SI'com's Albert Breer: Inside the Kyler Murray decision

[purplefaithful]

I had to look that up again....

In the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, the "whisperer" who approaches the Golden Ticket winners is a man posing as Arthur Slugworth. He is portrayed by German actor Günter Meisner, though his voice was dubbed. It is later revealed he is actually Mr. Wilkinson, a loyal employee testing the children for Wonka.

[MaroonBells]

Yeah, we differ on our opinions on KOC....I trust him and believe in him more than you. My only main criticism is it appears he's throwing out the baby with the bathwater already. It is what it is.

I think KOC's tale will be told this year with Kyler Murray. If he hits, it'll be tough to say he doesn't know what he's doing. In fact, you wont be able to say that. If he doesn't, he'll have taken a swing with Murray and have nothing left of value for him with McCarthy. Starting all over at the position. Gross.

If Murray is a failure in Minnesota, why would they not just let him go get whatever money he can get next March, and continue on with McCarthy? Yes, KOC's doubt surrounding McCarthy is out of the bag now. But it should never have been in a bag to begin with. We're not idiots; we all saw what happened. McCarthy wasn't very good last year and everyone knows it. Sure, he showed flashes and he showed improvement, but that's not enough for a team with a win-now roster. 

I’ve never been a one-before-I-die person, but for all those people who bitch about no Lombardis, the Vikings are much more of a contender now than they were a week ago. And who are the ones bitching about it? The same ones who bitch about no Lombardis. Go figure. 

One of my great pains as a Viking fan was that we never went to a Super Bowl when we had Randy Moss. What a waste. I don't want that to happen with Jefferson.

[supafreak84]

Yeah, we differ on our opinions on KOC....I trust him and believe in him more than you. My only main criticism is it appears he's throwing out the baby with the bathwater already. It is what it is.

I think KOC's tale will be told this year with Kyler Murray. If he hits, it'll be tough to say he doesn't know what he's doing. In fact, you wont be able to say that. If he doesn't, he'll have taken a swing with Murray and have nothing left of value for him with McCarthy. Starting all over at the position. Gross.

He's throwing the baby out with the bathwater because he's been given almost total control over the organization and is playing the short game (no pun intended) by signing Murray, in hopes of winning enough games to save his job You can't give an honest long term assessment on a player when you are playing for your job in what very well might be a single season one-off. If our ownership had any balls at all and a long term vision instead of playing to just try to make the playoffs every year, they would have told OConnell, "McCarthy is your guy, we've invested in him and leaned on your expertise in drafting him, and you are now going to sink or swim based on his development and how he plays over the course of the 2026 season." If they go, they should both go as a package deal. Instead, nope, let's give the guy who's never won anything a "get out of jail free" card for last season and turn the organization over to him. You can't make this stuff up

[badgervike]

He's throwing the baby out with the bathwater because he's been given almost total control over the organization and is playing the short game (no pun intended) by signing Murray, in hopes of winning enough games to save his job You can't give an honest long term assessment on a player when you are playing for your job in what very well might be a single season one-off. If our ownership had any balls at all and a long term vision instead of playing to just try to make the playoffs every year, they would have told OConnell, "McCarthy is your guy, we've invested in him and leaned on your expertise in drafting him, and you are now going to sink or swim based on his development and how he plays over the course of the 2026 season." If they go, they should both go as a package deal. Instead, nope, let's give the guy who's never won anything a "get out of jail free" card for last season and turn the organization over to him. You can't make this stuff up

Do you really believe there's any chance of the Wilf's getting rid of O'Connell two years removed from coach of the year with obvious deficiencies in young starting and backup players due to years of terrible drafting and questionable personnel decisions by KAM?  Really?  Whatever happens this year...KO's job is safe.  The following year?  Who knows as certainly KO will have more ownership for the results.  You'll know KO is in trouble when he replaces Wes Phillips...that will signal distress from ownership.

We'll see how the year plays out.  There's lots of ways the season can play out particularly with the injury history of both QBs.  It wouldn't shock me to have at least one game with Brosmer starting.

[purplefaithful]

It wouldn't shock me to have at least one game with Brosmer starting.

Sweet baby Jesus no please....

[medaille]

Regardless of what KOC may or may not believe about JJM, bringing in KM on a veteran minimum contract is not a bad decision.

