The Minnesota Vikings officially named Kyler Murray as their starting quarterback on Tuesday, and unless you’ve been living under a rock, the move was expected.
A year after J.J. McCarthy embarrassed the organization with his play on the field and his antics off of it, Murray was the heavy favorite to be the Vikings’ starter in 2026.
As the Pioneer Press’s Dane Mizutani put it, Murray began at the 50-yard line of a 100-yard race, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that Murray won the job. But it’s also fair to question how the Vikings came to that decision, as Kevin O’Connell’s insistence on a quarterback battle set the first two weeks of training camp and the last month on fire.
The Vikings signed Murray back in March, but spent the last two months stressing that he was in a competition with McCarthy for the starting job.
The battle dragged on as Murray lamented over practice reps and looked uncomfortable as he chucked two interceptions during Sunday’s night practice, but the common refrain was that all Murray needed was more reps to be more comfortable.
Like Tim Robinson in a hot dog suit, O’Connell may have been trying to find the person responsible for this. But in the end, few would have blamed O’Connell if he named Murray the starter the moment he arrived in Minnesota.
J.J. McCarthy was doomed from the start in Minnesota Vikings QB competition
McCarthy’s first season as a starting quarterback was a disaster. His erratic passes took years off the lives of Vikings fans. The birth of his child in Week 2 was mentioned frequently by O’Connell as an explanation for why he wasn’t succeeding on the field.
Turning Justin Jefferson into a pedestrian didn’t help his case, and there was an endless sea of distractions from the “Nine” meme, an ill-fated Griddy into the end zone and a season that began with Super Bowl aspirations coming up hilariously short.
But the clues didn’t stop coming when the 2025 season ended. KFXN’s Ben Leber droned on about the “theatrics” of McCarthy pulling himself from a meaningless Week 18 game against the Green Bay Packers with a hand fracture.
While Leber, who is a 10-year NFL veteran, has experience being in a locker room, he may have never said something like that about Kirk Cousins, Sam Darnold, or any quarterback with a future in Minnesota as an analyst who contributes to Vikings radio broadcasts.
The clues kept coming from there.
Flirtations from retired quarterback Derek Carr signaled they wanted competition. A connection to Geno Smith signaled they were looking for something more than that. In the end, the Vikings signed Murray and declared their competition.
But a report from SI’s Albert Breer suggested Minnesota pursued Murray because they felt like he could be a multi-year option at quarterback.
If the Vikings felt strongly about McCarthy, it would have been an odd process. But the Vikings forged ahead, splitting first-team reps during minicamp.
It took a report of a potential trade by former NFL Network reporter Tom Pelissero to finally get the Vikings coaching staff to speak of the progress McCarthy had made over the offseason.
When offensive coordinator Wes Phillips was asked about the "continuous upward arrow” McCarthy had during training camp, he refused to go deeper, claiming the media was “gonna dig into every side eye look.”
That veil of secrecy continued as they reached training camp. Recording of videos was met with an iron fist.
When the Vikings televised Sunday’s night practice, the majority of the telecast showed a three-person panel speaking with a very small view of the field and a statement that they were showing what O’Connell and the Vikings were allowing to be seen.
As Murray dominated first-team reps, the Vikings continued to preach it was a competition, and after Murray struggled to stack solid practices together, the Vikings arrived at Tuesday’s announcement and a free rein to go full speed ahead with a plan that was obvious since last season ended.
Minnesota Vikings QB competition could create trust issues moving forward
None of this is to say that McCarthy didn’t get a fair shot.
Trey Lance was in a similar position as a former No. 3 overall pick with the San Francisco 49ers and got four starts before Kyle Shanahan pulled the plug in 2022. Kenny Pickett only started 24 games for the Pittsburgh Steelers before they decided to go down the Vikings’ route of recycling quarterbacks.
The fact that McCarthy got first-team reps at all may validate to O’Connell that he gave him a chance. But it also may create trust issues moving forward.
O’Connell was the coach who stood in the middle of a Twin Cities church before the 2024 draft and called himself the “Quarterback Killer.” While he may have been confident in the Vikings’ ability to trade up for Drake Maye at that moment, he also may not have expected the football gods to laugh and send McCarthy into his lap.
Still, it seemed odd that Vikings Hall of Famer Cris Carter recently suggested that McCarthy was former GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s “guy” more than O’Connell’s. It was even weirder when O’Connell went on a long-winded explanation about how a draft works instead of just saying “No, that’s not true.”
Even on Tuesday, O’Connell insisted that McCarthy could still have a future in Minnesota. Although that may be hard to believe after Carson Wentz apparently signed immediately to be a third-string backup, and The Athletic’s Alec Lewis reported the Vikings are still high on Max Brosmer, who was hailed as “Purple Purdy” after last year’s training camp performance.
We haven’t even got to the point that O’Connell’s offense is extremely complicated and relies on timing to get the ball to Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison.
But even if the Vikings are ready to roll in Week 1, it’s hard to know whether Murray received enough time to make sure they’re on the same page when they open against the Green Bay Packers.
Those issues could go away if O’Connell produces a season with double-digit wins and the first playoff win of his tenure. But if it doesn’t, it’ll be fair to look back on how he wasted a summer trying to preach a quarterback competition that never felt like one.
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