The Vikings’ season finale against archrival Green Bay lacked postseason ramifications and, therefore, garnered none of the rabid anticipation this kind of scheduling generally calls for. Minnesota is going nowhere, and the Packers weren’t trying (that hard) to win.

But this was a big game for the Vikings because it was a stress test for the current roster. Had J.J. McCarthy returned from an injury to his throwing hand and played well, and the defense continued its late renaissance, management could have reasonably gone into next season still believing this is, by and large, a playoff team.

But he didn’t, and they can’t.

The Vikings won a yawner, 16-3, but it wasn’t exactly inspiring — especially against a Packers team already locked into the NFC’s seventh playoff seed and starting its third-string quarterback and several practice-squad players.

This game was a big one because going out with a 9-8 record after a roster that refused to quit finished the season with five straight victories might have been a good omen had McCarthy been solid. In that case, general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and head coach Kevin O’Connell might have been looking at a roster that can win on the strength of its defense in 2027.

However, McCarthy didn’t play well. He didn’t throw an interception — but didn’t throw a touchdown pass either — before leaving the game in the third quarter after apparently aggravating his injury, a hairline fracture in the right hand.

The Vikings already knew they must bring in a veteran quarterback this spring to compete for the starting job next summer; now they know they have to sign a veteran quarterback they expect to start because McCarthy just hasn’t shown the team that he’s the guy. He just hasn’t.

McCarthy confirmed this season that he is a talented player, but the Vikings knew that when they made him the No. 10 pick in the 2024 draft. What they didn’t know is whether McCarthy would confirm that he has the head and temperament to be this team’s starting quarterback, like, right now.

That didn’t happen and the Vikings will go into the offseason with two quarterbacks — McCarthy and former Gopher Max Brosmer — who are more suited to a backup role than a starting one.

O’Connell was vocal about hoping to see McCarthy play in one last game before the offseason, and the quarterback agreed to give it a try after going through an entire practice on Friday. But unless O’Connell saw some promising minutia that only a former NFL quarterback and offense coordinator can see, McCarthy did nothing to inspire his coach’s confidence.

McCarthy, in fact, was flagged for taunting on the game’s second play, earning a 15-yard penalty that sabotaged a potential touchdown drive.

After he missed seven games because of three different injuries, and playing badly in some lopsided losses, one might expect McCarthy to keep his head down and concentrate on not being terrible. Instead, he got so pumped by running six yards before being knocked out of bounds by a defensive back that he couldn’t contain his competitive fire.

What are we doing here?

It’s been written in this space that this season shouldn’t be a referendum on McCarthy, but that penalty was so astonishingly silly that it’s hard not to change course. He completed 57.6 of his passes for 1,632 yards, 11 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.

McCarthy’s ability to start was the biggest question at the season’s onset and it’s still — at best — a question as the Vikings limp into the offseason.

The team could have been bounding into a fairly sanguine future, but with McCarthy doing more to hurt this case than help it, and defensive coordinator Brian Flores likely to field interest from teams looking for a head coach this offseason, the Vikings could decide to draft another quarterback in April.

The only certainty for this team right now is that they can’t pencil McCarthy in as the starting quarterback in 2026, and it might alter the course of this team’s plans to end its 59-year Super Bowl drought.

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