Super Bowl 60 is shaping up to be a tough watch for Minnesota Vikings fans - not because of who’s playing, but because of who isn’t.
Sure, most of the football world can get behind rooting against the New England Patriots. That’s almost tradition at this point.
But the real sting for Vikings fans? Sam Darnold, the quarterback who led Minnesota to one of its best seasons in recent memory, is now suiting up for the Seattle Seahawks - and he’s doing it on the game’s biggest stage.
Darnold’s 2024 campaign in Minnesota was nothing short of a revival story. He threw for over 4,300 yards and 35 touchdowns, guiding the Vikings to a 14-3 regular-season record.
Kevin O’Connell looked like he’d cracked the quarterback code, turning Darnold into the kind of field general many had written off years ago. For a while, it felt like the Vikings had finally found their guy.
But then came the playoff collapse - and with it, a franchise-altering decision.
Minnesota chose to pivot in 2025, handing the reins to second-year quarterback J.J. McCarthy.
The idea was clear: build around youth, lean into the future. But the offense that once hummed under Darnold suddenly sputtered.
The spark was gone, and so were the Vikings - bounced from postseason contention while Darnold kept climbing, all the way to the Super Bowl.
Running back Aaron Jones didn’t hide his disappointment when reflecting on what could’ve been.
“I felt like we had everything we needed, but we're not GMs or nothing,” Jones said. “But definitely, when you’ve got a group of guys behind a quarterback, and he wants to stay somewhere, I think you should try to make it work.”
That’s not exactly a subtle message. Jones is voicing what a lot of players - and fans - are probably thinking. Chemistry like that doesn’t come around often, and when it does, it’s worth fighting to keep.
For McCarthy, the optics aren’t great. He stepped into a high-expectation role and inherited a team that had just come off a 14-win season. Now, with Darnold thriving elsewhere and the Vikings stuck watching from home, the pressure on McCarthy heading into Year 3 is only going to intensify.
He’ll have his doubters - and plenty of them. But that’s the nature of the position.
In the NFL, you don’t just inherit a job. You earn it every week.
And right now, McCarthy’s got work to do to prove he’s the right man for the job.
Meanwhile, Vikings fans are left with a familiar feeling: wondering what might’ve been.