups and reserves, it could have been. If you are a J.J.J. McCarthy stand, J.J. McCarthy defender, if he goes out and throws for $3.50 and four touchdowns today, he could shove it in my face. But he didn't do that.

And not only did he look up and down, he didn't finish the game. So it leaves you with kind of a sour taste heading into the offseason. Like on one hand, I do want to credit him, I guess, for learning his lesson and not forcing himself into a game when maybe he couldn't play the position. But I just don't know how you can go into this offseason, confidently feeling like you have your franchise quarterback when he's not proven to be available consistently enough. And when he has been available, he hasn't been nearly consistent enough. I understand young quarterbacks take time, but to grow and to use that time to your

advantage, you have to be on the field. He just didn't prove that enough this year, at least not in my estimation. It's always interesting for me to listen to J.J. McCarthy talk, because when you do, he seems to very well diagnose what ails him as a quarterback. And when he talked about learning from what happened with the Giants game and so forth, and you go, oh, well, that's really good. You learned your lesson there. But the lesson is dealing with another injury, which is setting you back even more.

And when we've heard him talk about throwing the football, it's been, oh, well, I need to learn to layer this. I need to stand taller in the pocket. I need to do this and that. And what often happens when the game is going on is that those things either only happen sporadically or don't happen at all. And some of the spectacular type throws, we've seen those all season long where he is rolling out and whips it at 90 miles an hour into a tight area to Ben Sims. I mean, that's a great throw. But it's also sort of scrambling out of the pocket, out of the structure of the play in general, and just sort of, you know, using his physical tools to make something happen. which repeatedly has gone on, but the down-to-down, play-to-play,

like he's got Jordan Addison standing at the sideline wide open, and he throws it way up over his head and makes him jump up and grab it. He's got Addison wide open in the end zone. He flies it up over him and misses him in the end zone. And these aren't the easiest throws in the entire world, but in the NFL, a lot of this stuff is routine. And it's especially routine when you're playing a bunch of backups, and not to mention, I don't think that Jeff Halfley spent a lot of

week game planning for this game. So you had a team that's playing in very much preseason mode. And when we look at the end of the day, it's fine. 14 for 23. What's that? 182 yards. It's okay. It's not much special there. And that's kind of again what the season has been, which is even when it goes well, it goes okay. I think the Dallas game is an exception to that where he played really, really well. But Washington, New York, even the comeback against Chicago, it was great for a quarter. It wasn't great at other times. And the other part is he's played so little that we can break it down quarter by quarter how he played because we have just a very small sample. And even he was in route to doing what I suggested for Kevin O'Connell, which was have him

throw 40 passes in this game or more. He was halfway there and then he's not able to finish the game to get those reps. So now he's going to finish with, I believe, under 250 passes. Now in two seasons being drafted, that's not very far along when you look at where most quarterbacks are after they are drafted 10th overall in the NFL after two seasons. And I came to a conclusion as he was pulling himself out of the game that the Minnesota Vikings need to approach the offseason as if they have no quarterback at all for next year. Now, that doesn't mean that J.J. McCarthy can't develop a ton this offseason. He's got time. It doesn't mean that he can't figure out how to work with Justin Jefferson or how he can't figure out how to operate the

offense better or not leg whip when he's throwing the football or put touch on all these things we've seen quarterbacks in the past learn a lot of these things but the health part of it to go along with how far he is behind in development because he did not get a 600 pass 650 dropback rookie season rookieish season he got less than a half of season of actual. playing and you just simply cannot bank on that and you know when you listen to him talk you can easily believe that it's going to work when you listen to just a jefferson talk about him and how jefferson wants to get together with him and do everything he possibly can then it's it sells you pretty well at the same time when kevin o'connell was asked about j j mccarthy and whether

he was the guy for next year i believe the first thing he said was something to the effect of well every team is different each year. And then he circled back to, you know, I can't wait to work with him in the off season and I've been excited about his progress and everything else. But the instant reaction was not, oh, man, did you guys see that? Like, we're all set. He just needs to stay healthy. It was, well, you know, every year is different.

