It’s actually hard to believe the Vikings finished last season with a 9-8 record considering the quarterback play they got from J.J. McCarthy, Carson Wentz and Max Brosmer.

The offense was a disaster pretty much whenever it took the field. The defense was forced to do almost all the heavy lifting. Most of the wins the Vikings notched felt like they came in spite of whoever was playing quarterback.

As the Vikings reflected on everything that went wrong at quarterback — which included letting Sam Darnold walk in free agency, then having him go on to win a Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks — they publicly acknowledged they need more from the position.

Though they still haven’t given up on McCarthy so early in his career, the Vikings clearly want to light a fire under him. That explains why they have been linked to virtually every quarterback imaginable over the past few weeks.

There are a number of different routes the Vikings could choose to go down when free agency begins next week. They could target a known commodity that would step in as unquestioned starter, a veteran presence that would open the door for a legitimate competition, or a reclamation project that would offer little resistance.

Not that it should really even be much of a discussion.

If the Vikings want to compete, Kyler Murray is the obvious choice.

It has been reported that the former No. 1 overall pick will be released by the Arizona Cardinals next week. They will be on the hook for paying $36.8 million in guaranteed money for the divorce to be finalized. The offset language in the contract means Murray will almost certainly play on the league minimum wherever he decides to sign next.

That could open the door for the Vikings. There’s reportedly mutual interest. Some insiders believe the marriage is a foregone conclusion.

Never mind that Murray has failed to reach his full potential at this point in his career. He has a singular skill set that allows him to impact the game with his arm and his legs despite his undersized 5-foot-10, 210-pound frame.

That alone should make Murray the top priority for the Vikings. He’s the most talented quarterback they currently have at their disposal. It’s not particularly close.

The other quarterbacks that could possibly be had include Geno Smith, Daniel Jones, Kirk Cousins and Aaron Rodgers, among a handful of others. None of them can touch Murray’s theoretical ceiling.

The basic stats speak themselves, even when taking into account some of Murray’s recent struggles that led to him being benched. He has completed 67.1% of his passes for 20,460 yards and 121 touchdowns in his career, while also rushing for 3,193 yards and 32 touchdowns.

It’s not hard to imagine Murray developing an instant connection getting to throw the ball to Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison. It’s also not hard to imagine Murray helping improve the ground game with his feel as a scrambler.

There have been various stretches during which Murray has been a top 10 quarterback. His lack of consistency has prevented him from sustaining that success. That’s something the Vikings will have to navigate if they end up signing him.

The juice is still worth the squeeze for the Vikings in this circumstance. It’s not often that somebody with the ability to be a top 10 quarterback makes it to the open market.

Who cares that Murray might not be a perfect fit?

There isn’t going to be somebody who checks every box for the Vikings. They wouldn’t be available if that were the case. There’s a reason some of the fantasy trades for the likes of Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson and Justin Herbert aren’t on the table.

There’s going to be a ton of pressure on Kevin O’Connell to get the Vikings back to the playoffs next season after miscalculating how ready McCarthy was to contribute at the highest level.

The best way to start the process of righting that wrong would be signing the most talented quarterback out there.

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray (1) runs from Minnesota Vikings linebacker Jonathan Greenard (58) during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)

Related Articles

Vikings center Ryan Kelly announces his retirement

Vikings seem destined to add a quarterback. Some intel from the NFL Combine

How did the Vikings grade out in the annual NFLPA report cards?

Here’s how the Vikings can create more than $40 million in cap space

Who’s calling the shots for the Vikings in the short term?

Death Valley National Park is exactly what the name implies. It is one of the driest, hottest and most desolate areas in the world, with summer temperatures in the desert region reaching well into triple digits for days and sometimes weeks.

The national park, which straddles the California-Nevada border, is one of the lowest in elevation, of all the parks, according to the National Park Service website, and is a “land of extremes.” The steady drought and record summer heat lead to that.

But those extremes give way to rare beauty, as is the case now.

Desert sunflowers, yellow cups, brittlebush, gravel ghosts and desert five-spot are just some of the wildflowers now in bloom in the lowest regions of the park, including the Badwater Basin at 282 feet below sea level.

Blooms are visible from Jubilee Pass, at the southern end of the park, up to Furnace Creek in the north.

