It felt like group therapy Thursday at TCO Performance Center as general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and head coach Kevin O’Connell got introspective reflecting on the 2022 NFL Draft that has come to define the early portion of their tenure with the Vikings.

It was total disaster in hindsight underscored by the fact that safety Lewis Cine (first round) and cornerback Andrew Booth Jr. (second round) are no longer on the roster.

It doesn’t get much better from there as right guard Ed Ingram (second round) has left something to be desired as a starter in the trenches, linebacker Brian Asamoah (third round) has played mostly on special teams and cornerback Akayleb Evans (fourth round) has been up and down throughout his young career.

The other selections included defensive tackle Esezi Otomewo (fifth round), running back Ty Chandler (fifth round), left tackle Vederian Lowe (sixth round), receiver Jalen Nailor (sixth round), and tight end Nick Muse (seventh round). The only players in line to make an impact this season are Chandler and Nailor.

Asked about what he has learned by looking back on the 2022 NFL Draft — particularly swinging and missing on Cine and Booth — Adofo-Mensah referenced a conversation he had with O’Connell that centered on the Vikings completing the largest comeback in NFL history on Dec. 17, 2022.In that game against the Indianapolis Colts, the Vikings erased a seemingly insurmountable 33-0 deficit at halftime, chipping away and chipping away en route to a 39-36 win in overtime.

The question from Adofo-Mensah to O’Connell was simple: What was he feeling when the Vikings were down 33-0?

He asked it because he felt a similar sense of desperation heading into the 2022 NFL Draft. The directive when Adofo-Mensah was hired was to keep the Vikings competitive in the present while simultaneously putting together a roster that had staying power in future.

“When I entered the building, trying to compete with an aging roster, salary cap stuff, I think there were times where I felt down 33-0,” Adofo-Mensah said. “I think at times I might have been guilty of trying to maybe have a 33-point play all at once.”

The biggest mistake came when Adofo-Mensah made the highly criticized decision to trade back 20 spots in the first round of his first draft in 2022. He was trying to thread the needle, and it came back to bite him.

Instead of staying put and using the No. 12 pick to select, say, safety Kyle Hamilton, who has developed into a star, the Vikings chose to acquire more draft capital, then used the No. 32 pick to select Cine, who was recently waived after being buried on the depth chart.

Essentially, Adofo-Mensah was trying fix all of his problems in short order, filling as many holes as possible, when in reality he should have been more focused on taking incremental steps in the right direction.

There has been a much more concerted effort to do so as of late, and the early returns from the 2023 NFL Draft, which netted receiver Jordan Addison, and the 2024 NFL Draft, which netted quarterback J.J. McCarthy and edge rusher Dallas Turner, already seem much more promising on the surface.

That should be the focus at this moment in time.

As much as Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell deserve credit for taking accountability for their missteps — maybe it was even a little bit therapeutic for them to address it in a public forum — it’s time for everybody to move on and stop talking about it.

There is an element of randomness that comes with trying to project how prospects are going to translate to the highest level, and while the Vikings would have loved for things to work Sout with Cine and Booth, the fact that it went sideways with both players shouldn’t be a referendum on the regime as a whole.

The process has evolved since then, and that’s commendable.

What’s the point in lamenting the past when the Vikings still have the pieces in place to be competitive in the future?