Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Reaction: What O'Connell needs to see from J.J. McCarthty in final five games

Episode Date: December 3, 2025

Dane Mizutani of the Pioneer Press joins the show to react to Kevin O'Connell's surprising comments about what he wants to see from QB J.J. McCarthy over the final five weeks of the season. 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 to another episode of Purple Insider, presented by Fandul. Matthew Collar here with Dane Mizatani Inside TCO Performance Center, where we just listened to a very, very interesting press conference from Kevin O'Connell. And there's a good place to start with one of his answers, which was I asked him about J.J. McCarthy and what he wants to see. from J.J. McCarthy the rest of the way. And I expected, you probably expected company line from what he's talked about a lot, which is techniques and fundamentals and things like that. But that was really not what we heard from Kevin O'Connell at all. Yeah, I think, you know, even talking to him this week, you know, I think we've talked a lot about

plenty of moments that you guys probably have logged away for eternity of fundamentals and technique and all those things, and I appreciate the questions and the interest and the understanding of the quarterback development process. But as I talked to him this week, it's purely about decision making at this point. And, you know, there'll be time to ultimately, you know, fundamentally focus on things and build, continue building kind of this layer of, you know, a foundation that will be important for him into the future. But now it feels like between he's got enough experience. He kind of knows a lot of these principles that we've talked about.

You know, I want him to have a clear head and a clear mind to just go play, but play with an understanding of the decisions that I make with the ball in my hand, the decisions that I make as a passer and as we've learned very important as a runner to protect himself and make sure that we can keep them in there. All of those things have to be the most of the utmost importance because we've learned, you know, our turnover number is where it is, and it's not a winning formula. And we've shown over the four years to Mark's point,

even when maybe other players had to step in, if we didn't turn the football over, we've had a chance to win a lot of those football games, and we have in the break-even or better mark. And that kind of speaks to part of both questions in a lot of ways. But that would be it is I don't want him over-thinking or, you know, worrying about if the fundamentals need to be changed, if they need to be adjusted, if we need more time on task on that, that's one thing.

But let's just make the throws. Let's just throw and catch. Let's just play with great rhythm and understanding of the plan. And then the ultimate plan of our team on what it's going to take to win a game involves not giving the ball away to the other team. Dane, what did you think of O'Connell's message to J.J. McCarthy? Yeah, I think it's two-pronged. I think part of me thinks it was a moment of reflection from Kevin O'Connell,

taking accountability for maybe breaking this kid's brain a little bit. Like we've talked so much about technique, fundamentals, base, balance, foundation. Like every buzzword under the sun. And like, I think there is probably an element when you look at the way J.J. McCarthy has regressed where Kevin O'Connell probably looks at himself and says, like, did we overload him with information to a point where he can no longer play football. So that was part of what I thought when he was talking. Like maybe he feels like they've contributed to these struggles.

A larger part of me, though, felt like it was him saying, stop. Enough is enough. We cannot move forward when we are turning the ball over the way we have been turning the ball over. And we being J.J. McCarthy. The way J.J. McCarthy has turned the ball over when he has been the quarterback of this football team has directly, contributed to the struggles and the losses and just the debacle this season is turned into.

So I think that's kind of where I was at when I was listening to that answer is I expected when you asked that question for him to say, we're looking for his fundamentals to continue to improve. We're looking for feet and eyes to be in the right position. We're looking for posture at the top of his drop, all the things we've heard. And Kevin O'Connell acknowledged himself that you guys have probably all heard this before you've taken a quarterback 101 class basically this year and I feel like I know more about quarterback play than I ever have but for him to just reduce it to the word decision making I guess that's two words maybe it's a hyphenated word hyphenation decision making that was like that's the word of the

press conference to me what does Kevin O'Connell want to see from JJ McCarthy over the final five weeks of the season decision making being smarter with where he throws the football not throwing the football to the other team. So that, I mean, that is, that speaks right now to where the Vikings are at. They need their quarterback to stop turning the ball over. You know, I agree with this approach because throughout the beginning part of the season and throughout training camp, I think it was very fair of Kevin O'Connell to talk to J.J. McCarthy like a very young quarterback who is trying to get his fundamentals figured out in real time.

and as much of a challenge as maybe they should have seen it coming that that would be for somebody who needed a lot of technical work, that's not this conversation. This conversation is really about the thought process of what we're taking away from the final five games. Because that was really my question. It was sort of an open-ended, you know, I know people want us to yell at them in press conferences, but a lot of times it's a better approach to just say, what are you looking for? And that was his answer. But I think it's a fundamental shift in how.

how he's thinking about it as well, because now that J.J. McCarthy has been a Minnesota Viking for almost 600 days, it's time to play quarterback like a big boy. Like, this league does not have time for you to make mistakes that are catastrophic time and time and time again and take a ton of sacks and throw a ton of interceptions and fumble the football and whatever. It doesn't have time for that when you get to four and eight. Now, I think that patients early on made a lot of sense of, hey, it's his second start, hey, it's his third start, hey, it's his fourth start. So come on now, like everybody, like be patient, there's going to be mistakes. But when you get to the point where you can't even score and you are giving the ball away like crazy

and you're losing games and O'Connell knows that those Ws and Ls go next to his name on pro football reference and his legacy and everything else, it gets to the point where, all right, I'm not going to baby you along anymore. It's time to treat you like you are a pro quarterback with expectations. of playing like a pro quarterback. So I didn't take it as much as a self-reflection from O'Connell. I took it as a shift to this franchise is worth $7 billion or $6 billion. There are consequences. When you play like this, there are consequences.

