Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Examining the dysfunction within the Vikings organization

Episode Date: February 3, 2026

Leila Rahimi, Marshall Harris and Mark Grote discussed the Vikings' dysfunction.

You know, I would have loved to get drafted to New York and, you know, have that be my home for 20 years. But it just didn't work out that way. And, you know, same thing in Carolina. And then, you know, in San Francisco, that was a great place for me to learn. And in Minnesota, I feel like I had a great opportunity with really good players and really good coaches to show not people, but show myself what I could do out on a football field. And I think people saw that. And, again, like Seattle, you know, just from, you know, just from, you know, just from. to get, you know, right when I got here, it felt like home. And it feels like home. And, you know,

I'm just so thankful for John and Mike believing in me. And, you know, all the players in that locker room for believing in me. And for me to just be able to go out there and do nothing more than my job on every single play. And I think that's a, that's a very, very secure feeling as a quarterback. Yeah, all's well. That ends well for Sam Darnel as he and the Seahawks are trying to win the Super Bowl and the rematch of Super Bowl 49. This is Raheem. me Harrison Brody on 104-3, the score. We thank you for joining us on both 104-3 and 670 today. And that set off a firestorm, as we know. Last week, the surprising news that the Vikings were firing general manager, Cuiio Fomenza, who was a candidate whenever the Bears hired Ryan Poles. And while we see what's happened similarly with how, say, for example, the discussion in Detroit is never let the genius.

leave your building, and that is a big narrative surrounding the reason that the Lions did make the playoffs, they lose Ben Johnson, they try to replace the offensive coordinator in a position that they see fit. There's also the narrative of this is what happens when you can't get

the quarterback right. And when you see when the Vikings fired a Dofamensa, when you see that it was in late January, when you see that it was after their former quarterback and Sam Darnold, who helped earn Kevin O'Connell Coach of the Year Awards, that performance, that combination.

They decide to go with J.J. McCarthy instead, famously. They didn't sign Sam Darnold to any sort of extension. His playoff performance was still in question at that time. And I think that that's been put to bed. And now you see he's in the Super Bowl. All of this happens, I think, in the discussion surrounding everything that we've heard about a dofo man's sense. It all leads up to the same key issue here. And it's one that we know well here. When you don't get the quarterback right, everything else becomes part of the discussion.

And I'm not here to say that they can't get it right with J.J. McCarthy. But the difference is they have to compare it to the guy they let walk. And because of that, that's when all this other stuff comes in. Who's running the team? Whoa, paternity leave that was taken two years ago, three years ago, and all of this. You're not saying any of that stuff. if Sam Darnold is still with this team. Coiseido Femezza probably still has a job

if Sam Darnold's still with the team. And then they would have to figure out who out of those two would be the guy they arrived with this particular year, for example. Well, my question is very simple at this point. Does he get fired if the Seahawks don't make the Super Bowl? That's really what it comes down to

because this feels very knee-jerkish. because the time they hired and fired their front office guy doesn't make any sense whatsoever otherwise unless there was some kind of off-the-field scandal, right? Like, if you're riding with J.J. McCarthy going forward and you're watching other football and you're like, that guy, he made the Super Bowl.

Now we're going to get rid of our guy. He could have been our guy, but he's not. And that's the decision you're making based on the fact that Donald's in the Super Bowl, it seems very just backward and reactionary and owner-driven to a degree. And it's confusing to me, to be honest. Here's what's confusing to me about it. Like, we're just talking about J.J. McCarthy.

And there's a lot of people that like J.J. McCarthy. I remember being at the Combine. And part of all those interviews or interviewed many people, talked to people on the record, off the record, and J.J. McCarthy was pretty popular among GMs. He was. He absolutely was. There are many scouts in the league who can confirm what you're talking about. Right.

And Caleb Williams was definitely number one of all the people that we spoke to for sure. But it was, oh, what about, oh, but I really like this, J.J. McCarthy, though. There's something there because he didn't mess up a lot in college because he was part of a really good offense in Michigan because he didn't have to throw much until he was not exposed in any way, shape, or form. But what I am getting to about this is, you're also saying at this point that, oh, if you're getting rid of him because Sam Darnold is good, you're telling us that your coach of the year, an annual candidate for coach of the year. Kevin O'Connell can't get this prospect to be good.

Wait a minute, I thought Kevin O'Connell was great. I thought he was one of the best young coaches in the league. I thought he was a coach of the year candidate and coach of the year. You're saying after one year, sorry, I can't work with J.J. McCarthy. That's the part that seems odd to me. Well, and listen, Paul Churchian has touched on this. Charch is our fantasy football expert, longtime Vikings fan. He's talked about the drafting deficiencies that Adofomenses had.

