Vikings' quarterback gamble is looking like a major flop 

Quarterback Sam Darnold is playing at a Pro Bowl level for the Seattle Seahawks and has proven to be the latest shrewd move by an organization that has gotten every major move at the position right over the past few years. 

Daniel Jones is one of the biggest surprise players in the NFL this season and has helped the Indianapolis Colts to the NFL's best record with what has been to this point a career season.

Both players might be in the MVP discussion right now. Both players were also members of the Minnesota Vikings at the end of the 2024 season. The Vikings let both players walk in free agency, even though Darnold helped save their season and led them to a 14-win season. 

They have to be having some major regrets this season given those developments, and especially after watching Thursday's dreadful performance in a 37-10 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.

Vikings' quarterback gamble is not paying off

On one hand, it is understandable as to why the Vikings made the decisions they did at quarterback this offseason. They were hopeful that 2024 first-round pick J.J. McCarthy would be ready to take over the starting job, and there was some doubt as to whether or not Darnold could duplicate his 2024 season or if it was all just a fluke. 

Nobody could have also seen the success that Jones would have given how mediocre and disappointing his New York Giants tenure was. 

But there was still a lot of risk with what the Vikings did. 

McCarthy was not only unproven, he also lost his entire rookie season and an important year of development to a major injury. He also struggled in his first two starts this season before getting injured again, and has not played since Week 2 of the season. That means out of a potential 25 games in his NFL career he has only appeared in two of them and been sidelined due to injury for the rest. 

That is a lot of developmental time and important in-game reps lost for a still developing player at the most important position on the field.

It wouldn't have been out of the question for the Vikings to structure a contract for Darnold similar to what Seattle did (it was essentially a one-year deal with two void years at the end if things did not work out) and keep him around for another year to give McCarthy more time.

Even if Minnesota did not want to make that sort of investment in Darnold, a better backup quarterback than Wentz could have at least been an option. Wentz's career has turned nomadic as he is now on his sixth team in six years, and after Thursday's game has now won just 17 of his past 42 starts in the NFL. 

He has looked progressively worse each game he has played this season, and turned the football over two more times on Thursday night. It would be unfair to point all of the Vikings problems right now in Wentz's direction, but his play has certainly not helped the situation. With McCarthy still sidelined and still being a complete mystery a year-and-a-half into his career, the Minnesota is suddenly sitting here with massive quarterback concerns.

It makes the fact their two former quarterbacks from a year ago might be competing for the MVP award for somebody else. They took a big gamble. It has so far been a huge flop.