And one of those consequences might be you ain't the quarterback anymore if you give it away like this, because I think we'd all agree that if J.J. McCarthy plays in the final five games, like he's played in his first six games, he is not the quarterback in 2006. And I think that's the underwriting to that. That's the Invisible Inc. Below it is basically, if you throw seven interceptions in the final five weeks, I cannot protect you into the future. Then it won't be a, you won't get a chance to show everybody your awesome new fundamentals next year because nobody's going to trust you. So I know that's me putting a lot of words in his mouth. But I think that this change of how he's talking about it is also necessary. It's

not just, hey, let's put the training wheels on and talk about it like that. It's take the training wheels off and you better ride by yourself or you're going to crash into a ditch and that's the National Football League for you. Sorry, you're young. Yeah, it feels like a challenge in a way, right? Like here is, I was asked what I want to see over the last five games and I'm putting it out there for everybody to hear, J.J. McCarthy included. This is what I need to see over the last five games. Now, he didn't dive into the, if I don't see this over the last five games, here are the consequences, but there are some of those nuances layered into each answer.

I mean, the way that we talk about this game is probably similar to the way it's talked about upstairs. It's probably similar to the way it's talked about in the locker room. It is unacceptable the way that the quarterback position has been played this year, and I think everybody knows that. I think Jay Jim McCarthy knows that. Now, if he can't show market growth over the last month of the season, yes, I think we will go down that path that maybe, certainly people will say you're being too impatient. Well, like, the fact of the matter is the NFL is not a league of patience anymore.

You could argue it never has been, but now more than ever before, you need results immediately. And to be fair to the rest of the league, like there have been results immediately. I know everyone's going to bring up, well, what about Josh Allen? What about Peyton Manning? What about those conversations that get brought up don't take into account that a lot of those people that you're using as your reference point, the people that are screaming, be patient, worst teams in the league when those quarterbacks arrive. This team legitimately expected, for better or for worse, whether it was a miscalculation

or not, to be competing for a Super Bowl. And while the onus goes on everybody from the top down, from Quasi Dauphamensa to to Kevin O'Connell, to coaching staff, to leaders in the locker room, to the 503rd man on the roster. It's not just one person's problem why this team is underachieved. There is an underlying issue of the quarterback play has been at a level that does not allow you to have success. And if it's like that for six games to start his career, historically bad start of his career, if it continues on to the final five games of this season, I think you're right. Does it mean they're going to trade J.J. McCarthy and ship him away?

I don't know. I don't think so. I think it will probably be something where training camp is an open competition, where you have to earn the right to beat out whoever we bring in, to be the quarterback of this football team next year. He can quiet that conversation by just balling out over the last five games. He can quiet a lot of the criticism, the doubters, the haters, by just playing quarterback at a high level over the last five games.

The problem is we haven't seen anything that indicates that turn of the page is coming. We'll see. Now he has a chance in a softer part of the schedule against defenses that he should be able to get yardage and move the ball and put up stats against the Washington commanders this weekend, the Dallas Cowboys next weekend, the New York Giants the weekend after that, if you can't have success over the next three games against those teams that have had struggling. defenses throughout this season, yeah, it might be over. So, yeah, today felt like, I don't know if it was the first time it was an open challenge, but it felt like a very intentional, this is what I need to see moving forward from you. Well, and there was always reasons to preach patience early on because he has the comeback win in week one, which is now against the Bears team that's won a lot of football

games. So, okay, you won that game, and then you have a really bad game against Atlanta, and he He repeatedly went back to the, there's a tough week for him. He didn't get a lot of practice. And he made the explanations or excuses for him having the game that they had against the Atlanta Falcons. And then he comes back and he wins against Detroit. And again, you have a bad game after that. And it's like, well, we need to work on the throwing because that really was the main issue against the Baltimore Ravens.

