Are The Vikings Truly A Quarterback Away?
Mandatory Credit: Lon Horwedel-USA TODAY Sports
The Quarterback is the most important position in all of sports, it’s almost impossible to win without a good one, but how much can one player impact winning? At what point does the quarterback turn a good roster into a great one, and an elite roster into a Super Bowl champion? The Minnesota Vikings will almost certainly look to find the answer to this question in the coming weeks as they appear primed to move into the top 10 for their QB of the future.
Many believe the sky’s the limit for this team with the right guy behind center. For starters, they employ the best receiver in the game in Justin Jefferson. Opposite him: Jordan Addison, a promising young wideout who produced in an injury-depleted offense in his rookie year. They will have newly added Aaron Jones, a guy who should bring some juice to a previously putrid run game, T.J. Hockenson coming off his ACL injury and an elite pair of tackles in Brian O’Neill and Christian Darrisaw. To go along with this star-studded offense, is a defense that took a leap this past year. Under Brian Flores, the young, inexperienced defense rose to become a formidable unit. The group will be a year older with a year of experience under their belt in a chaotic scheme. The team has components that spark excitement, bringing validity to the high hopes some fans have.
The last 4 Super Bowl winners excluding the Patriots and Chiefs were with teams with elite rosters that added their QB to take them over the top. This includes the Rams/Stafford, the Bucs/Brady, the Eagles/Foles, and the Broncos/Manning. Although the caliber and value of the added quarterbacks varies amongst these four teams, there remain two common denominators: An elite defense, and a dominant offensive line.
Whether it be the No Fly Zone, the Donald/Miller/Floyd pass rush, or the Eagles defense without a hole, the defenses remain the backbone of each of these teams. And even looking beyond these four teams, the only semi-recent outliers are the Aaron Rodgers-led Packers team and two Giants teams that just seemed to catch fire. Elite, near-perfect defenses and an offensive line that wavers to no one, complemented by a good to great QB, seems to be the recipe for success when you aren’t blessed with Patrick Mahomes or Tom Brady.
Comparing this recipe to the make-up of the Vikings, the answer to the original question becomes a little clearer. While the defense finally has some life, it is nowhere near the juggernaut that is needed to contend. There are holes at corner, on the inside, and at linebacker. Question marks are everywhere on defense, and who knows, maybe those questions get answered positively, but it would take a miracle for the unit to step up to the caliber needed to be a real threat at the title.
The offensive line has also turned into a formidable unit, but much like the defense, it’s just not championship-level. The elite tackle duo would make for a great situation for a new quarterback to inherit, but the inside of the offensive line is still tough to rely on. Bradbury is fine, but prone to a handful of lost reps each game, Ingram has improved, but still makes bonehead mistakes, and the hole at right guard looms as it has for years now. It’s an improved bunch, but not one that can be leaned on.
As fun as it is to look at a new quarterback and start talking about the Super Bowl, this Vikings team isn’t ready for that. Not unless you’re of the opinion that Drake Maye, JJ McCarthy, or whoever the team selects to be their franchise guy will be Patrick Mahomes-level. They project to fall into the Bills category at the moment– a team that can compete with the best, and a team that will be electric if they hit on QB, but also a team that just doesn’t have enough.
So no, the Vikings are not a QB away. But they aren’t as far off as they have been. The team will have a lot of money to spend next off-season, and if they can use that money to get difference-makers on the defensive side of the ball and tweak things on the offensive line, in two years the right quarterback could do it for them. It takes a lot to hit on a quarterback, but if the Minnesota Vikings can do it, they’ll be staring at an unlocked window that can easily be opened in the future.
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