This is the “best bloom year” since 2016, according to the National Park Service, stopping short of declaring this year’s expanse of blooms a “superbloom,” at least thus far. Superblooms occurred in 2016, 2005, and 1998.

While the average annual rainfall is very low, less than 2 inches, there are years — sometimes 10 and 20 years apart — where the area experiences above average rainfall, as it has in recent months, according to the park’s website.

The flowers take off during years of more frequent rainstorms.

The growth process starts with an early-winter rain. And steady rain through the winter, like what the desert areas receive during el niño years, bring out the flowers, the park’s website says. That moisture and lack of wind allow the seeds to germinate, which in turn have created fields of gold in the lower portions of Death Valley National Park.

Blooms in the lowest areas of the park could last into mid- to late-March, of course that depends on weather. With blooms migrating into the higher elevations into May and possibly into June.

This time of year, desert travelers are also drawn to Lake Manly at Badwater Basin. The lake is created by the rainwater, that settles into the basin area, after rains fall on the region. The water there does not seep into the ground, it only evaporates, due to it being at the top of the water table.

Visitors can walkout into Lake Manly’s ankle-deep water, which stretches for hundreds of yards.

For those making the drive to Death Valley National Park, be sure to bring plenty of water and snacks, along with a full tank of gas. Services are limited in the area.

And while temperatures have been warm throughout Southern California in recent days, they can reach into the mid 90s in Death Valley at this time of year, as they have in recent days.

Lea el artículo en español aquí.

Mexican-American singer Lila Downs is the product of two distinct cultures. Born in Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca, she is the daughter of Anita Sánchez, an Indigenous cabaret singer of Mixtec heritage, and Allen Downs, a Scottish-American professor of art and cinematography from Minnesota.

With six Latin Grammys and a Grammy to her credit, Downs is widely regarded as one of the first major artists to bring the music of the Mixtec, a prominent Indigenous group in Mexico, to a global stage. Her versatile repertoire blends folk, jazz, blues, ranchera and hip-hop, reflecting her broad musical range.

“It’s part of my activist side to comment on what is happening,” says Mexican-American singer Lila Downs. (Johnny Castellanos)

From Oaxaca to the Oscars stage

Raised between the Sierra Madre mountains of Oaxaca and the Midwest of the United States, Downs grew up with one foot in each world.

“I was fortunate to grow up in two different places, both socially organized and responsive,” she said during a recent interview from Mexico City.

Today, she divides her time between Oaxaca and Mexico City. This year, Downs, who sings in both English and Spanish, will perform across Mexico, the U.S., Canada and Spain, continuing her mission to amplify Indigenous voices worldwide.

Throughout her career, Downs has used her platform to serve as a global ambassador for Mexican Indigenous culture, advocating for social justice and the preservation of native languages and traditions.

In 1994, she released her first album, “Ofrenda,” a collection of traditional songs from Oaxaca and Mexico, as well as original compositions in Spanish, Mixtec and Zapotec, Indigenous languages of Oaxaca.

By 1999, Downs had signed with Narada Productions, achieving commercial success and international recognition with her album “La Sandunga.” Since then, she has released at least 15 studio albums, though she confesses, “I’ve lost count.”

One of the defining moments of her career came in 2003, when she performed the Oscar-nominated song “Burn It Blue” from the film “Frida” at the 75th Academy Awards, bringing her voice to a global audience.

Her latest album, “Cambias mi Mundo (You Change My World),” marks a return to original material, focusing on her growing interest in the poetic side of music.

“Music has taught me to be more spiritual,” she said. “We can find relief through the soulfulness of music.”

Singer Lila Downs has created a role for herself as a global ambassador for Mexican indigenous culture. (Enrique Levya)

Songs of belonging — and dissent

Given her bicultural roots, Downs is closely attuned to the political climate, particularly the ongoing immigration debate in the United States. She has been vocal in her support of the widespread public protests that have followed immigration crackdowns across the country.

“That makes me very proud,” Downs said about the protests. “But I am very sad as well. We are separating people – it’s something I’ve been singing about for a long time. We’re going back, in a way; I guess it’s something in us as human beings. We are what we know.”

Downs’ activism is also evident in her music. In 2016, she released “The Demagogue,” a bilingual protest song aimed at Donald Trump during his presidential campaign.

“When I take political stances, they heat up on Facebook,” she said.