Some of the decision making was tossed in there. But really just the actual throwing was problematic. So, okay, well, it's just one bad game. against the Ravens. If we win two out of four here, if you bounce us back, then you can beat Chicago again. You're still in the race, which is what I think everybody expected, including us and I'm sure them, which was to have these rocky moments, but also have the upswings and stay in the race and stay in the in the hunt graphic and have a chance if this team loses and that team went. No one expected to get to this point, especially where they were

against the Green Bay Packers, where you're just not competitive at all. And you are getting completely run out of the building. And that's where there's a clear turn from, all right, we have brought you along as slowly as possible. O'Connell has stood up there and I don't want to say he's made excuses for him, but he's given explanations for, well, he just needs to do that and we're working on that and it's coming along in practice. But at some point you reach a point where now, and it's not just fans, but it's national TV and everything else, there's discussions happening on ESPN about whether Justin Jefferson should stay here and whether Kevin O'Connell should continue to be the coach. And, you know, they can talk about and West Phillips can talk about all he wants at the podium.

Oh, that's today's environment. These, there's 60 million people watching on Thanksgiving. I mean, these franchises cannot sit around like it's 1960 expansion team Dallas Cowboys with Tom Landry and wait for eight years before you get to this point. And I also don't think that Tom Landry's cowboys spent $350 million in free agency. Like, there are consequences to having a season like this. And I think O'Connell knows that it comes back to how the quarterback is played, which is why he's layered into a lot of his comments. In the past, we had these top 10 passing numbers.

But now we do not basically saying, when I had good quarterback play, the quarterbacks were good. And when I haven't, then they haven't been. which is really then a, all right, JJ, go do it, turn that corner or, you know, there's going to be a different situation going on here in the future. And I thought that that came away loud and clear here. I guess we should answer my question, which is what we expect from J.J. McCarthy the rest of the way. Because it's certainly not fair to declare a guy's career after six games.

Maybe after 600 days, it does get a little bit more like you know where you stand with this. But after 600, or six starts, there's still possibilities of improvement. Do you think that if J.J. McCarthy was safer with the football? Remember, he has the number one average depth of target in the league. So he's throwing farther down the field than anyone in the NFL. If he is more deliberate with the football, can he win them back over these last five games? Folks, the holidays are almost here. And if you still have names on your list,

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you look at trade candidates, you look at the veteran quarterbacks that are out there, like it's nobody that's making you jump for joy. So yeah, I think he could win them over over the last five games, but that's where I go back to what I said earlier. Like nothing suggests to this point that he's going to hit the next level in his progression because I haven't seen like a steady upward trajectory. If anything, I've seen a downturn in the way he's played the position because maybe he's thinking too much. Maybe there's too much going on in his brain. Maybe he's reading what social

media is saying about. Like, it's hard to be a quarterback in the NFL on the field. And it's really hard to be a quarterback when you're struggling in the NFL off the field. Like, there are a lot of criticisms and a lot of things that get brought to kind of light in your worst moments. How do you respond to that? I'm not sure he's responded to that in the best way over the last month and a half or so. But I think if he can move forward, starting this Sunday, against a pretty bad Washington commanders team that's lost seven in a row. And you can stack a game on Sunday and then you can go into Dallas who they're dangerous, but their defense is still getable and in some ways it's improving.

And if you can stack that game on top of the Washington game, and if you can go to New York, and it's going to be probably cold at the Meadowlands, but the giant stink. That might be one of the worst teams in the NFL that isn't in the same kind of category as where the Vikings find them. sells right now. If you can just start with three games and then take your chances against the really motivated Detroit Lions and then probably the really motivated Green Bay Packers, I think if you can show glimpses enough, like maybe you could set yourself up in a way. I think I referenced

the Detroit Lions one time on the postgame pod. Do you remember that year where they just sucked? But then there was an upward trajectory at the end of the year and everybody remembers the line from Dan Campbell, going into the finale against the Packers, why are you playing your starters? Well, because we don't want them to get in either. It felt like that was a watershed moment where the Detroit Lions figured something out, something clicked over the last

month, and you, even at that time, looked at them and said, they're probably going to be pretty good next year. It needs to be that. It needs to be so drastically different than what we've seen so far. But do I think he can win them over? Yes, I don't think it's over.

I don't think the team looks at him or the front office or the coaching staff looks at J.J. McCarthy and says, we cannot fix him. But he's been so historically bad to this point that the improvement would need to be drastic over the last month or so for that change to happen. That's how bad it's been. I know I think Max Brosmer's game against the Seahawks broke everybody's brain to a degree because it was like, well, let's see what J.J. McCarthy has. It made you almost lose sight of the fact, because that was so bad, of how bad it's

looked with J.J. McCarthy under center. The experiment with Max Brosmer is over. It is J.J. McCarthy's ship to steer the rest of the way, assuming he doesn't stop trying to truck guys and he can start to slide, which is something Kevin O'Connell noted as well. Like, availability is the best ability. But if he can play all five games, if he can show drastic improvement, Yeah, I guess he could win them over. I think you have to be a little bit concerned about Fool's Gold when it comes to that. That's fair. And it is ironic, the guy that I'm about to reference here.

