QB of the future?

Minnesota Vikings

The Minnesota Vikings, now 5–2 and riding a two-game losing streak, are in a fascinating spot. To be clear, I still really love where they are from a building standpoint, and their trajectory for the rest of this year. The Vikings get the Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars and Tennessee Titans the next three weeks before what is shaping up to be a pivotal NFC North showdown in Chicago just before Thanksgiving.

That said, the fallout from Thursday’s loss to the Rams should test the team in some pretty interesting ways.

• The left tackle situation isn’t great after Christian Darrisaw tore his ACL and MCL. He was playing Pro Bowl–level ball, and justifying the contract he got in the offseason—and the drop-off going to David Quessenberry in the second half was obvious (Minnesota rushed for 20 yards on 10 carries after the break, and Sam Darnold was under constant duress).

As bad as the injury is (spare me the takes on kneeling out the first half, because it’s football, and things happen), Darrisaw is 25 and it’s fair to think he’ll be able to return to form next year. So, it’s not like there’s a long-range issue here that calls for the Vikings to do something drastic. But bringing in an experienced hand such as D.J. Humphries, David Bakhtiari or Charles Leno Jr. might make sense. They could also look at moving right tackle Brian O’Neill, the bedrock of the line, to left tackle or shifting Blake Brandel from left guard to tackle.

The bottom line: While Darrisaw isn’t the team’s best player (that’s the guy who wears No. 18), he may well be its most irreplaceable one.

• The future at quarterback is still TBD.

For the most part, Darnold played pretty well in his Southern California homecoming before the Rams’ defensive front took over late after the Darrisaw injury. And he’s been consistent, and proven to be a good fit for the Vikings’ offense. As for what that means going forward, Kevin O’Connell has addressed the elephant in the room, and told Darnold to worry about having a good day, a good practice, a good game. After that, they’d all address what would be a very good problem down the line.

Meanwhile, rookie first-rounder J.J. McCarthy was part of the team’s traveling party for the first time. He went out to dinner in L.A. with the quarterbacks Wednesday night and was on the headset on the sideline Thursday night. He’ll be with the team going forward, but most of his focus is still on rehab. He’s building strength back now and isn’t yet at the point where it’s 50-50 rehab-to-football work, but he’s getting there.

McCarthy’s done a lot of rehab while his teammates are on the practice field, has participated in meetings and has a one-on-one meeting once a week with O’Connell.

• The defense has taken it on the chin a little the past couple of weeks against the Lions and Rams, and it’ll be interesting to see the response there from a group that has some aging pieces (Harrison Smith, Stephon Gilmore), whose experience helps to enable the complex scheme Brian Flores is running. Whether those guys need to be paced a bit to make it through the year remains to be seen.