Someone else mentioned this at one point, but did the real “QB whisperer” leave the vikings last offseason? Just take a look at what Lawrence and the Jags are doing this season…

Well, that was surprising. The GM was also let go.
As a reminder, the Falcons interviewed the following (who later became head coaches) before opting for Raheem Morris:

• Macdonald (Seattle)
  
• Vrabel (Patriots)
  
• Harbaugh (Chargers)
  
• Ben Johnson (Bears)
  

For the boi's....

https://www.espn.com/nfl/draft2026/story...icks-needs

Congratulations on beating our practice squad today lol. You would’ve lost if our starters were in. Go Pack Go!!

Good riddance to 2025, one disappointment after another. Looking forward to acquiring a qb more durable than a Yugo.

Ties Al Bubba Baker with 23 sacks in a season.

Conforming to the past 48 years of Vikings history, O’Connell has produced two outstanding regular seasons, two disappointing regular seasons and no postseason success while shuffling quarterbacks like a casino dealer on Red Bull.

He is 42-25 in the regular season, for a winning percentage of .627, the highest in Vikings history. Bud Grant is second at .621, followed by Dennis Green at .610, Mike Zimmer at .562 and Jerry Burns at .547.

Somewhere on the internet, someone lacking perspective and patience is calling for O’Connell to be fired. That is, of course, nonsense. 

O’Connell is a high-quality coach who runs a good organization and has achieved that high winning percentage without a Hall of Fame-caliber quarterback.

A reminder: The great Bill Belichick won about 75% of the games he coached with Tom Brady as his quarterback, and about 45% of the games he coached without Brady. 

Most coaches who are considered “great” were elevated by great quarterbacks. 

That’s why, all these years later, I still think of Joe Gibbs as the best coach ever because he won Super Bowls with three non-Hall of Famers: Joe Theismann, Doug Williams and Mark Rypien.

O’Connell is likely to be here for a while, and if J.J. McCarthy turns into a quality franchise quarterback, O’Connell will eventually want to invest in a cabin, mukluks and a hotdish maker, and start ice fishing and taking forever to say goodbye.

Strib

Anyone happen to catch the absolute incompetence of Brad Allen’s officiating crew in the Bucs/Panthers game?  I don’t like to bag on referees and don’t subscribe to conspiracy theories, but in a game where I had no dog in the fight, this was the worst display of one-sided officiating I’ve seen since Vikings/Saints NFCC. Because it was not one call; because it was not just judgment issues; and because it was so one-sided.

Four plays particularly stood out, all critical in what turned out to be a 2-point Bucs win.  Google it and you can watch the plays, all fairly ridiculous.  Two were particularly egregious because they are hard to explain.  In the first, a Panther is being facemasked and has his helmet ripped off his head and tossed several yards down field. No call.  The second is hard to fathom: Bryce Young throws a swing pass to Rico Dowdle, the ball hits the turf and Dowdle scoops up the ball and the whistle blows with the referee signaling incomplete pass.  Play is dead.  Next, the refs announce (with no aid of review or suggestion of replay assist) that it was a backwards pass and the ball went out of bounds — loss of 7 yards putting the Panthers behind the sticks  at 2nd and 17 and out of fg range. The Panthers can’t convert on the drive and miss a long fg attempt in a game they lose by 2.  But here’s the thing — the ball never went out of bounds.  The play ends with Dowdle holding the ball in both hands, upset he didn’t make the catch.  With whistles blowing and the nearest ref signaling an incomplete pass, Dowdle hands the ball to the referee. Just mind-blowing, and if you are a Carolina fan, you must be apoplectic.  How the refs could get this so wrong, how replay assist didn’t step in to get this right in a game for the final playoff spot in the NFC … just terrible.

No matter how you feel about the current Viking's QB situation, collectively our worst nightmare is Uncle Sammy winning a Superbowl this year in Seattle. Don't deny that you haven't thought about it, even for a minute....we all have. We don't have a clear path right now for a franchise QB, things still need to be determined and won't be by the end of this Packer's game today. Not saying we might not have one in JJM, but we certainly don't have any clue in reality. If Darnold wins a SB, the funk that will be laid on the fanbase, especially for us long-timers, would send many to a California retreat like Don Draper at the end of Mad Men. Might happen.

For Minnesota to have passed on both Darnold and Danny Dimes, they win some meaningful games, JJM never becomes The Guy and the franchise is set back for god knows how long is just a horrible, worst-case scenario. But unfortunately it would be oh so Vikings. All I can say is for God's sake, no.......hell no....

Can't wait for all of Russini's offseason takes. She has a real gift for saying nothing at all but in a way that drips with smirky judgement. Maybe it's just me.