Sam Darnold had a month at the end of, I believe it was his second season, where he was absolutely terrific for the New York Jets, and they thought he turned a corner. And now, again, we know the results of how it eventually worked out many years later for Sam Darnold, but going into the next season, they were very excited thinking that Sam Darnold had really found himself, and then the following season, he did not. And even for someone like Bryce Young, who's playing very well right now, two of the last three weeks, last year he played really well in the second half of the season and has not lived up to that

standard. Now, I think that, you know, Carolina, that's a different podcast for another reporter. But, I mean, I think that they've at least gotten to a point where they know they can win games with him and they're probably going to pick up his fifth year option or whatever with him. And that would be from where we stand right now with J.J. McCarthy to feel like you can win games and he's going to give you a chance is a long way from this moment. But even there was a little bit of he's going to take this big leap the following season. And I don't know that that's really happened for him. I think when you start getting into, well, it all comes down to these

couple games. And I think they made the darn old mistake for the same reason. It all comes down to how he plays in these last couple games. Like, wait a minute, he just played 16 games for you. And now you're judging it on games 17 and 18 or 18 and 19, whatever it was. I mean, that seems like a very concerning way to go about evaluating someone because we see all over the field positions where guys have three or four good games. And tell me once upon a time, you didn't think that Armand Watts was having a moment. Or, I mean, like, there's, I could name 20 guys who are like this throughout the years that they had a great end to last season and they had a run of four or five games.

They got a couple interceptions, whatever it might have been. And then the team starts them the next year. And it's like, whoops, that guy was never really fit for this. So I think we've reached a point that we've gone too far for him to be able to play so well at the end of this season where, hey, he's QB1. That's it. There's not going to be any look at it whatsoever at free agency or. the trade market or competition for him. I think it's degrees of that, though.

If he plays really well, they win four out of these last five games. Hey, you're still missing the playoffs, but you saved this season to go eight and nine. That actually happened to Brian Flores. Didn't he go nine? I think it was nine and eight after starting out something like that. So it does happen from time to time. It was one in six you're talking about for Detroit. They were one in six and they finished nine and eight.

It does happen. So if that happens, then I think the degree of competition you're looking. for is not, holy cow, we've got to go find a starter. But if he keeps throwing it to the other team all the time, then yes, it is going to be you have to go get a Gino Smith or somebody like that, a Marcus Marriota, who we found out today that Kevin O'Connell was very close with and worked in the pre-draft process. So that might lean even more toward you are a Minnesota Viking in 20, 26. But I think that even if he plays just well enough to win two out of five, even three out of five, you would need an upset in there somewhere. I still don't think

you've got a big enough sample size, plus all the injuries to say, hey, he's your guy, just bring back any old backup quarterback, it's fine. You're all set with your franchise guy. Yeah, maybe that is an important distinction. Do I think he could win them over over the last five games, yes, to a degree. Yes, I think he could win them over in a way where they can say, we think you could be the guy we still need to bring in competition. Now, if he continues the way he has over the first six games to the final five games, they will bring in, to your point, a level of competition that will surpass anything JJ McCarthy can probably compete with at this moment in time. So maybe he can't win them over in the sense of there's going to

to be no competition for training camp next year. And frankly, that would be ridiculous and pretty bad process if they move forward regardless of how the next month goes without any competition. We saw that this year. They thought almost blind faithly that J.J. McCarthy was going to pick up right where Sam Darnold left off because the infrastructure is so good. We're going to spend so much money. And they didn't even push the kid. They signed Sam Howell, who there's no way Sam Howell was ever going to beat out J.J. McCarthy, and I think they knew that. And then when they realized Sam Howell could not do the job, they brought in Carson Wentz off the street at the last minute. Like that was bad process in real time, regardless of the hopes and dreams you had for

Jason McCarthy. So they cannot repeat that again. Somebody has to come in to compete with him. But yes, I think it is of leveling degrees here. So can you win them over over the five games? Yes. If he plays well for five games, they balls out. If they go nine and eight, which seems literally impossible at this point. Maybe it is, we're going to bring in a Marcus Marriotto, a James Winston, someone you could beat out theoretically, or we hope that the person we saw for the final five games could beat out this aging veteran who has now established themselves as a permanent backup in the league. But if you suck for five games, yeah, maybe they go get, they get aggressive and they go,

Daniel Jones is going to be a free agent. I think Indianapolis is probably just going to sign him. But that is a name that I think you probably start to look at if he's so bad. You just want to look at, we need somebody in who we feel confident and is better than JJ McCarthy right now. So there are ways that he can kind of continue to dictate where this thing goes. But I think it is a good point by you. Like he's probably gone too far down the road of this is historically bad to be able to write the ship in a way where they could say with full confidence, you're our guy, no doubt about it.