And, you know, there's been reports already. Diane Rossini had the other day that the Vikings will be in the market for a veteran quarterback, but they're not going to bail on J.J. McCarthy. Well, it wouldn't make any sense to bail on. J.J. McCarthy to like cut him or something. I mean, I guess if there's a trade for Joe Burrow, then by all means. But when we're talking about like cutting him or getting rid of him, no, you don't have to do that. But I think you have to treat it as if you're looking for your starting quarterback for next season. And then if J.J. McCarthy does all the things that he needs to do and can

stay healthy and takes the job, then great. Then you've nailed your draft pick and you have this hard problem of two good quarterbacks on your roster when this year you had none. So what was your takeaway from McCarthy and O'Connell's postgame comments? Folks, as you know, Purple Insider is always growing and changing and I'm looking to take steps forward in 2026, just like your business. Now, I'm lucky to have a great crew, but as a business owner, I am well aware of the challenges of trying to find quality people to add to the roster. So if you're hiring for your company in 2026, let me give you a little advice.

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2024. J.J. McCarthy had just been announced that he tore as meniscus. I think they had just announced that day that he would miss the season. And Kevin O'Connell stood there, looked at all of us, the reporters that traveled to Cleveland. You were there. I was there. And he said, we have our franchise quarterback. He was definitive, he was steadfast, no bones about it. He said, we have our franchise quarterback.

Now, juxtaposed that with today when Jim Suhan from the Star Tribune says, do you want J.J. McCarty to be your starting quarterback next season? It's not steadfast. It's not no doubt about it. It's wishy-washy. It's talking around so not to fully answer the question one way or the other. And when you just look at both sides of that coin, I think that says everything that needs to be said. you had early in his career when he was at that point still a rookie ascending into the league

had done everything to that point to convince you that he is your guy and now we will be hitting into year three and you don't know if he's your guy now could he be the quarterback of the Vikings next year sure do i believe kevin o'connell is excited to work with him and and try to fix the mechanics this offseason yes i will take kevin o'connell at face value there do i think that if you just give them enough time together, Kevin O'Connell could help him improve and take steps forward as a quarterback. Yes, I think if time in a vacuum together

was just them working and trying to get better at the position, J.J. McCarthy could improve. But there's something called pressure and there's something called people trying to figure out their future in the NFL, trying to preserve their life in the NFL. And the truth is, the fact of the matter is, Kevin O'Connell will be entering year six now without a playoff win under his belt.

And I just don't know how confident he could feel. He didn't say this to us, but I don't know how confident he could or should feel putting all of his chips in the center of the table with J.J. McCarthy with what we know right now. So that stood out to me from Kevin O'Connell, just how definitive he was two years ago, a year and a half ago, about this guy being their guy

and how wishy-washy he was today. what stood out from J.J. McCarthy is that he did acknowledge the fact that maybe I'm not here. And he didn't say like, oh, you know, I think they're going to trade me. But he very much said something along the lines. And I'm paraphrasing of, I think I've done enough. But the people who make decisions have their own opinions. They talk to different people. And they will formulate kind of a pathway forward that doesn't necessarily take into account how he feels about. where he's at in his career. So there is no definitive. I mean, I'm sure people at home think, yeah, you have to roll forward with him. And it's crazy to even think of an alternative, to even bring up an alternative. The truth is you walk into the locker room today. You walk onto that podium today.

Nothing is definitive about the quarterback position next year. Just listen to the guys that are going to be making that decision. The comment there actually surprised me a little bit when JJ said, I think I've done enough. And I know that he presents a lot of confidence to the world. And that's what you like from a quarterback. But it almost reminds me of his play in some ways when he talks because sometimes I'm like, okay, you know, you're exactly right.

You've really got it. And other times I kind of raise an eyebrow, cocked my head a little bit at that answer because I would have thought that there would have been something more to the extent of like I need to earn that next year, just like, you know, I had to earn it this year or whatever else, which he kind of didn't because they brought in Sam Howell. I would have thought that that would have been along the lines of the answer to say, I think I've done enough. Like, can you use your finger and point to me where enough was because this is not enough?

This isn't freaking close to enough. This isn't even in the stadium of enough. This is maybe in the parking lot, but it's certainly not on the field of enough from the quarterback position. Now, I understand his age. I understand the excuses slash explanations and all the reasons. and all the criticisms for KOC and how he approached this and everybody else and all that sort of stuff. But if you think that this was proving it in the national football, I suggest you turn on the NFL playoffs and watch some of the

quarterbacks who have had tough times in the postseason, guys who have accomplished way the heck more than, you know, barely hoping to get out of a 70 quarterback rating by the end of the season. Guys like Justin Herbert and C.J. Stroud, like just two that come to mind, top quarterbacks, who have gotten their faces beat in when we get to the postseason. And I believe that that's where the bar is going to be set. So no, you didn't do enough to show anyone, not the fans, not us, not the front office, not the coaching staff. The results are what they are.

