‘4 Downs’ with Rich: the Minnesota Vikings’ Biggest Questions Heading into the ‘26 NFL Season

Rich admits he almost made all four of his Vikings questions about the quarterback. He split them up instead, and then every single one bent back toward the quarterback anyway. That is Minnesota's whole season in a sentence.

First down is not who wins the job. It is how long the job stays won. Whoever loses the competition, is he literally on standby? Kevin O'Connell will come out and say the winner is the starter, because that is what head coaches say, but Rich does not think O'Connell can say it with confidence for a full season. That pens him in. At three and three, or two and four, or even four and two, how far over his shoulder does the winner have to keep looking?

Second down asks whether the defense is still top five. Javon Hargrave and Jonathan Allen are gone. Jonathan Greenard was traded during the draft and is on the Eagles. Brian Flores is still the coordinator, the group is still talented, and Minnesota did replace what it lost. Last year the Vikings were a top-five defense by many metrics. The lone exception was plus-minus, where they finished at minus nine, and the reason is not the defense's fault.

Here is the math. That defense took the ball away 21 times. The melange of quarterbacks Minnesota ran out there threw 21 interceptions, the exact same number, out of 30 total giveaways. Everything the defense earned, the offense handed right back.

Third down is the one nobody is talking about, which is Rich's point. It is as if Justin Jefferson has stopped existing. Rich had Jefferson second on his wide receiver power rankings and got pushback for it, and the real question now is whether anyone gets top-two production out of him this year. Jordan Addison is there. Jauan Jennings is the third receiver. The backfield is Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason, with T.J. Hockenson and Josh Oliver at tight end.

Then Rich went full homer, and it was earned. Max Bredeson was one of the best fullbacks Michigan has had in the three decades Rich has been watching, the guy defenses could read because anytime Blake Corum was carrying the ball he was running behind him, and Harbaugh did not care because it worked anyway. Bredeson was a fifth-round pick coming off what Rich believes was an Achilles. The run game should be better for having him.

Fourth down is the uncomfortable one. Is the winner of this quarterback battle also the 2027 starter? Chris says no. Rich pushed back, because this franchise is not going to let another quarterback walk out the door after what happened with Sam Darnold, and the skittishness from that is real.

Except the caveats stack up fast. If Kyler Murray plays amazing, he gets his contract. If it is J.J. McCarthy, Rich raised the Ryan Fitzpatrick take, which was that McCarthy will be great in year one and then not merit being your leader after that.

None of which is fatal. Get better quarterback play, cut those interceptions roughly in half, and Minnesota climbs out of the minus, and teams in the plus make the playoffs far more often than not. The Vikings have the coach, the skill players and the defense to win a very good division.

They just do not have anyone's trust at quarterback yet.