And I also think that what we are going to really learn about J.J. McCarthy is how he deals with this level of adversity in his life and career, because something that was talked about a lot, and this really cuts both ways, was that he had never lost in high school and college. And when I hear that, my ear perks up a little bit of like, oh, buddy, you better prepare yourself because this is tough. Even if you're Sam Darnold, look at, I mean, when Sam Darnold last year, I will never forget this, when we were in Jacksonville and he's having that bad game in Jacksonville,

and they are, I believe, what, maybe six and two at that point or five and two when you're amid the bad game, people are calling for the Vikings to sign Ryan Tannahill as they're having a winning record and winning in the game and it's just not going well. And it went really, really poorly, no question. But like that tells you about the level of intensity and pressure, and Darnold has this great season, has the bad playoff game. No one cares. Get out of town.

We hate you. That's the NFL today. And they can talk about it and bemoan it all they want to about how difficult the environment is and the outside noise and all that. But you mentioned it. It is not new that there's a lot of pressure on the quarterback position. And it's not new that there's a lot of pressure on the coach position. I seem to recall one of the great coaches in NFL history, Marty Schottenheimer being fired after a 14 and 2 season. So, you know, it's there's been a lot of, I think, this throughout history. There's a Jack Del Rio with a young Derek Carr where he goes 12 and 4 and then the next season things come apart and Jack Del Rio's out.

Like this has happened all the time that things happen super fast and there are very high expectations and I know that O'Connell referred to it because I want to get into this as well just with him and our expectations for him over the last five games. He referred to, well, when you set the bar this high and then you come short of it, dot, dot, dot. And that's true. It is true that, you know, they've had really good seasons. They also have no playoff wins. So when, you know, our friend Mark Craig referenced San Francisco, the difference is San Francisco's been to Super Bowls.

So if they have a six-win season, you're not going to pull the court on a coach who's taken his team to two Super Bowls and has won a bunch of playoff games and so forth. with Jimmy Garoppolo and Brock Purdy, you know, and all that. I don't think they have that resume that the San Francisco 49ers have. But the idea of kind of for O'Connell talking about what's happened in the past here, and then you asked him about the culture, and he said, you know, it's not really now. I mean, it's really just like we need to focus on just going want to know, which I know, you know, coach cliche, but he said like this is why we have those. And he basically said, you know, the culture is tested here.

That was the, there's a longer answer there, obviously, but the culture is tested here. And that's what I think about these final five games is how does it feel when we walk out of U.S. Bank Stadium, when we sit here with these microphones and this camera and pointed ourselves at U.S. Bank Stadium after the end of the season against Green Bay, I think we'll dictate where O'Connell stands in general, because if we walk out of there and go, well, it's a seven and ten season, and, you know, they just lost by a field goal to Green Bay. Good game, and that's that. And this was a tough one.

Then, you know, I think you go into next year still with confidence that they can figure something out, turn it around, compete in the NFC North. If it's 5 and 12, I mean, I don't know what to say about that. Like, that's as low as you could possibly get. And then we're asking the questions of how ownership is going to approach this situation. I think it is at this point too early, even though, you know, fans ask me on a regular basis and I give them the answer. I think it's too early to start having that discussion, but I agree with the idea that the culture and the ability to adapt, the ability to get McCarthy

back on the right page, all of that is going to shine a light on the head coach here because like McCarthy, he hasn't faced a whole lot of adversity either. I mean, 2023, but all of us, we did those post games and we were like, well, that was a fun game. They lost. I mean, Right, because we just knew you lost Kirk for the season. McCarthy was your guy. He was your hand-picked guy who was supposed to be ready. So we cannot lose the context of that as we evaluate these final five games for really the whole organization. Yeah, and that's why I asked the culture question is because he's brought that up time and time again.

And to Kevin O'Connell's credit, he has talked about the culture not just beating his chest after they go 13 and 4, not beating his chest after they go 14 and 3 last year. He talked about it in the Kirk Cousin's season. He talked about it when Kirk's Achilles exploded in Lambeau Field and Kevin O'Connor was pretty up front when Josh Dobbs had that cool run of games that we'll all remember and then he threw four interceptions against the Chicago Bears and stunk. Like he was up front in those moments that this is where our culture is tested. But I asked the question today because it always felt like when the culture's been tested in the past,

there's been kind of a built-in, like even from us, like, well, yeah, you stink right now because Kirk Cousins Achilles has exploded. This feels like the first time where this is like the bed they made and this was like the team that they thought could compete at a high, it's the first time it feels like they've fallen woefully short of expectations. So it was good for him to hear him say, like, yes, this is the biggest test of our culture to date. But how are you going to respond to that test is a big thing to keep an eye on over the past, or the next five weeks, the final five weeks of the season,

I think Kevin O'Connell has established himself in Minnesota enough to get the benefit of the doubt, regardless of how the final five weeks go. I don't think there is a world that exists where he won't be the coach next season. But I think there is a world that exists where the seat gets a little warm next season. Because if the final five games for J.J. McCarthy are in some ways a referendum on how next season is going to go. And J.J. McCarthy is Kevin O'Connell's handpicked guy, like sat down in 2022 when he got hired by Quasi Dauphamensa, circled 2024 and said that's when we're going to get our guy,

traveled all over the country, looked at all of the draft prospects last year, and landed on J.J. McCarthy. If he is your guy and the final five weeks are a referendum on him, then yes, the final five weeks should also then be a referendum. random on you to a degree. So it's an immensely pivotal stretch for the franchise. Like I said, I think Kevin O'Connell's job is safe for 2025 heading into 2026. But I do think that it turns quick in the NFL and you go from being the best coach in the league to somebody who the fan base is ready to turn away from pretty quickly. Just ask Brian Dable. He won coach of the year in 2022. I mean, he'll get hired somewhere, but he no longer has a job in 2025.