Her song “Dark Eyes” (2021) comments on race and the invisibility of Indigenous laborers in Mexico, offering a poignant reflection on the experiences of marginalized communities.

“We are all children of immigrants, really,” she added. “No matter how people try to erase it, that’s the truth.”

By J.M. HIRSCH

Online influencers claim the secret to low-calorie rice, pasta and potatoes may be as simple as chilling out.

Are they right? Not quite. But a small yet solid body of science does suggest that chilling these carbohydrate-rich foods after cooking them still could help people slim down.

For several years, wellness and nutrition influencers have promoted a process called retrogradation, urging people to cook, chill, then reheat carbohydrate-rich foods. They say doing so can cut the calories.

Retrogradation is real, but it isn’t quite that simple.

Two kinds of starch

Most of the carbohydrates in these foods — as well as most of the calories — come from starch, of which there are two types: hard-to-digest amylose and easily digested amylopectin. The latter is processed quickly and spikes blood sugar. The former is processed slowly and moderates blood sugar.

Most raw carbohydrates (think uncooked potatoes) are made mostly of the hard-to-digest starch (also called resistant starch), but cooking converts it into the easily digested one. This is why diabetics need to be mindful when eating starchy foods.

Here’s where the influencers get excited. Chilling those cooked foods triggers “retrogradation,” a process that converts easily digested starch back into resistant starch, making it harder to digest even if the food is then reheated.

What does that mean for calories and blood sugar? Here’s what we know:

Studies of how retrogradation influences diet mostly have been small and focused on how consumption of resistant starches influences blood sugar, particularly for diabetics.

Multiple studies since 2015 have found that people who ate rice that was cooked and then cooled had sometimes significantly lower blood glucose levels after eating compared to people who ate freshly cooked rice. Those findings are generally well-accepted.

Less studied is whether retrogradation also reduces the calories available from these foods.

Kind of, says Dr. David Ludwig, an endocrinologist and researcher at Boston Children’s Hospital. “It doesn’t appreciably change the calorie content of that food,” he explained. “(But) it may well affect your hormones and metabolism in a way that makes controlling calories a lot easier.”

Though retrogradation’s effects on calories is neither as direct nor as dramatic as some suggest, it nonetheless has promise as part of healthier eating, Ludwig said.

FILE – A variety of potatoes are displayed in Concord, N.H., on Sept. 29, 2014. (AP Photo/Matthew Mead, File)

Reducing blood sugar spikes and cravings

Eating foods high in resistant starch reduces the surge in blood sugar typically seen after consuming cooked carbohydrates, he explained. And that’s key not only for diabetics.

Studies have shown that those sugar spikes activate the brain’s reward mechanism and trigger cravings, making overeating at snacks and later meals more likely.

Also, those blood sugar surges increase the body’s production of insulin, which not only makes us feel hungry but also prompts the body’s metabolism to store more calories as fat, Ludwig said.

“When the food retrogrades, it digests more slowly,” he said. “It’s going to keep your blood sugar more stable. You’ll have less insulin to drive fat storage and likely have an easier time avoiding overeating.”

So is chilling your pasta, rice and potatoes worth it?

If you eat a diet high in refined starches, chilling can technically mitigate some of their negative impacts. But Dr. Walter Willett, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, says that to be effective, it would have to be done consistently, and he questions whether that’s practical for most people.

Related Articles

Beef prices are high. This butcher has suggestions

Quick Fix: Simple Poached Fish with Caper Sauce and Quick Corn and Tomatoes

Ross Raihala: The newly revived Chi-Chi’s is all about nostalgia

Quick, bright dinners for winter days

St. Paul City Council approves new rules for drive-throughs

It also isn’t plug-and-play simple. Retrogradation works better with some grain varieties than others. Some food manufacturers favor varieties of rice, for example, that are naturally low in resistant starch because they cook more quickly. But this information rarely is available to the consumer, so it’s hard to know when chilling makes a difference.

Willett also noted that retrogradation only helps with blood-sugar effects.

“Chilling does not restore the losses of fiber, minerals and vitamins that have been removed in the refining process,” he said.

Better, he said, would be to keep it simple: Substitute minimally processed whole grains cooked as one normally would.

J.M. Hirsch is a food and travel journalist, and the former food editor for The Associated Press.