RandBall: Everybody loves a rebuild until it’s actually happening

The mantra “don’t read the comments” is supposed to be a protector of time and sanity when it comes to online content.

There is enough to consume (probably too much, but who am I to talk?) without getting into the weeds of how people are reacting to things, right?

Well, I have a confession.

I read the comments a lot, and I kind of like doing so.

It’s a good way to take the temperature of fan bases, as long as we grade on a curve and understand that blind sports passion can leak out instead of reason. Plus, a lot of fans are truly smart. They might see things that the rest of us have missed and/or plainly state a truth that otherwise gets forgotten in more heated debates.

Like this comment, on a recent video I posted of a film review discussion with Andrew Krammer about J.J. McCarthy:

“We’ve spent so many years starting veteran backups that it is hard to have the patience needed for a young, inexperienced QB.”

Before this year, it had been a decade since the Vikings went into a season planning to play a young quarterback (Teddy Bridgewater in 2015).

This unique setup whereby a young quarterback is being handed the keys to a team with win-now expectations hasn’t been tried here in a quarter-century (Daunte Culpepper in 2000).

Both of those seasons ended in division titles and playoff appearances (with the requisite postseason heartbreak), but it’s reasonable to expect an NFL team to be less successful with a young QB.

Almost everyone was on board with handing the keys to McCarthy, especially after Sam Darnold struggled when it mattered most last year.

And now, with Darnold thriving in Seattle and McCarthy muddling through an uneven and injury-hampered season, it’s tempting to second-guess.

Here are nine more things to know today, leading with a few more examples of what I mean: