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This year is supposed to be Year 1 of the true Vikings plan even if O’Connell and GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah are in Year 4. They have their hand-picked young quarterback. He came into the year healthy and they cleared the deck for him to be Week 1 starter. A franchise that has had a fitful time developing young QBs and often has resorted to veteran stopgaps was finally going to break that cycle. Then McCarthy struggled. And got hurt again, after missing all of last season. And now his recovery seems to be taking longer, or at least is on a very generous timeline, that is designed to help McCarthy succeed in the long run but feels agonizing in the present. Fans realize Carson Wentz is a stopgap. He is graded No. 35 out of 37 eligible NFL QBs this season by Pro Football Focus. He will play well enough to win and poorly enough to lose, often in the same game. He’s not the same caliber QB as Kirk Cousins, but he is the same in that the ceiling and floor are too close to each other. A full year of Wentz would be spinning your wheels on the way to an 8-9 or 9-8 record. Fans can also see that Sam Darnold (No. 1 grade from PFF) and Daniel Jones (No. 9) are smoothly operating offenses for winning teams. They see Drake Maye, the No. 3 pick in 2024 that the Vikings coveted but nonetheless had no realistic chance of drafting, starting to break out with the Patriots. There is QB envy, and the only cure is seeing McCarthy play and do good things. I think most Vikings fans would still consider this season a success if the team missed the playoffs but we learned that McCarthy is on a reasonable trajectory to becoming a top-10 quarterback. The only way we can know that is if he plays. That will come soon enough, of course, but never soon enough. So we look for breadcrumbs: both McCarthy and Wentz were listed as “limited” on Monday’s initial estimated injury report. What might that mean for Thursday? Panthers QB Bryce Young suffered a high ankle sprain Sunday but hasn’t yet been ruled out for next week. People are just less patient in general. We are a culture conditioned to expect convenience, and waiting for anything is not convenient. Waiting for McCarthy is particularly agonizing for long-suffering fans. But that’s all they can do for now. The Wild played the most Wild game of the season so far, which is to say it was tight and low-scoring. The result was a much-needed 3-1 win over the Rangers. It’s the Blue Jays vs. the Dodgers in the World Series after George Springer rallied Toronto to a 4-3 win in Game 7 of the ALCS over Seattle. My guess is that most Americans are rooting for the Canadian team. The Wolves used to be the worst franchise. Now they are among the best. I’ll talk more about that with Chris Hine on a special season preview podcast that will be out soon. And Randy Johnson will join me on Wednesday’s regular show to talk Gophers football. After a big win over Nebraska, it’s on to Iowa.
