By Jim Souhan

Forty-some years into my sportswriting career, I find one of my favorite theories bolstered every week.

The theory: Sports are popular, in part, because they give people something to collectively complain about. Sports are like the weather, with scoreboards.

I watched Vikings fans on social media complain incessantly about Kyler Murray and the Vikings’ offense all day Sunday.

Here’s the way I saw it:

Before Sunday, Murray had played in one full NFL game since last October. He had half of his practice reps handed to J.J. McCarthy during the offseason – one of the dumbest moves of the entire silly McCarthy saga. He has never played a full game with Justin Jefferson, and he was without Jefferson again on Sunday.

He didn’t have one of the Vikings’ best players, blocking tight end Josh Oliver, and the left side of his offensive line exited with injuries during the game. He has one NFL-level running back, the banged-up and thoroughly-admirable Aaron Jones.

Just when his home stadium was rooting for him to be replaced he produced this second-half performance: 16 completions on 18 attempts, 136 yards, no interceptions, and a touchdown pass that turned out to be not a touchdown pass.

If T.J. Hockenson had walked into the end zone instead of kneeling to kill the clock, Murray and the Vikings would have won, 22-10.

Every NFL coach in the history of the league would take a 22-10 victory, under any circumstances, every week.

Every NFL coach in the history of the league would be happy with a quarterback who made plays to win the game, and no plays that put the victory at risk.

The Packers, with their franchise quarterback, full-integrated offense, and talented receivers, scored 17 points on Sunday against a bad team.

Murray displayed on Sunday that he can adapt to circumstances and run the offense. He discovered that Hockenson had the best matchup, and he rode him to victory.

Let’s see how Murray performs as he learns the offense and has Jefferson available to him.

Or, you can complain about being one of three teams that are 4-0. That’s what sports are for.

-The hot listen: We have three Vikings shows at TalkNorth.com – The Viking Update Show (Jon Krawczynski, myself and, every other week, Alec Lewis), The Alec Lewis Show, and Jeff Diamond’s Vikings & NFL Insider. Check ‘em out.

-Daily thought: Kirk Cousins is playing exceptionally well. Maybe the Vikings…

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