The Vikings Are Trying To Handle McCarthy With Clean Hands In A Messy Game

After the Los Angeles Chargers beat the Minnesota Vikings 37-10 on Thursday night, Kevin O’Connell made it sound like J.J. McCarthy would start on Sunday in Detroit.

“If J.J. is healthy, J.J. will play,” O’Connell said. “That’s been the case since the injury. That’s always been my mindset.”

McCarthy suffered a high ankle sprain when Kaden Elliss rolled up on him in the third quarter of Minnesota’s Week 2 game against the Atlanta Falcons. He played through the 22-6 loss, but the Vikings ruled him out for their Week 3 game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Vikings initially gave him a recovery timetable of two to four weeks. After O’Connell announced that McCarthy would miss time due to injury, a reporter asked if Minnesota’s decision was performance-based.

"Not at all," O'Connell said. "In fact, it was pretty crushing this morning to hear [about the injury]. Look, for J.J., he's in a long process, a long journey right now where there's going to be some ups and downs.

“But no, this is a purely medical-based thing that we're dealing with right now.”

All signs indicate McCarthy will start in Detroit, meaning the Vikings will have him under center for two of their three true road games this year.

The Vikings play three types of games: home, road, and neutral venues. They have so much support in Sun Belt locations like Florida, Arizona, and Southern California that it softens the crowd. Minnesota also frequently plays overseas, where the crowds often contain neutral fans and many Vikings supporters.

However, the Pittsburgh Steelers had significantly more fans than the Vikings in Dublin. The Rooney family, who own the Steelers, have established a fanbase in Ireland. Still, it was less hostile than playing in Pittsburgh. Meanwhile, Minnesota traded a game in hostile Cleveland for a neutral venue at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London filled with fans of both teams.

Wentz led a comeback in London, which kept the season alive. However, the Vikings flew McCarthy out to practice with the team, presumably testing his readiness to play. The Browns game was three weeks removed from his injury against Atlanta, meaning it was in the middle of his timetable.

However, McCarthy didn’t play in London and

“If this were a Sunday game,” O’Connell said when he declared McCarthy out for the Chargers game, “maybe it would be a little bit of a different story.”

McCarthy’s extended absence has caused some fans to believe the Vikings have “soft benched” him. They’re implying that Minnesota has used the injury to cover up their desire to keep McCarthy off the field. McCarthy salvaged his passer rating in Chicago by leading a fourth-quarter comeback. However, Wentz has topped McCarthy’s 37.5 passer rating from Minnesota’s home game against Atlanta.

Wentz hasn’t done anything to suggest he should start the rest of the year. Still, his 64.9 rating against Philadelphia and 67.5 against the Chargers is meaningfully higher than McCarthy’s Week 2 performance. Furthermore, Wentz’s 102.1 rating against Cleveland and 129.8 against Cincinnati are higher than McCarthy’s 98.5 in Chicago.

Still, Wentz hasn’t done enough to entice Minnesota to ride the hot hand. The Vikings drafted McCarthy to be their franchise quarterback, and they need to play him as soon as he’s ready. If McCarthy starts in Detroit on Sunday, he’ll be six weeks removed from spraining his ankle against Atlanta. Six weeks is longer than Minnesota’s initial timetable but typical for a high ankle sprain.

The Vikings are doing right by McCarthy by waiting until he’s healthy. He must be able to throw to the first read, which is often a deep, explosive pass in O’Connell’s offense. They don’t want him developing a habit of passing on it too soon, and deep passes will require him to drive off his back foot. Minnesota also wants to allow him to use his mobility.

When the Vikings drafted J.J. McCarthy, they wanted to welcome him into the NFL world with clean hands. They loaded the team up with weapons and reinforced the offensive line in the offseason. However, injuries have ravaged the offensive line. The Vikings are also restarting McCarthy’s career in their second true away game on American soil after he made his NFL debut in Chicago.

The lesson here may have less to do with how they have handled McCarthy. It’s more that it’s nearly impossible to handle a quarterback with clean hands in a game that’s always pretty messy.