So it can happen quickly, and that's why these five games are so important. I think in some ways that might be why Kevin O'Connell issued what I think we could consider is an open challenge to J.J. McCarthy to take care of the dang football because he understands how big these five weeks are for him, his culture, and his future moving forward. Well, and no one has ever said that the National Football League was completely fair all the time and run by only totally rational decision makers all the time, although I would say that the Wilfs have been very rational in the way that they've approached a lot of things.

We can, I've always had trouble with this, right? Like, we can nitpick, you should have tanked in this season. And I'm like, I mean, do you, like, it's hard to criticize an ownership for wanting to have good teams for their fans, right? So, you know, even though, like, philosophically, those are good ideas, I understand. That's not a criticism I want to lay at their shoes, because they're trying their best for you to have a good football team every year.

But as rational as they may be, there are previous examples of things just completely falling apart. And that's why I said there's a long way to go from here, and we have to see it to understand where that conversation is going to end up. And the same way goes for J.J. McCarthy that we were talking about. I think also goes for the head coach, the general manager, everybody on the coaching staff, all the players, like the final five games, that is almost a third of a season still left to go. We have a long way. A lot of games to still cover.

But, you know, the point being that how that culture holds up under this much stress is going to, I think, make a difference of how he's viewed in general. Because if there is a turnaround here, then I think it will show you, kind of like 2023, where they started off, what, one and four, they end up at 500. I think we all believe they were going to make the playoffs if they had continued with Kirk Cousins through the rest of that season, and that was one point where he could look at and say, yeah, I was able to get it back on track. He also had a veteran quarterback who was playing really well at that point. And so this is by far the biggest test there. But I also think that

when it comes to these types of decisions, you cannot separate yourself from J.J. McCarthy because of everything you said. Now, if they had no other choice this last offseason, if it was just, hey, J.J. McCarthy's our only quarterback. Let's say Sam Darnold had gone seven and ten. Okay, thanks for your service, Sam. We got a better draft pick. And now it's on to JJ. I would be much more in the camp of, hey, you know, this happens. This happens to everybody, right? But they actively had a year with him, a camp with him, and went out of their way to not have Sam Darnold, who had that great season. They went out of their way to say, no, we believe that this guy will be better. And when you miss that badly. That is like a poker example of pushing all chips to the middle of the table and it turns

out that you were bluffing or something and you didn't have the cards for it. Then you lose everything, right? And that's how I think any decision works and any business decision works too. I mean, if your CEO has a big idea and it fails or if you work for Hollywood and you think this is the big movie, it could be a great movie. But if it fails in the box office or you may have had the best director and actors, if it fails in the box office, if it fails in the box office, you're getting fired. Like, that's just the world. The results, that's why when I hear process over results, I'm like, no really but results. Like the results are what's going to dictate the way everybody looks at you. So I did want to ask you about Jefferson and his comments

on Justin Jefferson. We will hear from him tomorrow. And just where you feel like that discussion is at, because I've started taking screen grabs on my phone of people who are suggesting that Jefferson get traded, talk hosts talking about Jefferson demanding out. And I just think that, man, everybody wants this guy out of here. Like, it's almost like they're all staring at him in a classroom, be like, do something, do something. You know, he's sitting like, what? I haven't done anything. Oh, you skipped one media thing because you were so pissed off after a game.

Do something. Demand a trade. It's like, I just don't think that we're there. I think that this guy is incredibly distraught about the way this team has played this year. And so he's a lot like all of you when it comes to that. And he's also distraught that he's the best receiver in terms of talent. And he's watching George Pickens, who is really good. But I don't think he's Justin.

And he's watching JSN, who's really good. But I wouldn't put him above Jefferson in terms of talent. And the ball literally cannot arrive to him on time. I mean, watching the tape back with Brosmer, you're just like, And that's when it was supposed to be. And no, and it went over him. So many instances of that. But I think I'm getting, I've already got, like, I'm having a relapse of Jefferson trade fatigue from a couple of years ago.

Yeah. I mean, I think, I get it. It's like the world of the hot take. It's the world of the talking heads on ESPN and NFL network getting paid the big bucks while the people who do the reporting pick up the scraps. Like, I get it. Like, you get paid by having. or you make money by having the hottest take possible, by going nuclear on a situation. But, like, really just pay attention.

