It was a dereliction of duty to ask Brosmer, an undrafted free-agent rookie making his first NFL start, to make a play rather than settle for a draw.
And honestly, Brosmer responded by throwing one of the worst interceptions in Vikings history, a panicked, underhanded heave that had about three Seahawks defenders lining up for an interception. Ernest Jones IV got there first, but to be fair, justice was thrown his way.
Jones completed the play by running an official 95 yards for a touchdown and a 10–0 lead. And yes, the game was over. It was the ugliest game in a game full of them.
But come on. This team was completely outmatched on Sunday. The best chance to win was by forfeit. They didn’t lose 14-10, they lost 26-0. Not only were they left out on Sunday, they weren’t hit. It’s hard to imagine anyone watching all four quarters of that game and pointing to a single Viking error as the deciding factor.
The Vikings turned the ball over six times, four interceptions and two fumbles. The defense was ruled out four times for offside – the stupidest penalty in football at any level. Aaron Jones ran six times for 3 yards and left with an injury.
The Vikings’ once-lethal passing game has officially collapsed. Brosmer was fired four times. Star receiver Justin Jefferson caught two passes for four yards, Jordan Addison caught five and dropped two.
It’s hard to go back and determine what the best ceiling for this team was at the start of the season, but they’ve become a bad football team: now 4-8 and far and away last in the NFC North.
Is it all just because they don’t have a quarterback?
Clearly, expectations for JJ McCarthy were optimistic, if not officially delusional. But blaming all this on one point of view seems too easy. Still, there’s no doubt that the team’s inability to field one reliable quarterback — in three tries — has been the team’s biggest weakness.
The defense is fine. It can wreak havoc on quarterbacks and has respectable numbers against the run and pass. It’s not great and doesn’t force enough turnovers (only three interceptions), but it could help a better offense win games.
But the offense is on its third quarterback and still hasn’t found a reliable one. The decision to roll the dice with first-year starter McCarthy has not worked competitively or developmentally.
The Vikings lead the NFL in interceptions (15) and cannot consistently get the ball into the hands of Jefferson, who has been one of the top two or three receivers in the NFL since his rookie season in 2020.
After Sunday, Jefferson had 60 receptions for 795 yards with two (!) touchdowns in 11 games. He finished higher in every category in 2023, when he was limited to a total of ten games due to a hamstring injury.
Who will make the best player on the team happy again? Jefferson has to wonder if he’s wasting his best years on a team that seems a far cry from the franchise’s first Super Bowl appearance since 1977.
There was some hope that Brosmer, who used a combination of accuracy and preternatural processing skills to carve out a roster spot outside of training camp, could surprise everyone by running an efficient ship on Sunday. But when he was attacked by an unblocked DeMarcus Lawrence, he made every bad decision within five seconds.
This team has a lot of big decisions ahead of them, and we can only take one certainty from Sunday’s game: If McCarthy returns from the concussion protocol this season, he will get his starting job back.
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