When it comes to the business side of the NFL, there’s little patience for learning on the fly. From first-year head coaches to young players, the proof is in the pudding. It’s both a blessing and a curse for the league.
Through that lens, the public scrutiny that’s currently raining down on head coach Kevin O’Connell, quarterback J.J. McCarthy, and the Minnesota Vikings was unavoidable.
The Vikings are hardly the first to hand the keys of their franchise over to a young QB with no real NFL reps under his belt. The readiness of the player has to be weighed heavily on those decisions, though, and the team’s admission to working through fundamental skills, like footwork and throwing mechanics, in Week 12 of the regular season is a bad look for everyone involved, but especially team leadership.