And there was a really compelling interview that Spiegel and Holmes did yesterday with Matthew Collar of Purple Insider talking about the various issues surrounding this. But stop me when you've heard any of this before. for. Like how many times we had to ask the question, who's running the bears? Who's running X team in town? Who's doing X, Y, or Z? You know, you talk about the other deficiencies like we mentioned. Well, you've got the coach of the year. Well, you know, there were other drafting concerns. None of that. None of that matters. If you don't get the quarterback right to you, and this feels so reactionary based on the fact that Sam Darnel makes a Super Bowl, and now,

Now the decision has been made. Listen to what caller said when it came to, for example, who's running the team? Listen to what was discussed about Brian Flores, a guy who interviewed for other jobs and knew that he could come back to the Minnesota Vikings if he didn't get them. With Brian Flores coming back, it's possible. And this is from Kevin's reporting that my takeaway was that Brian Flores did not want Quasi Adolfo Mensa as the general manager if he was going to come back. that may be putting a little bit of two and two together.

But when you look at Brian Flores in Minnesota, it's been such an enormous success for him personally. Everyone's talking about it every year and him potentially getting head coaching jobs, which I don't think would even be a discussion if the performance had not been as good as this, considering that he's suing the league. They have put a really good team around him and all those things. And the organization is top notch. And, you know, there are certainly, if you saw the reports today,

paying him a lot of money. But I think there was always a question of the distribution of power and how much control everyone has when it comes to the decision making. And Brian Flores is known as a guy that wants to do things his way. At one point, Ryan Fitzpatrick used the word. I think he said dictator once about Brian Flores. And if you saw what Mike Patton, former assistant for the Vikings said, said he didn't see eye to eye.

So he moved over to the other side of the football. I mean, this is a guy, I think, that has a real, let's just say a vision for the way to do things and he wants it done that way. And so if the key to getting back, maybe the number one defensive coordinator in the entire NFL in a season where you really have to get everybody back to the playoffs was removing the general manager when there are other issues. They have struggled with drafting. They have handed out bad contracts. They did get rid of the quarterback who's in the Super Bowl. it probably wasn't that difficult of a choice. So that's what I mean by we're making a lot out of the parent leave.

We're making a lot out of different things that we've picked up along the way. And I certainly did that in my 3,000 word article. But, you know, it also may come down to that kind of thing. Like, would we rather have this elite defensive coordinator back who wants to work with somebody else? Or do we want the general manager who kind of wasn't really fitting in that position in the first place? But here's my issue with all of this. this is that again and Brian Flores

is one of the most if not now that Vic Fangio you know maybe hanging it up the most respected defensive coordinator in the league it's him and Vic right that's how I see it's like one and two Bears might have one top yeah Dennis Allen's a former head coach but when you

think of when you think of the defenses you don't want to face by head by coordinator name alone you know those are the two that come to my mind with all due respect to Brian Flores take his name out of it. What defensive coordinator has that kind of power? You know the foundation is cracking when you hear this kind of discussion,

and we know it all too well here. They're going to pay them, by the way, and this was on pro football talk yesterday, the Vikings will reportedly pay Brian Flores more than $6 million per year. So you talk about a team that has two very powerful coaches at this point. I think Collar does a great job in explaining that situation specifically, but I think

before you talk about the quarterback and maybe the simplistic way that we tend to look at it because it's what have you done for me lately, and J.J. McCarthy is what remains after having both Daniel Jones and Sam Darnold in the fold. You have to go back to the fact that Kevin O'Connell his preferred quarterback was Drake May

and, you know, Adolfo Mincea, the guy who's got the abacus out, right? He's like, I'm unwilling to give up this to get as high as number three, where Drake May was ultimately selected behind Caleb Williams and Jane Daniels. And I think that starts kind of a rift there with the office. Like, hey, I'm the guy who has to coach these guys. If Drake May is my preferred guy, go out and get him. It's the most important position in the fields. And as far as Brian Flores is concerned, you look at the totality. We talk a lot about

Ryan Paul's drafts, right? You look at the totality of Quesci Adofo-Mins's drafts, and they have not been good in comparison to who's taken behind the trades they made to go down and just guys who are no longer on the roster, you've got to hit at a certain level and get some guys underneath you who have pro bowl and dare I say all pro potential. Or you just have to tank hard enough to where you get the guaranteed pick that gets you the guy you want. Like that's part of this. Yes, we criticize Ryan Poles on this show.

