Coming off three consecutive losses that have plummeted their playoff chances, the Minnesota Vikings have decided to make a chance at quarterback. Max Brosmer will now be the starting QB on Sun, Nov 30 against the Seattle Seahawks for Minnesota. This is due to J.J McCarthy reportedly having sustained concussion symptoms, according to ESPN’s Kevin Seifert, on the flight back home to the Twin Cities after a 23-6 loss to the Green Bay Packers. McCarthy might have suffered the concussion on a play where he ran out of bounds in the fourth quarter at Lambeau Field and landed down on his head. The very next play, McCarthy threw his second interception of the game and the 10th one of his first season of play in the NFL. The Vikings offense has been very inefficient in the last three weeks, only scoring 42 points over three games and having their second game of the season without a touchdown scored in Week 12. Both of those games were started by McCarthy. Now, Brosmer will step in to start in Week 13 and could have a chance to take the starting job for himself for the rest of the season if he plays well enough.

Being undrafted in the 2025 NFL draft, Brosmer has plenty of years of QB experience at the collegiate level, including at the University of Minnesota as a transfer QB from the University of New Hampshire. Playing at UNH from 2019-2023, Brosmer had career totals of 70 touchdowns and 8,713 passing yards over 36 games started. Having missed time due to the cancellation of the 2020 FCS season and a torn ACL in the 2021 season, Brosmer transferred to play for the Golden Gophers of the University of Minnesota in 2024. Brosmer gained the starting job and threw 18 touchdown passes and six interceptions over 13 games, leading them to a bowl bid and a victory in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl over Virginia Tech. Completing 66.5% of his passes for 2,828 passing yards, Brosmer had a solid senior season but did not build enough of a draft profile to garner serious consideration from an NFL front office. After going undrafted, Brosmer was picked up by the Vikings, who decided not to retain any of their top three QBs from last season in letting Sam Darnold, Nick Mullens and Daniel Jones go into free agency. Brought in as a potential backup option behind J.J McCarthy, Brosmer would compete with backup candidates Sam Howell and Brett Rypien for the QB2 role in Minnesota.

Brosmer got some reps in the preseason with second-string and third-string offenses, with him looking very efficient in those games way back in August. Brosmer started the preseason finale for the Vikings on Fri, Aug 22 against the Tennessee Titans and he looked much better than Brett Rypien, who was the only other QB who played in that game. In the end, when the final cuts happened, Brosmer made it onto the roster but he was relegated to being the third-string QB when the front office signed Carson Wentz to a one-year deal. Wentz served as McCarthy’s backup for the first two weeks and then was pushed into action after McCarthy suffered an ankle injury in Week 2. With that injury opening up a roster spot, Brosmer was elevated to the backup QB spot behind Wentz and made his first official professional appearance in a blowout 48-10 win over the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 3. Brosmer also appeared in a Week 8 game against the Los Angeles Chargers where Wentz was crushed by a relentless pass rush that aggravated a left shoulder fracture that he had suffered. McCarthy was on the verge of returning at that point and he did in Week 9, as Wentz was placed on injured reserve with a season-ending shoulder surgery and Brosmer remained the backup QB. McCarthy won his first start back over the Detroit Lions, but then struggled to stay consistent with bad performances against the Baltimore Ravens, Chicago Bears and Packers.

Now with a concussion keeping McCarthy out for at least one week, Brosmer will make his first career start at Lumen Field in Seattle, Wash against an 8-3 Seahawks team with Sam Darnold as the QB. John Wolford will be Brosmer’s backup and Desmond Ridder will serve as the emergency third QB, a role that he held in the weeks when McCarthy was out with the ankle injury. Brosmer will look to elevate the offensive production of plenty of skill players on the Vikings such as Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison and T.J Hockenson. Having a full week of taking first-team reps in practice will definitely help the 24-year old Brosmer, who will have to work behind an offensive line that could be missing two of its starters on the left side. Donovan Jackson has already been ruled out with an ankle injury, so that means Blake Brandel will probably be the starting left guard on Sunday. Christian Darrisaw is also questionable with a knee and foot injury and if he isn’t available then Justin Skule will make the start at left tackle. The Vikings’ defense will face off against a QB whom they practiced against all of last season in Darnold, who has shown some offensive inconsistency in a few games this season for Seattle. Having committed almost as many turnovers at this point of the season when compared to all of last season for the Vikings, Darnold will be feeling the heat from some of his former teammates on the defensive end. Getting some turnovers off fumbles or interceptions would be a good thing for the Brian Flores defense to do in order to aid Brosmer in his first career start as an NFL quarterback. The special teams return units also have to not make any mistakes like they have over the past few weeks. A fumbled kick return and muffed punt return by Myles Price along with a massive kickoff return allowed to Devin Duvernay of the Chicago Bears have all had disastrous results. So, all three units have to play in harmony in order for a win to happen against the Seahawks.

Max Brosmer will look to keep some semblance of hope alive in Minnesota, which stands at a record of 4-7. Being anywhere between three or four games back of a playoff spot currently, the Vikings have a lot of work to do to even get themselves back into the playoff picture. But until they are mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, this team will fight hard until the end, no matter who is in at QB or who their opponents are. The Vikings might be at a crossroads in terms of who their QB is, but they have a top-tiered roster that will play their hearts out and leave everything out on the field. This Week 13 game in the Pacific Northwest might be the last chance for this team to keep their faint playoff hopes alive, but it’s the only opportunity they need to prove themselves worthy of playoff contention. It’s also a chance for Max Brosmer to show what he’s got and whether he has a shot to be a starting quarterback in this league. On Sunday, everything will be revealed and it can either be a glorious rejuvenation or another reminder that this isn’t the Vikings’ year. Whatever it will be, we shall all see.