Quarterback J.J. McCarthy didn’t play a snap for the Minnesota Vikings during his rookie season, but he did send a message out wide following its end on Monday night.
Minnesota fell to the Los Angeles Rams in the final game of Super Wild Card Weekend by a score of 27-9. After the contest ended, McCarthy took to his X account with two words for the football world.
“Amor fati,” McCarthy wrote.
The phrase, which is Latin, means to “love one’s fate.” According to an article from “Forbes” in August 2024, it is also a stoic principle that is “…about accepting life with all its imperfections and uncertainties. Rather than resisting what we cannot change, this mindset invites us to embrace it — to find meaning, and even love, in the very things we might otherwise wish away.”
Sam Darnold Poses Several Questions for Vikings
GettyMinnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold.
McCarthy’s approach to what was a crushing end to a magical and unexpected run for the Vikings displayed emotional and mental maturity beyond the QB’s 21 years of age. That said, it could take longer for his counterparts who actually played in the game to get over its uninspiring result.
Uninspiring is also a reasonable way to describe the play of starting quarterback Sam Darnold, who finished the best campaign of his career with two lackluster efforts. First, Darnold went 18-of-41 for 166 yards against the Detroit Lions in Week 18. That loss cost Minnesota a bye through the first round of the playoffs and home-field advantage the rest of the way.
He followed up that effort with a 25-of-40 night against the Rams for 245 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT. Darnold also took 9 sacks and lost a fumble in the first half that Los Angeles returned for a touchdown.
It must be noted that the 27-year-old quarterback threw for north of 4,300 yards and 35 touchdowns on the team’s way to 14 regular season wins. But the NFL has a short memory, and the lasting images of Darnold from this campaign are going to involve frustration and failure on the biggest stages.
Vikings Don’t Have Obvious Path Toward J.J. McCarthy or Sam Darnold
GettyMinnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy.
Several loud voices on the internet have already emerged: non-fans jeering at the notion of Darnold as a franchise QB and the Vikings as an upper-echelon team, and actual fans bewildered and doubting the future.
The truth is that Minnesota does face some difficult decisions this offseason. It spent the No. 10 overall pick on McCarthy last April, but injuries made the franchise’s decisions for it at QB this year.
The Vikings must decide if they want to bring back Darnold, McCarthy or both in 2025 — and all are feasible options. McCarthy would probably garner significant trade value, perhaps three draft assets. But he’s also a relatively unknown entity with an unknowable ceiling at this point, which makes dealing him for anything a risky proposition.
Darnold was one of the league’s better quarterbacks this year, but he’s never earned that distinction in his six previous seasons. Furthermore, he shrunk when the lights shown brightest and in the games that mattered most over the past two weeks.
Darnold’s earning potential on a new contract has definitely dropped over that brief span, but he’s still capable of commanding huge money in free agency, which makes him a tough call for Minnesota now as well.
The Vikings’ fate as a franchise for the next 5-10 years may well reside in the decision(s) it makes at quarterback this spring. And the path forward is muddied, to say the least, after a disappointing end to what was otherwise a feel-good season.
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J.J. McCarthy Issues Strong 2-Word Message on Vikings’ Collapse