Neal: Ummm ... what has happened to the Vikings?

The Vikings head to Seattle battered, bewildered and are unrecognizable from the team that went to the Emerald City last season and pulled off a 27-24 victory thanks to an inspiring performance by ... Sam Darnold, on the way to a 14-3 regular season record.

Now Darnold is with the Seahawks, while the Vikings quarterback position is unstable. Their defense no longer has bite. Their star receiver needs attention.

But, hey, that kicker is pretty darn good.

At 4-7, NFL.com has the Vikings’ playoff chances at less than 1%. And they are a double-digit underdog on Sunday.

How did it get this bad this quickly? How did the Purple go from being a playoff-caliber team at the beginning of the season to being the caboose of the NFC North train by week 13?

You’re probably focusing on the guy under center, J.J. McCarthy, who was supposed to immediately flourish under the tutelage of offensive savant Kevin O’Connell.

But in most cases, there’s more than one reason success can be volatile from one season to the next. Here are five reasons that come to mind as I recover from my sister’s turducken.

And it is a saga.

I was all for drafting McCarthy. He was a winner in college and his charisma has been evident during his short professional career.

But handing him the keys to the 14-3 Maserati from 2024 reeks of organizational hubris.

The Vikings had Darnold operating at a high level. It led to him getting $100 million from Seattle.

They also had Daniel Jones in house. There was an attempt to sign him for 2025, but he opted for Indianapolis on a one-year deal for around $14 million.

Jones knew McCarthy was the preferred candidate going into camp and sought a more fair and balanced competition for a starting role.

“That’s been the communication,” Jones said at his introductory news conference with the Colts. “It’s an opportunity to come in and compete.”

Other things have gone wrong this season. This was failure No. 1.

Winning and developing is difficult to do in every sport. When it involves developing the most important position in sports on a team expected to win, that’s a dangerous mix.

McCarthy could have been a backup this season. Or been pushed harder to earn the job.

For 2025, his main signings were Javon Hargrave, Jonathan Allen, Will Fries and Ryan Kelly.

They have not had the impact of the 2024 class.

The Vikings defense isn’t sacking the quarterback or defending the run as well as they did a year ago. That’s on Hargrave and Allen, and the Vikings aren’t getting the return on their investment they needed.

Fries has been fine at guard. But Kelly’s season has been derailed by the fourth and fifth concussions of his career. It will likely force the Vikings to address the long-term future of their center position during the offseason.

Another signing, wide receiver Rondale Moore, suffered a season-ending knee injury during preseason. It would have been nice to have seen how he impacted games.

The Vikings were willing participants in this plan.

My response: Why?

They had to ship some equipment across the big pond to Ireland then ferry it to England. They had to pack all the ranch dressing they could carry. Two countries and 4,000 miles later, they split two games. When injuries piled up, they had to fly in an emergency lineman between the games to have enough bodies for practice.

It was also during the trip that the McCarthy conspiracy theories about him not being injured — but benched — had O’Connell bristling. Jordan Addison was late for a walkthrough and was benched for part of the Browns game — although he made up for it with a winning touchdown grab in the fourth quarter.

Not everyone was pleased with the accommodations at one of the hotels.

All that was missing was Chevy Chase and a misplaced camcorder.

At the end, everyone was ready to escape Europe, see their families and get back on a routine.

Note to the Wilf family: It’s great that you’re growing your brand in Europe. But you are 1-5 since that trip.

The combination of the aforementioned elements, plus injuries, add up to a 4-7 record.

Offensive inefficiency has led to stalled drives, forcing the defense back on the field. The defense was fifth in average points allowed last season, 18th this year. They are 24th in rushing defense after being second a year ago.

It used to be the other way around, which allowed defensive coordinator Brian Flores to unleash his fire-breathing defense on opponents trying to scramble back in games. Sacks and turnovers are down this year as a result.

Last week’s loss at Green Bay was their season in a nutshell.

O’Connell dialed up runs and screen passes to try to get McCarthy off to a good start. They trailed 10-6 at halftime and stuffed the Packers on their opening drive of the third. Then, a special teams disaster as Myles Price muffed a punt. Green Bay scored a touchdown and never looked back.

All three facets of their team have rarely clicked simultaneously.

After bungling the McCarthy strategy, the Vikings still needed a backup quarterback. They settled on Sam Howell, whose 18 career starts made him the most experienced QB in the room.

In fact, Brett Rypien occasionally ran with the second-stringers during practices instead of him. Howell did move the ball in two possessions during the preseason opener against Houston, after which he was a little defensive when a reporter approached him before writing about him providing positive tape.

He said Minnesota was appealing to him because of O’Connell. “He’s known as kind of a quarterback whisperer,” Howell said then.

As it turned out, KOC pointing a megaphone at Howell’s ear and screaming into it wouldn’t have mattered. Howell was traded to Philadelphia and Carson Wentz was immediately signed as a replacement.

When McCarthy went down, Wentz started five games. His fifth start was painful to watch, as he grimaced through a start against the Chargers because of a left shoulder injury that would require surgery.

Yes, this could have dovetailed with my first point. But the Howell trade put the Vikings down a path that brings them to where they will be on Sunday.