J.J. McCarthy is Getting Clobbered On and Off the Field, But Kevin O’Connell Bears More Blame
On and off the field, J.J. McCarthy is getting clobbered. What about Kevin O’Connell? To my ear, Coach O’Connell was too keen to highlight the inconsistency in McCarthy’s mechanics.
The reigning NFL Coach of the Year has proven to be very good. Better than most. And yet the stubborn reality is that every football coach is tasked with getting the best out of his players. By no means do all of Minnesota’s struggles fall on Coach O’Connell — a coach can only do so much — but he’s the one leading the team. Should he be taking more heat?
Kevin O’Connell Needs to Do More to Help the Clobbered McCarthy
J.J. McCarthy stepped in front of the Minnesota media. While there, the 22-year-old passer was poised and charming, as per usual.
What made his presser so fascinating was his willingness to delve into the difficulty of undoing the previous ways that he played quarterback to adjust to what Kevin O’Connell is asking of him. Scattered throughout McCarthy’s answers were reflections on how the way he’s playing is “very new” while also being “really hard” since he’s “re-wiring neurological pathways,” a process that doesn’t “happen overnight.”
The kid is exactly right. Did Minnesota err in inserting him into the QB1 spot given that he’s still so young and coming off a missed year of practice?
During the offseason, Minnesota had the chance to bring in an established veteran to takeover as the starter.
In particular, there was a chance at retaining Sam Darnold or Daniel Jones. Externally, the Vikings had a legitimate chance of signing Aaron Rodgers, a Hall-of-Fame passer who is unusual for both his on-field talent and capacity to annoy the masses. Few, if any, in Minnesota are fans of Rodgers; few, if any, could deny that he wouldn’t have been better than the overwhelmed sophomore.
Elsewhere in his answers, McCarthy reflected on the difficulty of needing to master new mechanics alongside figuring how to attack an NFL defense: “It’s extremely difficult. Understanding that these defenses are not simple, there’s a lot of protection plan that takes up a lot of brain space. Obviously, the new concepts going in week after week, the coverages, and those little things about your fundamentals slip sometimes.”
For some, these words are hollow. Empty calories that fail to excuse missing wide open receivers with regularity. Maybe there’s some truth within the bleak assessment.
But then there’s the cold splash of reality hitting everyone in the face. J.J. McCarthy, a 22-year-old quarterback coming off missing the entire 2024 season and who was five-weeks sidelined in 2025 due to an ankle sprain, is so raw that he needs to (somehow) juggle new quarterback mechanics alongside decoding an NFL defense.
Folks, that doesn’t fall on the young fella. The leadership should have recognized the issue.
Going into Week 12, the only way out is through. Ongoing adversity is to be expected.
As much as possible, Kevin O’Connell needs to take all of the thinking out of the game. Give the kid a fighting chance by ensuring that he’s tasked with simple, easy-to-read options. Run a ton and complete plenty of short passes.
Note: O’Connell cannot lean on the options that the coaching staff believes should be simple. The land of “should” doesn’t exist. There’s only reality. The reality is that too much has been put on J.J. McCarthy’s plate, directly undermining Minnesota’s capacity to compete in 2025.
Around football circles, Kevin O’Connell has received a lot of praise for his quote about franchises failing quarterbacks before quarterbacks fail franchises. There’s a ton of wisdom within the pithy phrase.
And while the Vikings appeared to do plenty to ensure the franchise didn’t fall into the same trap, there may have been an omission so obvious that it’s now painful to consider how it got missed: the physical and mental development of the man himself.
Indeed, the QB whisperer is now confronting a reality that’s screaming at us all: Mr. McCarthy isn’t ready. With no option but to keep playing McCarthy, O’Connell must somehow unclog an offense by drilling down into play calls that simplify a game that can spiral into endless complexity.
A while back, I had some golf lessons in a largely futile effort to correct a game that would make Tiger Woods cry. My swing was (and still is) poor. Somewhat functional, but not at a level where I could consistently grip-it and rip-it, as the golf nerds sometimes say. In my world, breaking 100 is akin to donning the green jacket.
The golf instructor — God bless that patient man who wasn’t being paid enough — was adjusting my incorrect form for correct form, a change that sunk me from below average to truly awful. What was once an ability to at least earn modest success on the golf course turned into spraying the ball so erratically that passersby needed to keep their heads on a swivel lest a stray white ball get lodged into their cranium. Changing my mechanics was a painful, difficult process that led to significant struggle.
Currently, Kevin O’Connell and J.J. McCarthy appear to be working through a similar process (albeit as world-class athletes). But while my foibles were constrained to a golf instructor and the poor souls on the driving range who had to witness me making a mockery of a beautiful sport, McCarthy must somehow get his mechanics figured out on an NFL field when millions are watching and hulking defenders are trying to steal his lunch money (before then fending off media questions about his failures). Hard not to feel for the kid.
Next up for the Vikings is a Week 12 game at Lambeau Field.