And they're in. It's week 18, the season's over. And it was not good enough. And it was backup level type of performance for this season. When you look at any metric across the board and flat. do not win championships. Consistency doesn't even necessarily guarantee you one, but it certainly gets you a lot closer.

And for this game to happen of mediocre performance against backups, and then another injury, and you have Sam Darnold who won the conference, not just got a playoff spot, not just played in a big game, but played excellent 20 for 26 in a big game against San Francisco and is taking his team now. Well, I don't know.

I guess back to their houses to rest for a week because they get to play at home throughout the playoffs. You can't separate those two and the decisions. And from JJ's perspective, I think that he's doing a lot of things right. I think he also perplexes me at times. I mean, today, the first drive comes out looking good. He's getting the ball of the Jefferson. You're going, okay, there you go. Good, good, good, good. And then he gets a taunting penalty. And now if, yes, You could say, well, you know, if Patrick Mahomes got a ton. You know, that's right, because he's got Super Bowls and you'd forgive him. And you also probably get the 15 yards back.

When you're you, you can't do that. And again, where you just have these moments that you go, no, buddy, no. When your hand is broken, you can't go back in the game. And I don't know. It's like, well, I learned my lesson. That was a lesson you had to learn. So anyway, when it comes to the quarterback situation, it does enhance the urgency that Sam Darnold has done what he's done because it puts the white hot light on every decision maker and every coach who remains here going forward that you guys evaluated this quarterback and that quarterback and didn't just miss by a little.

You missed by an entire country's worth with Sam Darnold and J.J. McCarthy and had the franchise tag in your back pocket. So that means you probably will, because you went nine and eight, have an opportunity to fix it. But if that fix is only, hell, let's just keep rolling out J.J. McCarthy. Well, then you are putting yourself at risk. That doesn't mean he can't work out. Many quarterbacks have turned it around, including Sam Darnold. But if you're going to take that risk, then best of luck to you. And, Dane, I will say, I was in the camp two weeks ago of, hey, you guys pick J.J., like play it out, right?

But after he's had this many injuries, I don't think that I can even reasonably ask them to do that. Yeah, I mean, right now, if you evaluate everything you saw on film and also evaluate the stuff you didn't get to see on film because he didn't play and you work your way through watching every single cut up this off season, maybe even listening to every single word he said in the interview, whatever the all-encompassing look at J.J. McCarthy ends up. being for this front office and head coach and coaching staff, if you do all of that and you end up with the conclusion that this guy can be our starting quarterback next year, I think you're operating with nothing more than hope. Like I hope he can be something that is better than this was right now. There's nothing that he's done that suggests he's going to take a big leap next year. You would be betting on yourself as a coaching staff. and you would be hoping that he improves.

Even the growth points this year, people will say, well, look, they won five straight games down the stretch. And he played a role in some of those games. Like, the win over the commanders, that was a team that didn't look like they wanted to be out there. That was a defense that was at that point hemorrhaging yards. Cowboys game, an impressive win. Still, a defense that is not anywhere near the top level in the NFL, the Giants, when obviously we know what happened there. He gets like half a win, I think you've been giving him.

And then today, like, I'll give him a full win for today because, like, the Packers weren't going to score enough points once J.J. McCarthy got the Vikings 13. But there's just not enough there, even if you can point to the end of the season and the, and the growth he's shown to operate with anything other than hope, if that if you decide that he is the guy that you're moving forward with next year, what does that swing look like? I think this is something we've talked about from two, three months ago is that J.J. McCarthy had the ability to dictate the level of competition that would be brought in. I think even a few months ago, we thought they're probably going to bring in somebody, like, whether it's an established veteran backup that they know J.J. McCarthy can beat out or whether it's somebody that makes it so J.J. McCarthy's not on the team next year. Like there were leveling degrees of the competition that was going to be brought in at the quarterback position.

And at the end of this season, when we walk out of U.S. Bank Stadium, I think that competition is going to be somebody that J.J. McCarthy is going to have to show leaps and bounds that we do not see, that we have not seen yet to beat that guy out. Who is that going to look like? We'll talk about that a bunch of times on this show, I'm sure, this offseason. But you can go through the laundry list of guys that. that you think could be available, and all of them would make sense to me based on what we have seen kind of in the aggregate from J.J. McCarthy to this point. Will he turn it around? Maybe. Will he turn it around here? Maybe. Will he turn it around somewhere else?

