The Vikings Are Letting J.J. McCarthy Find the Answers To the Test

The Minnesota Vikings have done just about everything but name J.J. McCarthy their starting quarterback for the upcoming season.

They turned down an overture from Aaron Rodgers. They let Sam Darnold leave to sign a big deal with the Seattle Seahawks. And they decided against bringing in Ryan Tannehill in favor of a trade for Sam Howell. There appears to be nothing in McCarthy’s way of taking the field against the Chicago Bears on Sept. 8.

The only thing missing is a social media graphic with QB1 in giant letters. Still, it’s been an up-and-down process where the Vikings are letting McCarthy find the answers to the test.

McCarthy's process of becoming Minnesota's franchise quarterback has been shrouded in Karate Kid mystery. Reports of a list with benchmarks surfaced shortly after he was drafted, and who knows how things would have turned out had he not suffered a season-ending knee injury in the first preseason game. Even when Darnold took over and led the Vikings to a 14-3 season, McCarthy was working behind the scenes, studying defensive coordinators and coaching trees at the request of quarterbacks coach Josh McCown.

Downloading the offense into his brain was always the plan, but McCarthy was afforded the extra time due to his injury. While he couldn’t take physical reps, he took mental ones using a virtual reality machine and ensured he was ready when his opportunity arrived.

Sitting in with Harrison Phillips to learn how the defense worked wasn’t a bad way to earn extra credit, and he won the trust of those in the locker room. While Darnold was the unquestioned starter, Phillips stated earlier this offseason that everyone knew whose team it would be, which is probably why they stiff-armed Rodgers in free agency.

That led to the big reveal. Performing in a minicamp that’s filled with seven-on-seven drills is one thing. So is finding the right answers at the podium is another. But there’s a different level that happens when the pads come on, and McCarthy was introduced to Brian Flores’ version of the “Final Boss.”

There are excuses you can make for the defense being ahead of the offense in camp. Justin Jefferson is out with a mild hamstring strain and probably won’t practice until it’s necessary. The Vikings have brought Christian Darrisaw and Will Fries along slowly from their season-ending injuries. They may hold Darrisaw back at the beginning of the year in the same way they did with T.J. Hockenson last year.

You can argue that Flores is also responsible, perhaps taking it too hard on the first-year starter. But McCarthy is well aware of what’s happening and is embracing the challenge.

“What I learned from that in those situations, they’re so impeccable to get early on, especially in this camp-like setting because there’s no consequences to it,” McCarthy said. “There’s so much learning involved, and with those front seven guys and that rush, it’s tremendous to feel that early on and be able to make quicker decisions, get to my [running back], maybe find an escape lane here or there when they’re playing man on the back end. But yeah, it was just another great example for me to see and experience.”

It also echoed what O’Connell wanted McCarthy to learn during training camp.

“I think the quarterback position so much is you do your job from a consistency standpoint, footwork, technique, feet and eyes, progressions, and understanding the situation of a play, a drill, a sequence of plays, and just kind of being able to absorb all that as experience in real time,” O’Connell said in his pre-camp press conference. “And then the best part of training camp is you get to go out tomorrow and do it all over again and apply the things that you’re learning in real time.”

It seems simple in a world where McCarthy’s completions and performance are being monitored daily. But the biggest answer to the test may be getting back up when you’re knocked down.

Think back to the Kirk Cousins era. When things went wrong, the blame was often shifted to a leaky offensive line or a blown assignment, and even to a coach who wanted to invest his salary in his defense. Darnold also had some of these qualities, going up against a relentless defense.

But McCarthy knows this isn’t the only time he’ll see something like this. And if the defense is this good, it makes his job as a quarterback easier when he goes up against teams that aren’t the same caliber as what the Vikings will have this season.

It’s not as sexy as a long bomb to Jordan Addison or a highlight-reel play. But it’s enough to make sure McCarthy has what it takes to be Minnesota's starting quarterback.