Vikings preseason off to a rocky start, Lynx have a good shot at WNBA title

CATHY WURZER: The Vikings' preseason has barely begun and they've already had some pretty tough breaks. First, new quarterback, JJ McCarthy, who tore his meniscus and had knee surgery, he's out for the season. The Vikes also announced yesterday receiver Jordan Addison hurt his ankle. He was taken off the field on a cart.

Joining us right now to say what all this portends for the Vikings' season, our sports guys Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson, cohosts of the sports talk show 10,000 Takes on radio and TV. Oh, my gosh.

Let's start with the Vikings, shall we? Eric, I want to know, are the Vikes cursed? I mean, this does not portend well for the rest of the season, right?

ERIC NELSON: There may be a hex, Cathy. I mean, 63 years of this stuff and it shows no sign of letting up. Yeah, you might be right.

How about this nugget, and it's under the category of purple pain. JJ McCarthy is the first rookie quarterback since the common draft began in 1967 to be selected in round 1 and miss his entire rookie season because of an injury. So yeah, it does seem like the Minnesota Vikings have this dark cloud hovering above the franchise.

But it is a golden opportunity for Sam Darnold to revive his career. Darnold was the third pick overall in round 1 by the New York Jets in 2018. He went higher than McCarthy did this past year in the draft.

Now, it hasn't gone well so far for Darnold. In his defense, the New York Jets are very dysfunctional, so that was probably not a good fit. Then he goes to Carolina for a couple of seasons. Things did not get any better there.

And then last year, he was in San Francisco on a Super Bowl team. But he was basically a placeholder for quarterback, Brock Purdy. And he played at a powerhouse college program, USC.

This is a chance for Darnold to revive his career. The Vikings may want to add a piece at the position, perhaps Trey Lance in Dallas could be, someday, a Minnesota Viking. Ryan Tannenbaum is on the free agent market. I'm sure the Minnesota Vikings are considering all options at quarterback.

CATHY WURZER: But Wally, this is just not a great situation. I mean, we've been struggling in that position now for a while, right?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: I mean, to be fair, Kirk Cousins was pretty good.

CATHY WURZER: OK, fine. Yes, fine.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Yeah, I mean, Kirk Cousins was pretty good. And the struggle was to decide whether or not you were going to keep Kirk Cousins, pay the money that you had to pay to him, and at the same time not be able to fill other positions and use the money under the salary cap to pay other guys, namely Justin Jefferson, perhaps the best receiver in all of football.

Tough decisions to make. They went this route. As Eric said, it's just a dark cloud. It's a bad break for Minnesota.

Sam Darnold has an opportunity now. Whether he's able to take advantage of it or not, we'll find out soon. Unfortunately, I mean, they were pretty mediocre without Kirk Cousins last year. And Nick Mullens, talk about a placeholder. That's basically all he did. He does the best he can, but he's not Kirk Cousins. And I'm not sure that that's a quarterback that's going to lead you to the promised land, that's for sure.

CATHY WURZER: All right. How about the Twins? They're going to begin a four-game series against the Texas Rangers in Arlington. That sounds like that might be kind of a tough series.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: I mean, the Rangers are the defending World Series champions. But at the same time, they have struggled. And they are in third place in a weak western division in the American League. The Twins are going to send Bailey Ober to the mound tonight.

They start the game tonight 4 and 1/2 games behind Cleveland. They still lead Kansas City. The Twins are still solidly in second place.

But I like what Bailey Ober has brought to the table for the Twins. He basically has become their best starting pitcher this year. Pablo López is still the, I guess on paper anyway, the go-to guy, the number 1 pitcher. But Bailey Ober has been more consistent, has been more dominant. Pitched a great game last Friday against Cleveland.

And I think that when you're in a losing streak, you look for your number 1 guy to break that losing streak. Bailey Ober has been and can be that guy. Now, the injury to Joe Ryan last week, that doesn't help. Obviously, Paxton's out.

They've had injuries in that starting rotation, and they've plugged a few young guys in there. We'll see how it goes long term. And we need Carlos Correa back. I mean, that's the other thing.

Carlos Correa has got to get back in the lineup for the Minnesota Twins. And let's hope that the Byron Buxton injury is minor. They're talking about possibly putting him on the injured list.

CATHY WURZER: OK. Say, Eric, I had a chance to talk to Cheryl Reeve, Lynx head coach this morning on Morning Edition, had a good conversation about winning another gold medal at the Olympics. The Lynx, can they make a run at the WNBA title do you think?

ERIC NELSON: Yeah, absolutely. And before I mention the Lynx, Cathy, I wanted to point out, were you at the Twins-Royals game on Monday night in Minneapolis?

CATHY WURZER: [LAUGHS] No.

ERIC NELSON: OK. They do a celebrity look-alike thing between innings where they put a celebrity on the video board, the jumbotron, then they try to find a fan that looks like that celebrity. You were one of the celebrities.

CATHY WURZER: Get out of here.

ERIC NELSON: I am not kidding. I about fell out of the press box.

CATHY WURZER: I bet you did. A, it's stupid that I'd be considered a celebrity. B, did they find anybody that even looked remotely like me?

ERIC NELSON: Yeah, they did a pretty good job. I'm sure they have to scour the stands to find people to match up with somebody of your stature. Just wanted to point that out. I don't know if you're at Cheryl Reeves level, as you said, gold medal-winning coach, Team USA. They've won 61 straight Olympic games, eight straight golds. That's all epic and record setting.

So the Lynx are back in action after an all-star break and an Olympic pause. They will host the Washington Mystics tonight at Target Center. The Mystics aren't very good. They're 6 and 19.

Minnesota, 17 and 8. Top team in the West. Third best record in the WNBA. When you talk about, how far can the Lynx go? I think they are thinking about winning a fifth WNBA title. And the next game after the one tonight, it's a rematch in DC, Minnesota at Washington. There's a potential for the Lynx to get out of the gate fast, because Washington is a bottom feeder in the WNBA.

CATHY WURZER: OK. Before you guys go, I was hearing that the Aurora are evidently stepping back from an effort to join the National Women's Soccer League in 2026. That seems like a pretty big decision, Eric.

ERIC NELSON: Yeah. They have backed off. The Aurora currently playing the prepro USL W League. So the NWSL wants to expand from 14 to 16 clubs in 2026. Boston has already been granted an expansion team.

There was interest in Minnesota. But apparently, the stars have not aligned. Money is probably the huge issue here. We'll see what happens with the Minnesota Aurora down the road.

But they've had a lot of success at the current level they play at. And their home venues out there in Eagan at the TCO Performance Center where the Vikings train. Let's hope they have better luck than the Vikings.

CATHY WURZER: Right. Let's hope so. All right, you guys, I hope you have a good weekend. Thank you so much.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Thanks, Cathy.

ERIC NELSON: Thanks, Cathy.

CATHY WURZER: Wally Langfellow is the founder of Minnesota Score sports magazine, the cohost of 10,000 Takes. And Eric Nelson is the other host of that show, as I mentioned, Minnesota Vikings' NFL reporter for CBS's Eye On Football on Sirius XM.