Maybe. But it's a big bet to make with the guy by a lot of the metrics show has been one of the worst quarterbacks to start a career with a regime that needs a playoff win, a franchise that needs to get back to the playoffs and win. a playoff game next year. Not later, not a few years. Next year, that should be the expectation, especially when you have guys on your team like Justin Jefferson that are firmly in their prime. You can't wait around for a kid to grow up. And I think he has to grow up both on the field and to a degree off the field as well. I think the hard part probably for a lot of fans throughout this season was when you were promised, as you said with J.J. McCarthy, the franchise quarterback,

when that's what the team had presented the owner. We were sitting at the owner's meetings. When Mark Wilf said that they were so impressed by J.J. McCarthy off the field during 2024, that that's what made them believe in him and not sign Aaron Rogers. And the other part of that is not franchise tag Sam Darnold. And when you miss that bad in the NFL, you better fix it quickly. I mean, Kyle Shanahan, as great of a coach as he is, truly the greatest. Offensive play caller right now, him, you know, Sean McVeigh.

and so forth. But boy, if Brock Purdy didn't come around that corner, where even is he? The temperature even gets turned up on coaches who have taken their teams to the Super Bowl, much less coaches and front offices who have not won a playoff game. But I think that with the fans, it was reasonable to hold out patience, even as things were going badly, and say, well, let's see the entire picture. And the entire picture, once again, includes taking two weeks to get to four quarters. And we also can't ignore the fact that whatever those numbers say, he didn't have to play against Seattle that just destroyed Bryce Young and destroyed Brock Purdy and is peaking right now and didn't have to do it out there, play against the one seed because why he had another injury. So we didn't even get to see a performance against them or even a Lions team that was desperate on their defense and pressured the quarterback throughout the day.

Didn't have to play that game either. Instead, all the defensive coordinators are probably going to be gone. We'll see on, you know, Dan Quinn, but certainly Matt Eberfluse has gone for Dallas. Already everyone's been fired for the New York Giants. So how seriously do you even take the results that showed progress? And that's the tough part is you could hold out hope, hold out hope. But I think today, if you were the last person saying, hey, maybe he lights up the Packers, goes into the offseason. And I believe in it, when he comes out of the game at halftime, you have to go, okay, well, you have to have someone else.

you can believe in McCarthy still, but you have to have someone else prepared and the degree to which they get someone else. Now, that is what is truly going to be fascinating. But, you know, we talked about what can you really take from this game? And I thought, well, it's probably nothing unless it's bad. And well, there you go. It was bad. So that brings us to some stuff that happened today that was good, which is C.J. Ham and

Harrison Smith, who presumably are going to retire after this. If they're not, well, they certainly got, you know, a hero's welcome from the entire fan base that was here, which filled up the stadium pretty good for a game considering just what it's like outside and the no stakes to this game, that there was a pretty good crowd here in U.S. Bank Stadium. And when they took those guys out of the game, they got them on the video board, hugs, teammates cheering for them. The referee announced that they were stopping the game, which I thought only happened when, like, Hank, Aaron hit the home run to pass Babe Ruth or something or Jerry Rice got the touchdown record. I thought that's the only time they ever did stuff like that.

But apparently you can make a request and Kevin O'Connell. And this is why, you know, Kevin O'Connell, he always understands what his players need at the moment. And getting a touchdown for C.J. Ham, getting that moment for those guys, you could tell we were both in the locker room with Ham and Harrison Smith, how emotional those two were two great, great Minnesota Vikings, one being a Hall of Fame caliber player, the other one being one of those behind the scenes types of players, the one that never gets really talked about, that only the fans of that team know how awesome that guy is, how hard he works, what he means

to the community, and that is C.J. Ham. So going into the game, those two things, and getting just to Jefferson, the freaking pigskin, to get him to a thousand yards, which let me just make my joke that getting Jefferson to a thousand yards today was like chipping in from the sand to get a nine. Like you're, it's still bad, but at least you finished it off nicely and, you know, finish the hole, but still not an acceptable number, but they didn't completely screw it up. So there you go. Those were nice little things to take away from something that overall was pretty dreary in here. Yeah, I think the moment with, with Harrison Smith and C.J. Ham, will stick with me probably the rest of my career and probably as long as I'm here.