Like, just pay attention to who Justin Jefferson has been, and that'll give you your answer. Like, the dude is salt of the earth as good of a superstar as you could ever hope and dream for in the NFL, carries himself with the utmost professionalism, has had multiple opportunities to just roll J.J. McCarthy under the bus. not even just J.J. McCarthy. Sam Darnold. There were times, not many because he won 14 games. There were times where in that rough stretch against the AFC South last year, Justin Jefferson could have rolled Sam Darnold under the bus. Or his coach. Or his coach. Or Nick Mullins, Josh Dobbs. He could have looked at Josh Dobbs and looked at the front office after Josh Dobbs sent him to the hospital because the ball went over his head

and he had to end up in an ambulance in Las Vegas and said, what are you doing? And even like the Kirk years. I know he put up stats with Kirk, but there were times. where Kirk would check down and he maybe should go to the state. There have been opportunities for Justin Jefferson to go nuclear on the situation and he's never done it. And I get it. We just talked all about how the Vikings in their current form have never been necessarily at an inflection point

that they are right now. But I think we would have seen something by now that would indicate Justin Jefferson is going to rise to the level where he storms into the office of Quasi dauffamenta or Kevin O'Connell and says, I'm done. I don't think that's coming. I do think he's frustrated.

I think he has every right to be frustrated. And I think it's something where the Vikings should take note that their best player who should be getting the ball more, who should be putting up production, who was chasing Jerry Rice in all of his stats. And now he's not. He was never going to get Jerry Rice because Justin Jefferson was not going to play until he was 42 years old.

But he was on that type of trajectory. And now he is catching two balls for four yards. I think the Vikings need to be aware, and I think they are of what's happening with their superstar, and they cannot ask him every day to just continue to be this happy-go-lucky kid that he is and just say everything's okay, we're going to figure it out. I think it's commendable that he's done that. I think it speaks to who he is and, like, you know, the kid person he was raised to be, like how good of a job his family and his parents did with, like, bringing him up in the world.

but it's a lot to ask of the best player on your team to consistently stand there and explain a way like why is the offense not producing when he knows why the offense isn't producing and in some ways is having to bite his tongue that's why like I was I was bummed we didn't get to talk to him in Seattle but I also understand like he probably didn't have very much nice things to say in that moment and rather than go nuclear he probably thought it was best to just not say anything at all. In fact I would venture to guess when we talk to him tomorrow. He says something along the lines of that because going back to what I said earlier, it's all we've known from him throughout this time. So I don't think we are

reaching a level with the Vikings where Justin Jefferson is going to blow it all up. But I think it's something that they need to take note of and be really intentional with this off season is like this can't happen again. Like Justin Jefferson cannot have another season like this again. and he's going to probably get over 1,000 yards and continue that streak and put up his worst season is going to be better than most people's best season. But this is a guy who should be always at 1,500 yards or more, should be sniffing 2,000 yards because he's that damn good. So you can't move forward again like you have this season with him. But I don't think he's going to be the one necessarily to say, like, I'm out of here. I also think that when it comes to this conversation, and as you mentioned, like if you're on the,

the big network and so forth, you should just do it, I guess, even if it doesn't make much sense because it's going to move the needle. If you pay attention to where his contract is, it's really next year. Like he has no leverage at all to do this, not only that, but if they, let's say they finish 6 and 11 and they don't make major changes from the head coach, the GM, whatever, and the will say, all right, well, that you guys botched pretty bad, but you promised a two-year to three-year window, so we're going to give you the two years, which I actually think is the right thing to do, by the way. Just me discussing this is not me calling for it, just to make that clear

to whoever Clipson posts the parts of the show. But, you know, I think that if you're the Wilf's, that that's the most pragmatic thing to do, which of course has to include Justin Jefferson. Now, if it goes horribly next year, then I think all bets are off. That's the way I would put it. they try to salvage as much as you can this year, so you go into next year with some optimism and belief if you're Jefferson that this thing can get turned around and the culture is strong and his relationship with O'Connell, we know, is very, very close. So I think that that is a tenable situation for now, but that's the only way I would describe it.

At some point, Justin Jefferson's going to say, these are the best years of my career and I can't waste them anymore. that's if, you know, things go badly these next five games and into next year, then he would have some leverage with his contract because that's the point where his contract needs to be redone for his gigantic cap it. So let's end on this. The other day, we had a spirited discussion inside the media room. I'm sure what you guys think we do is yell at each other about football all the time in the media room, and you're right. We do. That's what we do. When we're not podcasting, having the same exact conversations inside the media room at TCO Performance Center, where I shared

an opinion of mine that I mentioned on the show the other day, that I think that regardless of how McCarthy plays for these next five games, that he should be the quarterback next year, that the leadership made its bed and they should sleep in it. And their backup should be Carson Wentz. It should be someone who cannot push J.J. McCarthy that he is going to be QB1. And all three of these fellas are tethered to what happens with the quarterback and it is on them to develop him through next year. And my reasoning is not because I want to try to eke out nine wins for next year with Gino Smith or Marcus Marriota because I want true outcomes. I either want them to find out McCarthy as the guy or I want it to fail spectacularly and draft a quarterback the

