By Jim Souhan

Kevin O’Connell has earned a new nickname:

The Quarterback Ditcher.

Maybe someday he’ll whisper again. After trading J.J. McCarthy for a pastrami sandwich, we must review O’Connell’s history with quarterbacks.

He improved Kirk Cousins…but didn’t want to keep him. Cousins is 3-0 with what was supposed to be a terrible Las Vegas team.

He improved Sam Darnold…but didn’t want to keep him. Darnold, you may have heard, won the Super Bowl with the Seahawks.

He was the quarterback expert who pushed the Vikings to trade up to the 10th pick in the 2024 draft. He blew it, resulting in the trade of McCarthy, who had been the only quarterback on the Vikings’ roster under contract for the 2027 season.

I was in favor of moving on from Cousins. I was even in favor of moving on from Darnold after he choked down the stretch. Those opinions were based on optimism that O’Connell woudl eventually draft and develop someone better. He hasn’t.

I hate the McCarthy trade for both teams. I don’t think McCarthy will help the Giants. I think McCarthy could have come into play this season, while playing behind two injury-prone quarterbacks.

If the Vikings were faltering and they just traded the guy who was supposed to be their franchise quarterback, O’Connell’s job would be in jeopardy.

What makes this a strange scenario is that O’Connell is doing his best coaching right now.

He has won eight straight games while playing three problematic quarterbacks. He has learned to rely on Brian Flores’ defense, strong special teams and ugly-if-effective offensive play.

Suddenly, O’Connell resembles Mike Zimmer more than Sean McVay.

The McCarthy trade sets up two possibilities for the near future:

-Kyler Murrray wins enough to become the franchise quarterback and signs a lucrative long-term deal.

-Murray fails, the Vikings falter, and they wind up with a middling or high draft pick, with which they take another quarterback.

For the moment, O’Connell has reminded us of the last 50 years of Vikings football:

They’re a good team with no idea who will be playing quarterback for them in the future.

-The hot listen: Check out The Worst Seats in the House podcast for Russo and LaPanta previewing the Wild season. Check out The Jon Krawczynski Show for Jon’s recap of Wolves media day.

-Up next: I’ll review Lynx Game 2 and write about the Twins’ latest mistake.

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