Last March, the majority of Minnesota Vikings fans were fine with the team's decision to let Sam Darnold hit free agency and eventually sign with the Seattle Seahawks.
The Vikings had invested a top-10 draft pick on J.J. McCarthy in 2024, and the urgency to get him out on the field was higher than it was to re-sign Darnold to a lucrative, multi-year contract. At the time, it felt like Minnesota was taking the correct approach.
Fast forward to now, and it no longer feels that way.
On Sunday, Darnold led the Seahawks to a spot in this season's Super Bowl, which is something that no member of the Vikings anticipated happening when they let the quarterback walk out the door.
Now, the pressure is on Minnesota's front office to make a major move during the next few months that attempts to erase the embarrassment felt by the franchise and the fan base this past weekend.
Minnesota Vikings have no patience left at the QB position
Based on the comments made by Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah in their end-of-season press conferences earlier this month, adding more competition to the team's quarterback room this year is already a priority.
But does Minnesota want to add someone who McCarthy is capable of beating out for the starting job, or should they target a quarterback who would immediately take over as the starter for next season?
With Darnold making them look foolish this season, the Vikings no longer have the patience to wait for McCarthy to develop. If Minnesota moves forward with him as its starter for the 2026 campaign and they miss the playoffs again, people are going to get fired.
Just making the playoffs also won't be good enough for the Vikings next season, either. A spot in the postseason and at least one playoff win in 2026 should now be a requirement for Minnesota since it is still something that the team's current regime hasn't been able to accomplish since taking over in 2022.
Continuing forward with McCarthy as their starting signal-caller currently feels like the riskiest path for the Vikings to achieve that goal. So, in order to lower that risk, Minnesota is likely going to need to make a significant move at the quarterback position this offseason, something they were hoping to avoid for a while after drafting McCarthy in 2024.