Everything is on your shoulders now, J.J. McCarthy. No pressure.

Minnesota’s latest disappointment, a 37-10 loss to the Chargers on Thursday night football in Los Angeles, dropped the Vikings to 3-4 — not a great spot for a team with the softest portion of its schedule behind it. The playoffs are looking like a longshot with 10 games to play.

After a promising start, the Carson Wentz era might have just ended with a thud.

So, back to the second-year signal caller the Vikings will almost assuredly go. It’d be a stunning surprise if McCarthy isn’t under center when Minnesota takes on Detroit on Nov. 2. His return to the spotlight will mark a crossroads for the franchise. Who’s to say he won’t play well? Few top-15 picks have been written off as quickly as McCarthy, who still has just two starts under his belt.

It’s entirely possible the 22-year-old makes major strikes over the back half of the season and elevates the Vikings back into playoff contention. If he shows persistent flashes of potential stardom, the Vikings have a path forward.

But if he doesn’t — if McCarthy picks up where he left off, continues to struggle and Minnesota’s season sputters to an uninspiring finish — everything will be in question for this team: Why can’t Minnesota sustain year-over-year success under this regime? Why, if Minnesota went cheap at signal caller, is the defense and offensive line struggling so mightily? And is Kevin O’Connell really this grand quarterback whisperer?

O’Connell has been unable to get the results required out of his backup quarterbacks to keep the Vikings’ ship afloat.

Wentz, who was under duress for large segments of Thursday’s bout, showed a lot more bad than good during his month under center. And the Vikings’ offense on Thursday bordered on incompetent. The team’s only touchdown came after an interception set the Vikings up at the Chargers’ 26-yard line — and even then, Minnesota required an illegal contact penalty on a fourth down to extend the drive.

The Vikings tallied just 164 yards of total offense. Wentz was sacked five times and threw an interception before he was mercifully taken out in favor of Gophers product Max Brosmer for the game’s final drive. Sam Darnold remade his career under O’Connell’s tutelage last season, but not Wentz. Nor did Josh Dobbs or Nick Mullens.

At the moment, it looks as though Darnold is simply a good player. If McCarthy doesn’t meet a similar standard, letting both Darnold and Daniel Jones — the latter is starring for the upstart Colts — walk out the door this offseason will serve as a massive organizational blunder, and O’Connell’s ability to evaluate the position will be heavily scrutinized.

As it stands, this is twice in three years that Minnesota has been ill-equipped to handle a quarterback injury. It’s a stark contrast to, say, San Francisco, where Kyle Shanahan has Mac Jones playing the best football of his career in relief of injured Brock Purdy. As a result, the banged-up 49ers are 5-2.

Ten months ago, Minnesota looked like a Super Bowl contender. Now, it looks like a candidate for another rebuild. The Vikings are currently lost in the land of teams who aren’t settled at quarterback and aren’t good enough anywhere else to make up for that instability.

So, now it’s up to McCarthy to prove over the next two months that he is indeed that long-term answer Minnesota desperately needs to the NFL’s most pertinent question.

Otherwise, an ominous offseason awaits.

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Simley 2, Delano 0

Spartans senior Elvis Hernandez Paz scored a goal and assisted on the other as the Spartans downed Delano in a Class 2A boys soccer quarterfinal Thursday at Monticello High School.

The second-seeded Spartans advance to meet unseeded Como Park in a semifinal at U.S. Bank Stadium at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Hernandez Paz put the Spartans (17-1-2) up 1-0 in the first half, and found Michael Hernandez Ruiz for Simley’s other goal in the second half for some extra insurance.

Edina 3, Central 2

The Minutemen scored twice in the second half of the Class 3A quarterfinal at Forest Lake High School, but top-seeded Edina held on for victory.

The Hornets will meet fourth-seeded Wayzata at 8 a.m. Tuesday at U.S. Bank Stadium in the state semifinals.

Edina held a 2-0 lead at the break thanks to goals by Andreas Engle and Stellan Twill. But Central responded early in the second stanza, as Firomsa Aman scored to cut the Minutemen’s deficit in half.

Twill scored his second goal of the contest to put Edina up 3-1 before Tommy Voshell scored with fewer than 10 minutes to play to get Central back within one. But the Minutemen were unable to find the equalizer.