Like that was something that you just won't forget. For those who didn't get a chance to see it, because it was in, there was the moment on the, on the field, the timeout and John Hussie stopping the game for Harrison Smith saying. That's the ref. Yeah, the ref, stopping the game for Harrison Smith and saying, like, we're taking a timeout for Harrison Smith, gets the moment. That was shown on the broadcast. What wasn't is in the two-minute warning, when the clock hits and the television timeout

comes on, the big screen in here, the cameraman who worked that basically just alternating between show Harrison Smith, cheer, show CJ Ham, cheer, show Harrison Smith, cheers, show C.J. Ham, cheer. And it sounds funny when I'm relaying it back, but it was actually a really touching moment. And I think it was pretty beautifully done by the Vikings, by Kevin O'Connor, who I know had a hand in that, but by game ops, like everybody within this organization understood the assignment today and they executed it flawlessly for those two guys. One thing that Kevin O'Connell said after the game,

that, shoot, I wish we got it would have had a chance to see. But then again, maybe it would have felt cheap when we got a pretty organic moment there with the fans. But he said if the Vikings got the ball back on offense, Harrison Smith was going to be the, guy who usually Justin Jefferson is the guy behind the quarterback taking a knee and C.J. Ham is in that formation. But Harrison Smith and C.J. Ham would have been on the field for victory formation. That would have been a nice little chef's kiss at the end of, you know, was a pretty

cool experience just as a whole. I wrote this in the Pioneer Press, but like the game felt meaningless. It really did. It was a rather meaningless game for the Vikings, win or lose, for the Packers, certainly they were trying not to get hurt. That's what it was. The game did not matter. But when you really zoom out, like, it matters to these guys. And every time they get to step on the field, like, I can be cynical about, oh, this game doesn't matter. Like, who cares? Like, it matters every single time these guys get to step on the field. And I thought that moment today with Harrison Smith and CJ Ham was awesome. And Justin Jefferson, like, Kevin O'Connell put it best. Like, they should never play a season for the Minnesota Vikings and

and have to flirt with will he get a thousand yards will he not get a thousand yards i don't want to dive back into the the well of the quarterback play and how that suggests or that that informs being in that position in week 18 but yeah at least he got over a thousand justin jefferson has been the best of the best in terms of handling an incredibly tough situation for him and i think he understands the narratives they get created when you have a down year like this, when you're chasing history, when you're one of the only guys that have ever come into the NFL and could conceivably say, like, I think I could catch Jerry Rice if I stay healthy. No one's ever going to do it.

No one's going to play that long. But he was on that trajectory, and now he's not because of a season like this. He told us after the game, I think I have to go out there this offseason, the work to prove that I'm still the best receiver in the league. I think he is, you think he is, but a lot of people don't because of a season like this. So to see him get a thousand yards today, even though it's kind of putting lipstick on a pig of a disappointing season, I think it was another really cool moment. So pretty cool moments sprinkled into, we talked a lot about kind of a bit of a five alarm fire at the quarterback position that exists. You could see some beauty kind of in that parts of the game.

I mean, I do think it was very important to Justin. And if that's all the guy wants just to get over a thousand, you know, hearts. Hey, you know, actually most game plans should include throwing him the ball all the time. And, you know, I couldn't help when I'm munching my popcorn up here, be a little cynical myself of watching, like, where was this? Well, where was this? Is the other team's usually game plan. They usually throw deception at you. They usually throw pressure at you. They usually have starters playing on the football field. So that's where it was. But I do think that if those two over the offseason can tighten their bond and if he can, through,

OTAs, mini camp, go into training camp, have a lot, lot, lot more reps with Justin Jefferson. There is an opportunity for J.J. McCarthy to look a whole heck of a lot better if he can just execute those plays. Now, I'm not saying that he, for any receivers that were targeted, was locked in maybe a little bit more Jalen Naylor at times, who he had more practice time with during the offseason. But there's no one more important in this franchise than Justin Jefferson and getting him the ball. I also think that when things get hard, guys show you who they are. And Justin Jefferson did that.

And you, in presenting him with our Corey Stringer, Media Good Guy Award, you know, alluded to that, that no one has faced more difficult questions this year. No one else has had to really step up and be a leader in the voice for this struggling team the way Jefferson did. So you learned a lot about him. But I will say this, he's no punk either, that. This year, I think we all understand what happened. They made a bet it didn't work out.

