Why a Darnold Resurgence is Unlikely - QB Busts

Have you ever thought about the number of times in Minnesota Vikings history that the results of the quarterback position have been insanely different than expectations going into a season?

The unpredictability of this franchise’s quarterbacks goes all the way back to their first Super Bowl appearance. In 1969, the Vikings traded for Gary Cuozzo, who started the season by losing to Fran Tarkenton’s Giants. In Week 2 both Cuozzo struggled to get rolling so Bud Grant went to his former CFL star Joe Kapp, who had gone 8-6 with a 58.8 quarterback rating as a starter the previous year. Against the Baltimore Colts, the 13-1 NFL Champions in 1968, Kapp threw for 449 yards and seven touchdowns and produced 52 points in a blowout victory. Kapp led the Vikings to the NFL Championship over the Cleveland Browns and they ultimately lost in the Super Bowl to the Kansas City Chiefs.

Kapp got into a contract dispute with the Vikings and played just one more NFL season with the Boston Patriots. He went 1-9 with the Pats with three touchdowns and 17 interceptions.

That was just the start of Vikings quarterback unpredictability. It’s impossible to explain how they could have had a very good first-round quarterback and owner of numerous Vikings passing records in Tommy Kramer but the only NFC Championship appearance during Kramer’s career came with career backup Wade Wilson starting.

How about telling someone unfamiliar with Vikings history that the Vikings had an eventual MVP quarterback as their leading passer for three years but he wouldn’t win the award for another decade. Or that they had a Hall of Famer in Warren Moon for three seasons but did better with a ninth-round pick who mostly played basketball in college.

Try spinning the yarn to a casual fan of a retired quarterback coming back in his mid-30s to lead the greatest offensive performance in history up until that moment. You have to add in that the same QB would come apart the next season and one of the biggest busts of the previous decade would lead a playoff win.

How about a washed up three-time MVP Packers Hall of Famer posting his best statistical year in Minnesota at age 39? Or a promising first-round pick nearly losing his leg in a gruesome practice injury? What about the undrafted, undersized gunslinger from Texas whose play was nothing short of a miracle in 2017?

Here’s the point: Everyone keeps asking what’s going to happen with Sam Darnold and JJ McCarthy this year. How the heck would anyone even begin to guess? All we know right now is that anything is possible.

What we can do is go over all the potential outcomes and what they would mean to the Vikings’ 2024 and beyond.

Out of all the comparisons we have made here, one that we haven’t talked about that might score the highest is the Teddy Bridgewater Brand. In that scenario Darnold would start a few games and then McCarthy would come in, win over his coaching staff and teammates despite some rocky performances. The stats wouldn’t blow people away, yet they would go into 2025 feeling strongly that the team could be built around its young leader. It’s not quite as good as the Herbert Permutation but it’s pretty, pretty, pretty good anyway. Likelihood here might be 6/10.

In search for all the possibilities, there is one more we have to consider: The outcome that we can’t foresee, no matter how deeply we look into history. Think of the classic Chaos Theory example about a butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil causing a tornado in Texas.

The Vikings’ history at quarterback might as well be the example for Chaos Theory. Teddy Bridgewater hurts his knee, which leads to JJ McCarthy being picked by the Vikings to lead them into the future. What events will happen in training camp that ultimately lead to the answer to the Vikings’ QB conundrum?

We’re about to start finding out…