Emmaus Olson was the guy Maple Grove wanted to connect with off a corner kick.

The senior midfielder made the decision look good, coming through a goal with 2:12 left in the second overtime that pushed the Crimson past Eagan 2-1 in a Class 3A state quarterfinal Thursday at Shakopee West Middle School.

“He is our best head-winner and it’s my job just to get the ball in there where somebody can get to it,” said Everett Johnston, who took the corner kick. “I see him in there right in the middle. I know I can get it to him, so I just do my best to lay it on a silver platter for him.”

Olson outjumped an Eagan defender, the ball went off the crossbar and straight down into the goal, sending the third-seeded Crimson (14-2-2) to a semifinal date with No. 2 Buffalo Tuesday at 10 a.m. Tuesday at U.S. Bank Stadium.

“Glad to be back there,” Olson said.

Maple Grove has finished second the past two seasons. Last year it lost to Eagan in overtime in the title game.

Unseeded Eagan (11-3-4) got a goal from Eddie Cotorra.

After a scoreless first half, the Crimson struck first.

Off an Eagan turnover, Ousman Touray passed to Colin Merritt on the left wing. Deking a defender, Merritt returned the ball to Touray, who passed it to Parker Carlson, whose low shot from 24 yards out went in with 25 minutes left to play.

Just over six minutes later, Cotorra curled in a 14-yard shot from nearly the football sideline to make it 1-all. The senior is also a kicker on the Wildcat football team.

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INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Not often under head coach Kevin O’Connell have the Vikings looked completely lifeless. The culture he has worked so hard to build in Minnesota is hinged on operating the same regardless of circumstance.

Some of the stinkers that stand out include the 40-3 loss to the Dallas Cowboys in 2022, the 33-10 loss to the Green Bay Packers in 2023, and the 31-9 loss to the Detroit Lions in 2024. There might be a few others that fit the criteria. Obviously the 27-9 loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the playoffs is the worst of them all.

The point is very rarely have the Vikings been embarrassed under this current regime. It’s not in their DNA to lay down. Even when they lose, they usually at least put up a fight.

That doesn’t apply to the effort the Vikings put forth in the 37-10 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Thursday night at SoFi Stadium. It was a total system failure from top to bottom across 60 minutes of dysfunction.

If somebody were forced to play this game on their PS5, they would’ve simulated to the end shortly after halftime, then seriously thought about selling their console on Facebook Marketplace.

The struggles of quarterback Carson Wentz made it so the Vikings couldn’t string together consecutive successful plays on offense. The excellence of quarterback Justin Herbert on the other end made so the Vikings were rendered nonexistent on defense.

Maybe everything would’ve been different for the VIkings if cornerback Isaiah Rodgers actually hauled in the interception that he returned it for a touchdown early in the game.

The call on the field was overturned to an incomplete pass and the Chargers proceeded to go on a methodical drive that ended with Herbert finding rookie tight end Oronde Gadsden for a touchdown to make it 7-0.

After another punt from the Vikings, the Chargers took complete control, asserting their dominance on the ground before running back Kimani Vidal waltzed into the end zone to make it 14-0.

There was finally some push back from the Vikings after that only to settle for a 54-yard field goal from kicker Will Reichard to cut the deficit to 14-3. A missed field goal the the Chargers on the other end appeared to leave the door open.

Instead, the Vikings were forced to punt it away once again, and the Chargers put together another impressive drive, capping it with a dime from Herbert to receiver Ladd McConkey for a touchdown to stretch the lead to 21-3 at halftime.

After a field goal from the Chargers made it 24-3, the Vikings finally found the end zone thanks in large part to a pair of penalties. They benefitted from a too many men on the field call as well as an illegal contact call before Wentz found receiver Jordan Addison for a touchdown to cut the deficit to 24-10.

That was as close as the Vikings got to anything resembling a comeback.

The response for the Chargers was immediate as Herbert found receiver Tre Harris for a touchdown that stretched the lead to 31-10 before kicker Cameron Dicker tacked on a pair of field goals to finalize the score at 37-10.

The lasting image of the debacle was Wentz writhing on the ground in pain after taking another big hit down the stretch, then tossing his helmet in frustration once he reached the sideline. The isolation camera shots of quarterback J.J. McCarthy wearing a baseball cap provided a glimmer of hope to those watching at home.

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