Vikings, 2026 NFC North champs? With Kyler Murray, you can bank on it | Opinion

Kyler Murray and the Minnesota Vikings, 2026 NFC North champions - take it to the bank (but keep it liquid in case an immediate withdrawal becomes necessary).

But the team that helped bring franchise quarterback reclamation projects into vogue appears positioned to cash in again - while merely paying the $1.3 million veteran minimum to Murray while the Arizona Cardinals foot the bill for the remainder of the $36.8 million he's owed this year - as K1 gets a fresh, optimized QB1 opportunity.

Remember, Minnesota is only 14 months removed from being a 14-win team, one that was on the cusp of winning the NFC's No. 1 playoff seed. (And some visionaries foresaw a level of success for the Vikings in 2024, despite the season-ending knee injury suffered by first-round rookie quarterback J.J. McCarthy, if not the second-most regular-season wins in franchise history.)

Of course, it didn't end well, that group of Norsemen - led by breakout quarterback Sam Darnold, who'd broken free of his early career struggles (with very bad teams) - losing the 2024 regular-season finale before being ousted in the playoffs when his protection was overrun by the Los Angeles Rams.

Yet that iteration of the Vikings erroneously thought a loaded roster bubble-wrapped around whomever they put behind center - even while Darnold threw a career-best 35 TD passes on the way to his first Pro Bowl nod - was proof of some concept. So they didn't bother to build on success at least significantly engendered by a guy embraced in the locker room and didn't even slap a franchise tag on Darnold, a tack that would have at least given Minnesota more options. And time. Instead, they made a similar mistake to the New York Jets, who drafted Darnold third overall in 2018 ... but never sufficiently developed nor supported him and also opted instead to build around Zach Wilson's rookie QB contract in 2021 - much as the Vikings did with McCarthy. Oops. And oops.

A year later? Minnesota missed the playoffs in 2025, finishing 9-8 - a record burnished by a largely inconsequential five-game winning streak at the end when the team was already out of postseason contention. McCarthy struggled during his professional baptism by fire, missing seven games with injuries and laboring mightily during many of his 10 starts. GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah was fired in late January, even if it was largely coincidental timing as the Seattle Seahawks, now helmed by Darnold, were on the road to a decisive win in Super Bowl 60.

So now the Vikings revert to what could and should be an improved version of the Darnold plan - even if the original version with him may have been conceived as little more than the once and future franchise QB serving as an experienced backup to McCarthy prior to his injury in the 2024 preseason. But Murray, the No. 1 overall pick in 2019, is a two-time Pro Bowler, was the 2019 Offensive Rookie of the Year and a dual-threat QB who's led Arizona to the playoffs - none of those being descriptors that would have applied to Darnold two years ago.

Can history now repeat itself in the Twin Cities? Could new history even be forged for the Vikings, who now have one fewer Super Bowl win than Darnold has and haven't appeared on Super Sunday in 49 years?

Darnold, who admittedly benefited greatly from a year spent as Kyle Shanahan's QB2 with the San Francisco 49ers in 2023, was further coached up by Minnesota head coach Kevin O'Connell, a reputed quarterback whisperer, and Josh McCown, a highly regarded positional coach who started 76 NFL games and was briefly Darnold's backup with the Jets.

O'Connell's pre-exiting relationship with Murray, which extends to his high school days, should be a boon as their partnership goes to a new level. The 2018 Heisman Trophy winner, who grew up as a "genuine" Vikings fan, was hitting all the right notes Thursday evening.

"I'm super excited, and I can't wait to the touch the field as a Minnesota Viking. It's a great day for me and my family," said Murray.

"Me and KO go back ... Getting to play for him and have that relationship with him means the world. Obviously, he's had a lot of success with quarterbacks, different quarterbacks, and he's one of the best offensive minds in the game. So, I'm looking forward to going to work with him."

Top-tier coaching should help resuscitate Murray, who's flashed extended MVP-caliber potential but ultimately produced diminishing returns in Arizona - the Cardinals' individual seasons under him something of a microcosm of his larger body of work - as the team around him got younger. He also missed 27 games over the past four seasons due to an array of injuries invited by his often hellbent playing style. Maybe a helping of humble pie also ignites a player who doesn't arrive with the on-field questions Darnold once had but carries off-field baggage Darnold never has.

Murray's work ethic has been questioned more than once - by the media and former teammates - with frequent speculation that he enjoys fashion, Call of Duty" and maybe even baseball more than his day job. His occasional petulance in press conferences and on the field, including his infamous exit from Arizona's 34-11 wild-card loss to the Rams at the end of the 2021 season, haven't helped a guy whose team has gone 16-25 since that ignominious defeat.

I think the one thing that we kind of, like, dance around a little bit with Kyler Murray - but I think teams definitely have this discussion internally - (and say), Look, we understand what you're getting on the field with Kyler Murray. But what are you getting off the field and how does that fit with us?'" said ESPN NFL analyst Louis Riddick, a former NFL safety and front office executive.

Is he what you want for your organization? No question on the field he's what you want - but some of the reasons why Arizona's moving on from him don't really have to do with what he did on the field. That wasn't the issue."

But you know what fixes a lot of issues - O'Connell's and McCown's tutelage notwithstanding? Justin Jefferson. Jordan Addison. T.J. Hockenson. Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason. An offensive line that should be better than the one Murray had in the desert. An unrelenting defense that should definitely provide a greater margin for error - and more takeaways - than Arizona's did in recent years.

Also? Murray's ability to play out of structure when a play breaks down can take an offense to a new level. Surely you've seen the social media memes of him darting about the field like a miniature Russell Wilson - don't worry, Kyler, Russ (he's allegedly 5-foot-11) looks down in no man - and pulling rabbits out of hats the way Mr. Unlimited" did during his heyday.

Also? The Detroit Lions are busy shedding once pivotal veterans to free up cap space. The Chicago Bears just unloaded DJ Moore and are facing at least a partial overhaul of a defense - an opportunistic one intrinsic to winning the division in 2025 - after it was ravaged by free agency. The Green Bay Packers? Good team ... but one that's barely made the playoffs three years running and may not have a fully healthy Micah Parsons in 2026.

As for the Vikings? They'll be playing a third-place schedule. They're living in a league set up for drastic turnarounds, like the one Darnold engineered two years ago. Jefferson, who has a strong argument as the league's best receiver, seems poised to explode despite maintaining his cool during a 2025 slog that severely depressed his numbers.

Enter Murray, a sublime talent - one who brings a dimension with his legs that Darnold and Kirk Cousins before him didn't as well as a new chip on his shoulder to prove that the Cardinals let the wrong guy get away. Murray, who's only 28, is also playing for at least one more big contract - like the ones Darnold and Cousins landed after playing some of their peak football for O'Connell. The bet here is that Minnesota also gets the best version of Murray.

Take it to the bank. And U.S. Bank Stadium, home of the 2026 NFC North champs.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kyler Murray, Justin Jefferson and Vikings look like playoff team