The Vikings Are Apparently Doomed in 2026
There comes a certain point in the offseason where I just don’t really know what we’re talking about anymore.
When you’re assessing the upcoming season, it’s certainly fair to write off a couple of teams completely, and be justified in doing so. The New York Jets are usually a good bet to write off, as are the Las Vegas Raiders, Cleveland Browns, and Arizona Cardinals. Even so, you can never predict what’s going to happen in the NFL, so who knows, maybe one of these teams shocks the world.
If you ask one Bears analyst, the Minnesota Vikings are completely doomed and the sky is apparently falling in the Twin Cities, and I don’t quite understand why.
Vikings QB Situation ‘Too Unstable’ to Be a Legitimate Threat
There’s something objectively and frustratingly hilarious about a Bears fan calling another team’s QB situation “unstable”, seeing as the Bears might’ve finally gotten the QB position right for the first time since World War 1. Still, maybe Nick Halden of DaWindyCity isn’t too far off. The Vikings’ QB situation is quite unprecedented, given that the “competition” between Kyler Murray and J.J. McCarthy doesn’t exactly feel like a true one.
If all things were good in the Twin Cities QB room like they should’ve been, then Kyler Murray wouldn’t be here, and J.J. McCarthy would’ve had it figured it out by now. Unfortunately, things don’t always go to plan, and that’s something that Bears fans certainly know happens at the QB position. Murray and McCarthy will apparently be duking this thing out at training camp and perhaps even through the preseason. I’ll give it to Halden, this whole QB fiasco is a bit of a circus, but the floor is decently high, especially if Kyler Murray is starting.
However, Halden goes a bit overboard on the crisitcism of the Vikings and their QB situation.
“No question, the Bears have zero reason to fear the Vikings and should be able to pencil in two wins in each of the team’s divisional matchups. Having such a poor decision-maker at quarterback simply cannot be overcome.”
I’m not too sure if this is a joke or not, considering Kyler Murray is one of the most accurate QBs of all-time by completion percentage and on-target percentage. Caleb Williams threw a 58% clip last year, is around 60% on his career, and relied on end-of-game heroics and a defense with incredible turnover luck to win games in 2025, kind of like how the Vikings did in 2022 and Bears fans made fun of them for it then. In the piece, Halden calls Williams the “most talented starting QB and it’s not close”. Kind of funny, isn’t it?
The Vikings Will Be Fine
I have some breaking news for Chicago Bears fans, and fans of any NFC North team for that matter: the Vikings pretty much bottomed out last year, and still had a winning record. The Chicago Bears needed indescribable turnover luck to win two more games than a team that had some of the worst QB play from yet another three-QB carousel during the Kevin O’Connell era.
Here’s my favorite part of the hypercritical Vikings piece:
“The Chicago Bears are clearly the standard the rest of the NFC North is chasing heading into the 2026 season. Defending their division title is going to be far from easy, with both the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions having a clear path to being potential challengers. With that said, if there is one clear comfort, it is the fact that the Minnesota Vikings season is two months away, and already the franchise can be counted out as a serious threat in the North.”
Yes, clearly, the Chicago Bears, who have won the NFC North twice in the last 15 years are the standard that the rest of us lowly NFC North teams are chasing after. You can’t be the “standard” when your last two division championships are separated by seven seasons. Sure, the Bears could currently be building the standard, but they haven’t “set” it yet. For all we know right now, the Detroit Lions owe the Bears some money for keeping the NFC North throne warm.
It just happens to be that time of year. Nothing is going on, so we have to get a bit spicy. It’s all in good fun amongst division rivals, but it might not be fun for them when Kyler Murray and the boys are hanging 40 points on the Indiana Bears soon.
