MORE THAN GROWING PAINS

FALCONS 22

VIKINGS 6

Oh boy.

As much as that 4th quarter comeback in Chicago energized a fanbase desperate to believe their young QB could be a franchise player, their home opener on Sunday night did an equal amount to drain all that enthusiasm, all that hope, and sows serious doubt about not only the rest of this season but the future. 

Overreaction? I hope so, but you must forgive me after witnessing easily one of the worst in-person Vikings games of my life. 

This game was absolutely revolting.

The vibes right away were off. Atlanta's 1st 2 offensive plays were chunk runs by Bijan Robinson. The packed crowd actually assisted in holding the Falcons to just a field goal, who had a false start, a delay, and had to burn a timeout.

So then we get the encore. JJ McCarthy was named NFC offensive player of the week off that Chicago comeback. The hope was that things had been figured out, and we were ready to roll. 

That hope was gone quickly. The Vikings quickly went 3 and out. Oops, I mean 4 and out, because in a totally unnecessary panic move, KOC went for a 4th and 1 on the 36. Why? We were minutes into the game and down 3 points. 

Anyway, of course McCarthy was stuffed on the sneak, in part because he couldn't hold onto the ball. Boy did that short yardage issue, prevalent throughout the KOC tenure, rear its ugly head.

So this dumb decision gave Atlanta 3. Credit to the defense for limiting the damage, and aside from issues with Robinson, generally doing a very good job of keeping this game from getting out of hand all night.

They also forced their 1st turnover of the year on the Falcons next series, when Eric Wilson punched the ball out from a receiver. And it seemed to spark the offense a little, as they had a more than 9 minute drive. It wasn't artful, but McCarthy did make his 2 best throws of the game back to back to get down to the 2.

But then it was a fiasco. Fumble by McCarthy (which at least didn't lose yardage), delay of game, sack, sack. Ugly stuff. At least Reichard put us on the board. This was the game's only "good" offensive series. No other drive lasted longer than 7 plays.

The next damaging play was late in the half. Backed up inside the 30, McCarthy was picked off, throwing a similar out route that he got pick sixed on in Chicago. No pick six this time, and again, the defense limited the damage, but ultimately, this gave the Falcons all the points they would need.

At least the Vikings managed to repeat one of last week's good things, and wrangle a miraculous field goal before the half. Somehow, Justin Jefferson got wide open downfield, and McCarthy found him. Reichard's kick made it 9-6 at the half, which felt like maybe the Vikings got away with one.

Surely, the 2nd half would be different.

Well, no, it wouldn't. There was no turnaround. The inept offense only got 1 more first down until late garbage time. Included in here was a crushing strip sack of McCarthy, and KOC waving the white flag by punting on 4th and 1 down 9 points. McCarthy also threw a late pick, and Myles Price even muffed a punt in the final minute for good measure.

We don't look like a team going anywhere but last place. Can't even be that happy about the comeback in Chicago, since Detroit dropped 52 points on that same team Sunday.

Injuries are definitely an issue. The defense was down Smith, Gink, Cashman, and Okudah, but held in there.

The offense remains without Darrisaw, and Addison (suspension not injury), and in this game lost Ryan Kelly, Aaron Jones, and even Darrisaw's rather awful fill-in Justin Skule.

Not saying these things don't matter, and we've seen other QBs undone by bad OL play. But this was about as bad as it gets. 

I get all the arguments that JJ is a young QB, and you have to give him time and many other young QBs have struggled early and then gone on to stardom. But in most of those cases, those QBs went to bad teams with bad rosters (it's the nature of the draft).

This line of excuse making falls flat with me. Everything the Vikings did this offseason told us that they felt JJ was going to be ready to play and play at a high level right away. 

They let Darnold go. They didn't try to keep Daniel Jones (off to a great start in Indy). They may have momentarily thought about Aaron Rodgers, but not seriously. They didn't bring in any other QB who anyone would want to see play. 

And they spent a ton of money in free agency to bring in veterans, particularly on the two lines. This is a pretty old roster, and you don't load up on high-priced veterans to surround a cheap QB just to do it. You do it because you expect that QB is ready. This is a team that has playoff expectations. 

Well, they don't look at all capable of making a playoff run with JJ McCarthy, and probably can't even get there. He's not ready. The sinking feeling through the majority of two games is that we hitched the franchise to a bust. 

By the time I was able to finish this blog, the news came out that McCarthy has an ankle sprain, and will be out at least a couple weeks. I'm skeptical that it might be an injury that could be played through, but the team is sort of benching JJ without saying so. Kwesi especially can't afford to be wrong about JJ. But this is not a team that can afford to just throw away an entire season on a project QB who looks utterly lost most of the time. Ultimately, it's about wins and losses. 

So it will be Carson Wentz at QB next week, and perhaps for a while. Of the veterans still available in August, I suppose he was one of the least awful options. They're not going to bite the bullet and get Kirk Cousins back, much as I would love them to. 

I would hope that Wentz can just provide a little bit of stability, that he can sustain some drives (only 1 drive this season of longer than 9 plays), and utilize the weapons that we have. Just decent QB play gives the Vikings a great chance to win the next 3 into the bye. Of course, if that happens, and Wentz is playing well, you can't put McCarthy back in there at that point anyway.