SKOL from the Sofa
2025 Week 12 – Vikings at Packers

Just when you thought it couldn’t get much worse, the J. J. McCarthy era hit another spectacular low on Sunday against the Packers. Here to give his thoughts on the performance, here’s content writer Jonathan Pye with another instalment of SKOL from the Sofa.

Sunday’s game was bad, really bad. In a 23–6 loss to the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field, the Vikings were thoroughly outplayed in all three phases of the game. The performance left more questions than the number of answers we had going into the game, and at 4–7, the chances of getting into the playoffs look close to zero. One suspects we would have to win all of our last six games and that might not even be enough. Equally, in true Vikings fashion, we will probably win one or two more games this season and miss out on one of the top five picks in next year’s draft.

McCarthy injury woes continue

J. J. McCarthy has now made six starts this season and he has picked up an injury in four of those games. Combined with his very poor play, it’s a huge concern that McCarthy is made of glass and can’t protect his body from hits. On Sunday, the plan was to slow the game down for him with our efficient running game, but when push came to shove in the fourth quarter, it just appeared that McCarthy had gone from moving around in previous weeks to just staying in the pocket, waiting to be hit by Parsons and Gary.

Unfortunately, Sunday’s game was the latest example that McCarthy isn’t getting any better at going through his progressions, nor is he improving his touch and our 10-year league high drop rate is only going to rise when he plays. The interceptions didn’t come until the fourth quarter and after the concussion happened, but the pattern of throwing for one or more interceptions in every game continues. Of the 20 worst games by quarterbacks by EPA per dropback, McCarthy has had six of them. Coming into the season, we just needed 20th-best quarterback play in the league and unfortunately, as statistics go, McCarthy has had some of the worst quarterback performances in his first six games.

A few positives remain

Will Reichard might be the MVP of the team this year, cold as ice went two-for-two on the day, nailing the second-longest kick in Lambeau Field history from 59 yards. This is after breaking the record at Soldier Field earlier this season from the same distance.

The running game was successful and the Vikings had the fifth-highest rushing success rate in week 12. With Ryan Kelly back at center, he was able to create some holes for the running backs to exploit. While Brandel did a serviceable job in his stead, Kelly is a vet and, before injuries struck, was one of the most reliable centres in the league.

The team’s heads didn’t drop even though we were thoroughly outplayed. The defense continued to try hard and themselves only gave up 16 points to an alleged Super Bowl contender in the Packers. It was good to see 60 minutes of effort and that our heads didn’t completely drop.

A look to next week

With McCarthy picking up a concussion, I highly doubt he will be fit to face the Seattle Seahawks next weekend. This gives a huge opportunity for undrafted free agent Max Brosmer to become the first ever former Minnesota Golden Gopher quarterback to start a game in the NFL. He looked superb in preseason, especially against the Tennessee 1s. He’s very good at throwing the ball in the middle of the field, and at this moment, he’s more suited to the Kevin O’Connell offense than McCarthy is. He can’t be any worse than McCarthy’s been this season and the harsh reality is we need to see Brosmer before long. We need to know if we need to sign one or two quarterbacks in the offseason. Could he be our Brock Purdy? Who knows? Chances are low and it isn’t a kind first game to be chucked into in front of the 12th Man at Lumen Field, but he certainly has the attributes to be successful.

Do you want to have your say about an upcoming Vikings game? Is something really grinding your gears? You can have your say right here in Skol from the Sofa. Just drop us an email at UKVikingsFanClub@gmail.com or send us a DM on any of our social media channels.