Did the Vikings Allow J.J. McCarthy Walk Into A Worse Situation Than We Thought?

One of the biggest questions for the Minnesota Vikings this season was J.J. McCarthy's state of development. McCarthy checked most of the boxes during offseason workouts and training camp, and many were prepared to live with the ups and downs of having a first-year starter at quarterback.

For Kevin O’Connell, it was the beginning of a journey that could continue over the next decade. For some Vikings fans, the honeymoon phase lasted two games.

Nobody would have drawn up the start that McCarthy has had to this season, combining erratic play with a sprained ankle. With McCarthy out for roughly a month, many have posted their Christian Ponder comparisons online and even screamed for UDFA Max Brosmer.

The Vikings are rightfully not throwing in the towel after two games. But after the way things have transpired, it’s fair to question if Minnesota put their young quarterback in the best position to succeed in the opening weeks.

Some of these factors are out of Minnesota’s control. The Vikings were projected to win 6.5 games last season before a red-hot Sam Darnold and an elite defense propelled them to 14 wins. Although the season crashed out in the final two games, it raised the bar for whoever would step in to succeed Darnold at quarterback. It became even higher when the Vikings said “No thanks” to Aaron Rodgers’ flirtations in the spring.

There were also some underlying storylines at play. Christian Darrisaw was working his way back from a multiligament knee injury he suffered last October, but the Vikings didn’t expect him to miss the first two games. Instead of having one of the best offensive tackles in the game protecting his blindside, Justin Skule was blocking for him. Skule has allowed three sacks and seven pressures in 46 pass-blocking snaps.

McCarthy was also without Jordan Addison, one of his top weapons. Addison’s three-game suspension for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy could be expected the moment he was parked in a traffic lane at LAX airport in July 2023. But outside of drafting project receiver Tai Felton and trading for Adam Thielen, the Vikings didn’t do anything to replace him, as if to say, “It’s only three games…”

The Vikings also couldn’t have been pleased when the schedule was released. Perhaps preparing for a potential Rodgers-Vikings unholy union storyline, the NFL scheduled Minnesota for four “Island” (or nationally televised) games in their first five contests. The first two games were on Monday and Sunday night, and the first game out of that stretch is against the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, followed by another primetime game against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 8.

Body clocks and personnel be damned, McCarthy still had a job to do. Outside of a fourth-quarter comeback in Chicago, McCarthy hasn’t lived up to the hype. People calling him a “bust” already is expected for a franchise whose owners once coined the phrase “super competitive” and a fan base that says, “Just one before I die, please.” Still, the question remains.

Did the Vikings control what they could control?

A look at the roster provides mixed results. While McCarthy was missing a big piece in Darrisaw, he still had a lot of resources at his disposal.

Justin Jefferson should be a human security blanket, but McCarthy only targeted him 13 times over the first two games. Jalen Nailor has played well despite a hand injury suffered in training camp, but he hasn’t been a consistent No. 2 target. Thielen has only two catches in two games, even though they added him to soften the blow of Addison’s temporary absence. Still, he could pay dividends as a WR3 when Addison returns.

Mix in an offensive line that had four of its five projected starters going into the season, plus the reigning Coach of the Year in his headset, and McCarthy had more than enough to be successful, except for a period to learn on the job.

Many rookies come into the league and are expected to contribute immediately. Even a quarterback like McCarthy had a precedent after Daunte Culpepper led the Vikings to 11 wins with a similarly built team in his first year as a starter. That usually comes with a grace period that other quarterbacks in his draft class took advantage of.

Looking back at last season, Jayden Daniels was the only quarterback to post a passer rating over 90 over the first nine weeks of the season. Drake Maye had an 85.1 passer rating, but he didn’t get his first start until Week 6. Caleb Williams’ entire rookie season got a mulligan. He had an 83 passer rating in his first eight games. And Bo Nix had a 79.6 rating in nine starts with the Denver Broncos.

These quarterbacks may have struggled, but they were afforded time to figure it out. Due to the circumstances, McCarthy’s 2025 is like throwing a kid into the deep end of the pool and calling it a swimming lesson.

It feels like an adversity that every quarterback goes through at some point in their career. But it also follows a pattern that O’Connell has taken with Darnold, Joshua Dobbs, Nick Mullens, and even Kirk Cousins. Some would say this is a failure to adapt to circumstances, but others would just call it a baptism by fire.

That approach helped Darnold and Cousins cash in with massive free-agent contracts, and it should work with McCarthy in the long run. The issue is that the Vikings haven’t given McCarthy the grace period, meaning he needs to find his way to the surface once he returns from injury.