following season, which this team has never done at the very top. In fact, they never draft anyone at the very top. Is Matt Khalil the last top five draft pick? Matt Khalil, he's been out of the league for years, was the last top five draft pick. So that's my reasoning on that. What do you think the best path is? Throwing away what we think they will do right now,

what is the best path for them with the handling of the quarterback position? The best path for them is probably your take. I think it is pretty ironclad. Just because I think that it does give you a known sense of, like, is this kid good or not? You figure it out. And if he is good, then you feel pretty good about where things are headed. And if he's bad, then he will probably be spectacularly bad again, and you will have a high draft pick.

Like, I think that probably if nothing else mattered, and this wasn't the billions on top of billions, on top of billion dollar business, and the Wills weren't getting older and they want to probably see a Super Bowl or just their team be good. If it was all done in a vacuum, I think your way makes a lot of sense because it gives you known outcomes either way. And if he's good, you feel good.

And if he's bad, you're in a position to kind of just start over. I think another good outcome that exists is just drafting a quarterback. If you're this high in the draft this year, say the next five games go horribly. Say you finish four and three. 13. Right now on Tankathon, the Vikings, I believe, would be picking 11. If you lose the next five games, there is a chance you could be in the top five. I do not think they will do this. And I actually saw Dane Brugler had a mock draft today. And he thinks that Fernando Mendoza is going to go one and Dante Moore is going to go two. So if that happens, then this point is moot. But my point in just maybe deciding to bite the bullet and draft the quarterback,

is that if it has gone so spectacularly bad with J.J. McCarthy and you are all of a sudden finding yourself in the top five, I know it's supposed to be a bad quarterback draft, but like, is it? I don't know. Like, are we sure Fernando Mendoza or Dante Moore or Ty Simpson are going to be just mid because we've been told that they are going to be mid? I think we see outcomes all the time where, like, guys outperform where they were supposed to be drafted, or we also see the opposite. But I think when you look at just the history of the NFL, the way things have trended, like your best opportunity to hit on a franchise quarterback is by taking them really freaking high in the draft. And the highest quarterback the Vikings have ever drafted in franchise history in terms of just high in the first round is J.J. McCarthy.

The number 10 pick in the draft is the highest they've ever drafted a quarterback. He was the fifth quarterback taken in his own draft. So my thought is, again, if this is all a vacuum, if nothing else matters, just swing again. Because you don't get many opportunities to swing this high in the draft. Again, I don't think this is what they're going to do. I don't think you think this is what they're going to do. I don't think they're going to do your pathway. I think what's probably going to happen is they're going to bring a veteran quarterback

and have a spirited competition through training camp. But I think both options, yours and the one I just laid out, in a vacuum, make more sense than rolling with, as much as I love him, Marcus Marriota. Yeah, no, I totally agree. And it will feel like if next year, and I've referred to him as 2026 Vikings quarterback, Marcus Marietta, I will definitely put that in my article responding to the game,

a reaction article right after the game. And I've also referred to Kirk as that. maybe referred to Aaron Rogers, and I've brought up, I still think that if you're going that direction, and I'm probably going to stand on this for a while, it's Gino Smith, because just last year, he won 10 games with a good franchise. The Raiders are a AAA team. They are minor league. That's not real football, watching their offense. What? So this, I actually think Gino would crush in this offense, but does it really compete for a Super Bowl, or is it just the time is a flat circle type of move.

I think what we're talking about is anything that diverts from that. It diverts from, oh, another team's quarterback that has to come in here that's a one-year option to try to save you and you really don't know what the future is, but you're not drafting high enough to get, like, where have we heard this one before

other than always and forever? So, yeah, I mean, I think that this season, had it been, or could still be mediocre, puts them on track for continuing with their path. Any extreme outcome from here on, I mean, if it is great, they win five games in a row. And then we're talking about nine and eight, then wow, it would feel totally different about the franchise. If they go, oh, and five, then I don't know, maybe you are talking about drafting a quarterback because it's a regime change. And, you know, I can't throw, I can't throw

that out entirely just because I don't think it's the right move. But if the only reason to not draft one would be because the guys are going to be under pressure for next season, that doesn't feel like good decision making either. So you get put in this rock and hard place spot that makes Minnesota Vikings football suddenly really fascinating. And I decided after our postgame the other day that I should end the podcast on solo shots like this. Folks, you would think that a team that's sitting at four and eight would have no interest at all, no intrigue, no fascination in that there would be every reason to just tune out of the Purple Insider podcast. But let me tell you. If there's one thing I know, there's always something more interesting

around the corner with the Minnesota Vikings. So we'll see you next time. Football. Thank you.