But if you think you're going to go back-to-back years where you're fighting for Jefferson to get a thousand yards, that tune is going to change and it should. It should change. He should not be okay with accepting what happened this season from the quarterback play and you could throw in whatever else you want to throw in. The game planning, how he's still running 30, 40 yards down the field. many weeks after it proved not to be very successful with J.J. McCarthy. But then again, we saw Carson Wentz get him over 100 yards a couple of times.

So I don't think that you can have back-to-back seasons where the world is not saying Justin Jefferson is the best quarterback in the NFL. I wanted to talk about something else kind of from the rumor mill world. But, oh, one more thing from the game. And look, I know the Packers are not given 110. But if you were making a little list of things that, hey, would be nice to see. We checked off some boxes there. McCarthy's staying healthy wasn't one of them, but the other guys having their nice moments.

Sure, you'd like to see Dallas Turner look like kind of a beast again. And he did. He got a couple sacks. Was he credited with two sacks of Clayton Tune? He got a strip sack, which he seems to have a talent for a bit, like in Yanik and Gakwe type of fashion. Like, he seems to go after the football pretty well. and his finish to the season, Dane, when we look at the numbers at the end of the day

are going to look pretty darn good for the second half of the year. And I think the corner that we talked about turning and the promise that we talked about needing to see from him, I would say that he checked off that box. Yeah, I mean, he finishes, he had two sacks today. He had a hot streak, you know, midseason where he had a sack against Chicago,

second against Green Bay and two sacks against Seattle. he does seem to flourish more in that Jonathan Gernard role of just pin your years back and go. I know they want to make him an all-around football player and he's young enough that I think that's probably the right way to develop him is to see if he can do it all. But as he started to fill in for Gernard specifically, I think it's pretty clear, whether it's Brian Flores as the defensive coordinator here next year or somebody else. This guy is really good at just rushing the passer. or the left tackle, the starting left tackle for Green Bay did not play today.

But the get-off that he showed, Matt Daniels calls it BGO, ball get-off. Dallas Turner, when he can time up with snap count and he can dip his shoulder and he can just attack, like that is the guy that was the first round pick type of talent that the Vikings saw. So has his career to this point, Ben, what you wanted it? to be through the first two years, probably not, but I do think he is hitting a stride that you needed to see him hit. I mean, I can say, like, if you just compare the two first round picks, the finishing stretch that Dallas Turner showed and how you can project that out of the next season, that would be operating with like, we saw him start to turn a corner. And if he can

just do more of that, like we can tangibly say more of that, he's going to be a pretty good pass rusher. It's not operating with hope like you would be. Jay Jim Carthy. So you alluded to this, but there was a story worth mentioning today from pro football talk that there is some thought around the league that the Las Vegas Raiders, Tom Brady, with his connection to Brian Flores and Brian Dable, would consider hiring Brian Flores as the head coach of the Raiders and Brian Dable as the office of coordinator. I can't think of a team that would be a better one to kind of go rogue and break free of the

chains of the owners of the NFL than Al Davis's son and also a team that needs Brian Flores more. They need to be serious. They need to find an identity. They need to have someone that makes them look like the Raiders franchise as opposed to just a bumbling clown show that was bringing in a guy who's 70-something years old who was once great in all the respect to Pete Carroll. But that was not a reasonable idea to take a roster that was barely anywhere close to ready and put a veteran quarterback, hoping he could turn it around, drafting a running back high in the first round, they could use someone who is one heck of a evaluator. And also they could use somebody with some edge. And it feels like what often happens in the NFL is when you have

a guy who's very nice, the next guy has got a little, I'll say edge. I won't say mean, but I will say that competitive certainly would describe Brian Flores, would not want to mess with him. And also, I think that Flores has positioned himself the end of the year for people to look at that stat sheet and go, the Vikings finished where on defense? Because it was seventh heading into this. They allow three points at the end

of the game. Congrats, Matt LaFleur. You got your kicker, another additional rep so you wouldn't get shut out. But three points. And then, you know, the game against the Lions that everybody saw on national TV, it feels like, Dane, that there may be some momentum gaining

for Brian Flores, as these reports seem to be trickling out there's the dallas discussion they are going to move on from iber flus that was reported today and then now this that there might just be too many potential suitors that someone is going to make it happen yeah i think i'm on record saying if i'm the wills i say blank check whatever you want ryan will pay you and will make you the highest paid defensive coordinator in the league that's how important he is to the minnesota vikings but whether it's a Really high-paying job in Dallas for a team that, shoot, if you want to put yourself on the map in a way that he hasn't necessarily been able to here,

