J.J. McCarthy and the Weight of the World
The situation that second-year signal caller J.J. McCarthy is walking into is no joke. His Minnesota Vikings currently face an identity crisis after an embarrassing loss on Thursday Night Football to the Los Angeles Chargers, bringing them to a 3-4 record on the season. When McCarthy was drafted, Vikings fans touted the situation he was coming into, potentially leading to one of the best rookie situations a young QB could ever hope to find himself in.
It was hard to refute at the time; on paper (and off), the Minnesota Vikings were very good in 2024. The case was the same ahead of 2025, and in both years, J.J. McCarthy hasn’t been able to stay healthy. While the Vikings are good on paper in 2025, the actual physical manifestation of the team hasn’t been good on the gridiron.
The defense has seemingly regressed, the run game is non-existent, and they aren’t getting magically great QB play. Though, to be fair, Carson Wentz played through some pretty significant ailments over the past couple of weeks.
The vibes are completely off when it comes to football in the Twin Cities. There are questions about Kevin O’Connell and his judgments as head coach for the first time in his tenure in Minnesota. Questions also swirl about Brian Flores and whether or not he has lost his fastball when calling a defense, as well as his performance against quarterbacks that are considered above-average. The offensive line is in peril, whether due to injuries or simply not playing up to expectations.
The situation McCarthy would’ve been walking into in 2024 had he not missed his entire rookie season was relatively low-stress compared to what he will be walking into when he takes the field in Week 9 for a big-time NFC North matchup against the Detroit Lions. While they aren’t currently technically leading the division at the current moment, it seems as if they are widely regarded as the team to beat in the NFC.
If there’s anything to be confident about, it’s the fact that J.J. McCarthy has shown incredible resiliency throughout his football career. McCarthy, for sure, isn’t looking at the cards he’s been dealt and being completely overwhelmed or mentally thrown off by it all; it’s safe to say he’s looking at this simply as an opportunity to lead his team to a victory. He won’t be thinking about anything past the task at hand, the one of defeating the Detroit Lions.
He’s a smart kid, and he knows that the NFL is a game-by-game league. These NFL players don’t think about things like us fans sitting on the couch and judging every little movement of the best athletes in the history of humankind.
They think of the NFL as what it is; any given Sunday, all mental and physical energy gets invested into the next game. There’s no need for thought in McCarthy’s head about how good he’ll be in 2026, let alone in Week 10 against the Baltimore Ravens.
It’s understandable to be cautious about giving your entire heart to McCarthy as the true future of this franchise. Vikings fans have trust issues after countless turns of events that have felt like true betrayal from the team they love most. The Minnesota Vikings have faith in the kid, and the fact that they held him out for the correct amount of time to recover from a high ankle sprain.
We are now at the point that we have to find out who J.J. McCarthy is, and that case will not be open and closed this Sunday, just as we couldn’t open and close the case when he won NFC Offensive Player of the Week in his first career NFL game and the only game to this point that he’s played fully healthy.
Time has passed since he was drafted in 2024, but in football terms, the kid just drove off the lot. It is going to take time.