Yes, he's not above criticism when it comes to a lot of the draftics. He's made with the contracts. He signed people too. But when how familiar does it sound when you ask. the questions, well, who's running this team? Oh, now the GM and the coaching staff is out of order. Oh, now the GM coaching staff and quarterback are out of order. And then it goes back to what you were talking about, Mark. The potential was so high with J.J. McCarthy. Scouts did talk a lot about the fact that he didn't throw the ball because he didn't have to in Michigan. And they

trust Jim Harbaugh. So you consider all these other events. All of this is reactive. Then therefore, understanding who J.J. McCarthy is reactive because you're hoping to see certain things you hadn't seen on tape. You do that with everybody. Then you're reacting when you decide to fire the GM because the other quarterback made the Super Bowl. After knowing that you wanted the other guy.

All of this seems like a position we know well as observers here. It's crazy to be on the other side of this. Kind of nice, isn't it? Yeah, I still think that even if Kevin O'Connell was right, and it looks like he was right, that Drake May would have been a better option.

You never know how things look in a different franchise, a different uniform, but I believe it probably would have looked pretty good with him in Minnesota. Am I crazy for being the only one? Maybe not the only one, but I strongly feel that because of how J.J. McCarthy performed in his last four games at the end of last year, that J.J. McCarthy is going to be fine. Now, maybe not spectacular, but I think Kevin O'Connell can win with J.J. McCarthy. Well, what I was going to say is that he is still, like the pressure should not be off Kevin

O'Connell, considering the talent and the praise that we get, he should make that quarterback better. And even understanding that Drake May would have been a better option. And in conclusion to all of this, it makes complete sense why they had to fire their GM. If you have two very powerful coaches on head coach and defensive coordinator on a staff that both can give you bullet points as to really big things that went wrong and they're not pleased with a guy, it's an automatic. Their hand, there was no way they could. It was untenable to keep that man as part of the organization.

I mean, here's the thing. You know, you're going to ask the question naturally, who has the most power there, who's the best at their job? And when two of them are so damn good at their job, and it's basically like having two head coaches who are coordinating together, you know, who are coexisting together, then the odd man out becomes the one where you have to have a referendum. them. What's hilarious is we've been very well may have that situation here. Would you consider the former head coach Dennis Allen, Ben Johnson, who is the genius who left Detroit's building, as has been said? And then you have the general manager Ryan Poles. I just don't think the difference is as much as it is with those two in Quasi Adofo Mensa. Well, I think the difference is Quesia dofo Mensa believed that he was right and he had not been yet humbled. I mean, his team's winning on the field, 13-14-win seasons.

Outstanding season last year. And so it's like, it has to all come crashing down. And by then it's too late. Ryan Poles was humbled first and then brought in Ben Johnson and Dennis Allen. And therefore, now he is severely acquiescing to those two because guess what? He hadn't done a good job to that point. Well, there's also the question of who do you think you can win with? Like, we talked about Maddie Rufels being on the phone with Romadunesay saying just how

we drew it up, right? Like there was a discussion of, well, who do you think you can win with? You have to have that discussion. But if there was some sort of conflict and Adofo Mense, didn't want to give up what it took to get Drake May, when the difference is that crucial. That's what, like, think about if Drake May were on the Vikings, how would we be talking about Drake May compared to Caleb Williams?

That'd be a different discussion. Yeah, I mean, and we don't know what it would have looked like in Minnesota. It may not have had the same success, just circumstance. He has a receiver. That's true. A couple of good receivers, actually. Two really good receivers. Never sleep on Jordan Addison.

You heard what you heard what Justin Jefferson had to say about Sam Donald and how much he basically misses him. Remember how good he is? Remember that old brisker? And also, boy, you know how I feel about Justin Jefferson. Like, take the NFC North out of it. If you love Ball, you're just sad that he's had this circumstantial career. It's been a rough go this past. He was flying high and cried.

Get him on his AFC team and then you'll feel my passion. I'm not that greedy. Just get him out of the division. Hey, imagine that. Making a grown man cry. If I may quote, Jaquan Brisker. Go ahead. And Jaquan Brisker is getting the last laugh now, huh?

Great season before he's up for a contract. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie here on 1043, the score. We thank you for joining us. And coming up next, there's been a lot of baseball chatter. We don't get to talk about it much because there's been so much football to discuss. So our Bruce Levine, the Scores Baseball Insider, will join us next.