I know he's going to get opportunities, he's going to get interviews for head coaching positions. He might damn well get a head coaching position. But if he doesn't, a good way to repair your image even more would be to turn around the defense of the Dallas freaking Cowboys. You made that point to us earlier this week in the media room. It hits a lot different. If Brian Flores is turning around the defense of the Dallas Cowboys, it is headline news every single week if he is the defensive coordinator of a team with that type of following and able to kind of take a defense that stinks right now and make it great.

Is it going to be there or is he going to earn the right to be a head coach? I think he certainly has. but there is obviously more at bay there beyond just merit and whether he deserves to be a head coach because he absolutely does. But if he's not the defensive coordinator here next year, Kevin O'Connor has to absolutely nail that higher. Because while I will give Kevin O'Connell all the credit in the world for the culture he has built for the fact that this team did not go in the can, four and eight staring down the barrel of what looked to be maybe four and 13 who lifted and carried this team down the stretch it was the defense it was Brian Flores it was that group

it was that culture on that side of the ball picking up the slack of the offense so if he's here great if he's not you got to nail the higher but Brian Flores has done everything and more to earn himself another shot another kick at the can at being a head coach Okay, so throughout the season, we would look at what it said on Fanduel and where the Vikings were expected to be in terms of their win-loss record. Well, we've got it. It's nine and eight.

In fact, I think preseason on Fanduel had them at eight and a half. Now, that is not a silver lining, folks, that they covered the spread there. But we don't have anything more to look forward to. So let's look at this. The Super Bowl favorites on Fandul are the Seattle C.Haw. and Sam Darnold's team, which is just, can I say real quick? I'm just going to say this real quick. I'll get into this later, that if the Seattle Seahawks win the Super Bowl, it's worse than

Herschel Walker. It just is. They had to get lucky in the draft, Dallas, to build the Super Bowl team, but you just gave away Sam Darnold for a third round comp pick. So anyway, plus 420, the Seattle Seahawks to win the Super Bowl. The Los Angeles Rams at plus 470 or next. Philadelphia Eagles plus 800. So the Rams and Seahawks are by far the favorites.

The Denver Broncos, ahead of the Buffalo Bills on the Fandual odds at plus 850 with Bo Nix. A Bo Nix Sam Darnold Super Bowl. I don't know what you even, do you just sell the stadium and move? Anyway, so the bills are plus 1,000. So there's your top five teams. Which of those teams would you pick to win the Super Bowl? after the defensive performance I saw yesterday from the Seattle Seahawks

it is pretty hard not to pick them after knowing now that everything through the NFC will go through Lumen Field it's pretty hard not to pick them but I've been with the Rams all year so I think what Matthew Stafford has proven accomplished

over the course of his career especially in the back nine of his career on the offense that they put together the defense that they've managed to rebuild on that side of the ball the playoff experience that they have across the roster. And just look at last year. They nearly beat the Super Bowl champions in a random snow globe game in Philadelphia.

If they win that game, they win the Super Bowl last year, too. I firmly believe that. I think they're the best team in football. I don't care that they're not necessarily totally locked in over the last two weeks. Sean McVeigh clearly was upset with their performance over the last two weeks. I guess one of those performances was a loss to Sam Darnold. But I think I go with experience there, but I'm not going out on a limb. The only team with better odds is this Seattle Seahawks.

And they're every bit deserving of being the Super Bowl favorites right now with what we saw yesterday. I know people will try to reduce that down to, well, you know, Sam Donald didn't do a lot because the defense dominated. Just look at the stat lines. Just watch the game. He was everything you needed him to be in that moment, didn't turn the ball over. You don't think he can do that three more times. He doesn't even have to do it four more times because they have a first round by. But I think at the end of the day, I'll go with the Rams, just experience winning out.

Man, it's going to be a heck of a, it's going to be a gauntlet in the NFC for sure. The home field advantage does matter. I think that all-time great quarterbacks usually get their shot eventually if they've come close and failed. So I think Josh Allen, when you look at the rest of the quarterbacks and you go, who is there and who is not? Well, it's a bunch of quarterbacks that are pretty good, but there's one guy missing that has gotten him a number of times in the playoffs, and that guy's not there anymore. So I'm going to go with the Bills. I've had the Rams there with the Bills the entire time.

