Vikings Quarterbacking Quarrel

The Minnesota Vikings improved their record to 4-0 with a win over the Miami Dolphins this week and I don't know if there's been a fanbase less excited about an undefeated start than this. The offense surpassed 250 yards of total offense for the first time with the 336 they had this week and those 336 total yards aren't at all impressive when you factor in that it was the 12th most total yards of all teams in week 4 (not including the MNF teams that have yet to play) and they needed every single one of them to scrape out a 15-10 win against a Dolphins team that is universally believed to be one of the worst rosters in recent memory and none of these yards culminated in finding the endzone. We needed 5 field goals from Will Reichard, who unironically is our most important player right now, and another masterclass in defensive play calling by Brian Flores to beat the worst team in the NFL. This is a reflection on the offense as a whole and trust me, all of it sucks to watch, but I'm going to highlight the issues with the quarterback play in this blog and what I think is best for this season, plus what I could see them doing in the future.

This team is 4-0 squarely on the backs of its mastermind defensive coordinator and 2nd year kicker and that is not hyperbole. The unit that is tasked with putting points on the board already sucked at doing that and have somehow gotten even worse the last couple weeks. Through 4 weeks the Vikings offense has scored 6 total touchdowns and 5 of those came in a week 1 against the Packers in a game that felt like a fever dream even as it was happening. The only offensive touchdown since then was a Jordan Addison deep shot last week against the Buccaneers which also happens to be the only touchdown that the Kyler Murray quarterbacked offense has scored. Will Reichard is 12 for 12 on his field goal chances this year and, to make my point, 8 for 8 in the last 2 games with Kyler Murray as the QB.

The idea of bringing in Kyler Murray on a $1 million deal was fun in the off-season since our QB play last year theoretically couldn't have been any worse and Murray possesses immense talent which is why he was the #1 overall pick not that long ago but that was a decision that wasn't versed in the reality of current day. The Arizona Cardinals were happy to pay Kyler Murray $38.6 million this year to play for anybody else because of who he is as not only a player on the field but the headaches he caused them off of it. Maybe there should've been more red flags around handing the keys to your offense to a guy like that and it's showing. Watching him is like nails on a chalkboard most of the time and a lot of people complain about the play calling of head coach Kevin O'Connell when I believe KOC is a great play caller that limits his playbook to plays that work with the skillset and ability of the guy running the offense and Kyler just doesn't fit. Kyler can't throw anything in the middle of the field within 15 yards of the line of scrimmage because he's too short and KOC is at his best when he's able to scheme guys open on crossing routes in the middle of the field so our passing offense has divulged into a series of checkdowns and out routes to the boundary hoping to occasionally hit on a go ball as a means to getting any chunk yardage. Not only are the limitations of the offense hard to watch, Kyler has also taken a handful of bad sacks for a guy that's supposed to be one of the most elusive QBs in the league as well, especially in important situations.

All this is to say that I believe Carson Wentz is the best option at quarterback for the Vikings this season. Now does that mean I believe the Vikings are contenders with Wentz at the helm? No it does not. But they're clearly committed to being as good a football team as they can be and they'd be stupid not to with how good Brian Flores is and having prime Justin Jefferson on the roster so why keep rolling with someone that clearly doesn't fit what they want to do offensively? Carson Wentz isn't perfect by any means but his playstyle and ability allows KOC to use the full playbook and he also isn't afraid to push the ball downfield in ways other than throwing up go routes which is what this offense is severely lacking. It isn't always pretty, he's going to make some of the worst throws you're going to see any given week but he also allows the playmakers to actually make plays and does so while playing in the structure of the offense. Justin Jefferson had 8 catches for 92 yards and 2 TD in week 1 against the Packers with Wentz throwing him the ball. I know Murray and Jettas haven't been on the field together to prove me right or wrong on this but with how pedestrian the passing offense has looked I just don't see Jefferson being able to make that big of an impact with Kyler throwing the ball. Our ceiling this year isn't high regardless but at least Wentz gives us a semblance of an offense and will make the ride towards another soul crushing playoff loss much more enjoyable to watch.

I'm just going to throw this in as an aside. While thinking about the QB situation I started wondering what they could look to do to sure up the position after this year (again). KOC's prototypical QB is ironically a QB like Kirk Cousins, a pocket passer who is really good at playing on time, routinely progresses through reads, highly accurate throwing to deep/intermediate routes, and protect the ball. I believed that it was time to move on from Kirk just like everyone else and still think it was the right decision but finding a QB since Kirk that can operate the offense like Kirk has gone worse than anyone could've imagined. This offseason they're going to either put it all on the line to go out and acquire a proven commodity that fits the archetype of what KOC wants running his offense OR they will draft one (most likely moving up to do so) in the 1st round again to get a guy who fits that archetype.

Justin Herbert is the initial and obvious candidate for the first option as the Chargers continue to be a mess but it'd take a tremendous amount of draft capital to land a player of his stature. CJ Stroud is a sneaky under the radar candidate for a similar move since the Texans are vastly underperforming and they haven't seemed very enthused by the idea of Stroud being their guy long-term. I could see the Titans deciding they're done with the Cam Ward experience and looking to move him for cheaper than you'd think as well. Those are the 3 guys I could see as actually viable trade options for the Vikings each coming with their own varying difficulties in completing and excitement levels amongst the fan base heading into next season but options nonetheless.

If they go the draft route Notre Dame QB CJ Carr seems like he'd be the surefire pick for the Vikings of all the prospects in the 2027 class. His playstyle is exactly that of a KOC archetype QB and even though I'm not the highest on him personally I think this is who they'd take even if they had the first overall pick because of how well he fits the system compared to the other options. If Drew Mestemaker were to declare for the 2027 draft which I don't think he's going to he would be my pick based on his overall raw arm talent and how well I think he would do in KOC's system but that might be a boy dreaming of the possibility that his team's offense is not only fun but also good again. Please Vikings, just figure it out and I won't care about how you did it.