I don’t think any player should be handed a starting position. I like competition. I like stacking your roster with talented players and letting the best player win. I’m one of the guys that thinks you should draft a QB every time you have the opportunity to get one you like. I don’t think you should play the “lesser” QB as some sort of prove you can coach situation. I don’t think the Vikings should have lost a couple more games by forcing Hargrave to play all the snaps just to prove some weird point. I’ve been fine with how the Vikings have handled most things … officially.

It’s just all these weird rumors that make it sound like our team is a bunch of backstabbers. Maybe it’s true, maybe it’s not. Do we really have to pin point the exact point in time where KOC’s heart grew 3 sizes smaller or we start to not believe anything positive he says in the media?

---

Do you really believe there's any chance of the Wilf's getting rid of O'Connell two years removed from coach of the year with obvious deficiencies in young starting and backup players due to years of terrible drafting and questionable personnel decisions by KAM?  Really?  Whatever happens this year...KO's job is safe.  The following year?  Who knows as certainly KO will have more ownership for the results.  You'll know KO is in trouble when he replaces Wes Phillips...that will signal distress from ownership.

We'll see how the year plays out.  There's lots of ways the season can play out particularly with the injury history of both QBs.  It wouldn't shock me to have at least one game with Brosmer starting.

COTY means nothing.  The NFL is called the “not for long” league. 
Here’s the last 10 COTY
2025: Mike Vrabel — New England Patriots
2024: Kevin O’Connell — Minnesota Vikings
2023: Kevin Stefanski — Cleveland Browns
2022: Brian Daboll — New York Giants
2021: Mike Vrabel — Tennessee Titans
2020: Kevin Stefanski — Cleveland Browns
2019: John Harbaugh — Baltimore Ravens
2018: Matt Nagy — Chicago Bears
2017: Sean McVay — Los Angeles Rams
2016: Jason Garrett — Dallas Cowboys

[MaroonBells]

Interesting that Breer mentions that there was a brief conversation with Murray about adding a 2nd year to the contract. I'll bet it was brief. Hey, I'm happy they asked about it. But obviously not surprised Murray turned it down.

[StickierBuns]

Interesting that Breer mentions that there was a brief conversation with Murray about adding a 2nd year to the contract. I'll bet it was brief. Hey, I'm happy they asked about it. But obviously not surprised Murray turned it down.

....that just adds some heft to the idea that KOC has or is moving mentally beyond JJM as QBOTF. 

[supafreak84]

Do you really believe there's any chance of the Wilf's getting rid of O'Connell two years removed from coach of the year with obvious deficiencies in young starting and backup players due to years of terrible drafting and questionable personnel decisions by KAM?  Really?  Whatever happens this year...KO's job is safe.  The following year?  Who knows as certainly KO will have more ownership for the results.  You'll know KO is in trouble when he replaces Wes Phillips...that will signal distress from ownership.

We'll see how the year plays out.  There's lots of ways the season can play out particularly with the injury history of both QBs.  It wouldn't shock me to have at least one game with Brosmer starting.

Anything is possible. The Wilf's shitcanned Childress and Mensah a season after signing them to contract extensions. Just my opinion, but I strongly suspect KOC needs to win a playoff game this season to retain his job and thats why Kyler Murray is here. It's year five. The competotive rebuild and whatever the "grand plan" was when Mensah and OConnell were hired has unraveled and they are now shifting it on the fly. It's really too bad the coach didn't come in fresh with the drafting of McCarthy because the timelines of the coaching staff and players in their prime like Jefferson, is not aligning with the time and patience it takes in bringing along a young quarterback. Does this mean McCarthy is a bad player? Not at all, but we might never know now in Minnesota. That's my main gripe. They are pivoting off an investment and a plan because it doesn't align with the timelines of others who's jobs are now on the line.

[MaroonBells]

....that just adds some heft to the idea that KOC has or is moving mentally beyond JJM as QBOTF. 

I think all it means is that they suspect he will to do well in 2026. But honestly, except for a few scornful and harumphing Viking fans, who doesn't? Imagine the lottery of Murray playing well in 2026, knowing he's under contract for another year? Then it's not just about the K1 vs JJ contract calculus; it's also about how much trade value one has as opposed to the other.