I am tempted to change that to the Seattle Seahawks because of the home field advantage, but I'll ride out my pick. I think mid-season, I made my pick of Rams and Bills, and I'm just going to stick with it. And I've been wrong every single year. So we'll see what happens. I'm going to give my final thoughts here, Dane, and then I would like yours. and then we'll call it a 2025 National Football League season. So first of all, I want to say that everyone who is tuned in to the postgames and watch Dane and I break down a season that was frustrating and challenging for fans

and very disappointing for the Minnesota Vikings fan base when you were promised a chance to truly compete with the rookie quarterback contract, you were promised the franchise quarterback, you were promised a lot of things from this team that they would build on a 14th, win team. And they did not do that. But if you look at our postgame numbers, you still showed up to listen to us talk about it. And I just cannot thank you enough. I could not do this without every one of you who listens, subscribes, comments, subscribes to the newsletter, all that sort of stuff. And I also want to thank the Minnesota Vikings organization that, you know,

when I started Purple Insider, they said, you're welcome in our house still after I had worked in radio here, and I never take that for granted. So I appreciate them, their PR that we work with every single day. And it was a challenging season for them because it's harder on the PR when things aren't going that well. But those guys were great to us and always are. So I can't thank them enough. Kevin O'Connell, J.J. McCarthy, Justin Jefferson, one of the best locker rooms that you'll ever see to work with is reporters, despite, again, the fact that there were so many challenges. From a football perspective, everyone has to look themselves. in the mirror because right now it feels like time is a flat circle it feels like once again

you are the franchise that is just good enough to let everybody down that you are once again on the hunt for somebody else's quarterback to hope for a reclamation project to hope for one big swing to keep you employed for one more year and it is on them to prove me wrong for saying that and how they handle the roster how they handle the front office the coaching staff and most importantly, the quarterback decision will determine whether they are able to change what has been the history of the Minnesota Vikings, which is often failed starting quarterbacks that they draft in the first round, and then retread after retread, who gives us the occasional magical moment only to have it fleet away into the distance, which it's

much more painful for Vikings fans this time. Usually it kind of happens like Case Keenum, where you don't hear too much from the again but this time it's it's even worse which then puts even more pressure on those folks because they mis-evaluated this and it is on them whoever it might be whether it's someone new at certain positions or not to clean it up and next year be at the top of the nfc north there are no excuses the ownership has spent all the dollars you have all the facilities you have the best stadium you have a huge home field advantage you have had every opportunity to make this work And you didn't, and you failed in 2025.

And now this offseason, there could be a lot of changes in order to get to that level that they had expected to be this year. So there's my final thoughts. And thank you again, everybody. And now you, Dane. Yeah, I mean, I feel like this wasn't the season that any of us really expected. I think back to OTAs. I think back to mini camp. I think back to training camp.

And just kind of the excitement that was bubbling up over J.J. McCarthy over this team, over what everything could be. And obviously, it fell flat this year. It wasn't the football team that I think anybody that we thought we were going to cover, that they thought they were going to have, that you thought you're going to be able to watch. But I just want to echo what Matt said. I appreciate everybody who stops by and listens after every post game that I'm fortunate enough to be on Purple Insider.

I know everyone doesn't always agree with me. I know people don't always enjoy what I have to say, but I appreciate the, you know, the discourse, every comment. positive or negative, I appreciate just kind of every eyeball that takes time out of their day, out of their night, whatever they decide, whenever they decide to listen or watch this, this podcast. I've loved being on it. I've loved doing post games here, but we don't get to do this without you. So thank you. We appreciate you. I know we butt heads. We go back and forth sometimes. But that's the fun of it. And I think that's what sports are, really,

It's an escape from everything else going on in the world, and we just get to argue about who the quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings should be next year. And we're going to do that this offseason time and time and time again. We're starting a little earlier than I think people thought we'd be starting to talk about that, to talk about the offseason, to talk about what's ahead. But keep tuning in. I'm Collar. I love being on your show, but I love the guests you have.

I love the roster you have comprised as kind of the general manager of Purple Insider. And like he said, like I said, we just can't thank you enough for everything you guys do to let us do the job we do. Now let's mock draft. Football. Thanks, everybody. Football.