J.J. McCarthy hit with half-time wake-up call after history-making NFL debut begins with ‘worst case scenario’
It wasn’t the NFL debut J.J. McCarthy had in mind—until it was.
The Minnesota Vikings quarterback received a rude welcome to the NFL on Monday Night Football through three quarters.
Minnesota Vikings
Opening six games
Week 1 - @ Chicago Bears W 27-24
Week 2 - v Atlanta Falcons
Week 3 - v Cincinnati Bengals
Week 4 - @ Pittsburgh Steelers (Dublin, Ireland)
Week 5 - @ Cleveland Browns (Tottenham, London)
Week 6 - BYE
The second-year pro looked outmatched against the Chicago Bears and Dennis Allen’s relentless defense before a packed Soldier Field crowd.
No play summed up the early portion of McCarthy's start better than his pick-six to former Viking Nashon Wright at the beginning of the second half.
McCarthy had looked uncomfortable for the majority of the night against a good Bears defense.
Former NFL offensive lineman turned analyst Geoff Schwartz noted how abysmal McCarthy and the Minnesota offense had been leading to the pick-six.
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"This feels like the worst case scenario tonight for the Vikings offense," Schwartz wrote on X.
"Obviously backup LT is having a rough game which doesn’t help."
Then the fourth quarter happened, and all of a sudden it all seemed to click for the 22-year-old, as he took it to another level.
Down 17-6, he led the Vikings to 21 unanswered points with a rushing touchdown and two passing touchdowns to Justin Jefferson and Aaron Jones.
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In the fourth quarter alone, he went 6-for-8 passing for 101 total yards and three touchdowns.
He became the first player in NFL history to account for three touchdowns in the fourth quarter in his NFL debut.
All of a sudden the Vikings had life and before they knew it, they were walking away with a 27-24 victory.
He became just the second quarterback in the past 45 years, along with Steve Young, to rally from a double-digit fourth-quarter deficit in his debut and win.
McCarthy finished the night going 13-of-20 for 143 yards with two passing touchdowns and one interception, plus a rushing touchdown.
"You never want to earn wisdom that way but it just brought me straight back to TCU when I had that first one early on in the game and then the second one later and at the end of the day," he said after the game.
"It sucks. It's one of the worst things you could do as a quarterback, but you can't do anything about it. You got to focus on the next play.
"The defense kept us in it the whole time, so it was just on our shoulders to go out there and execute and play as one and move on from that. That's one of those things I don't really hang on. And I was really grateful the way coach O'Connell handled it and was everyone on the same page."
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Battling into the fourth quarter after struggling all game, on the road against a division rival, in his first career start, deserves credit.
The former Michigan Wolverine was taken in the first round of last year's draft - handpicked by Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell who has earned a reputation as a quarterback guru.
However McCarthy missed his entire rookie season due to a torn meniscus, after having been part of Michigan's national championship season under Jim Harbaugh.
The Vikings and head coach Kevin O'Connell rode with Sam Darnold and won a staggering 14 games.
However, they chose to let Darnold walk this past offseason and let their first round QB shine and on his first start, McCarthy showed what he was all about - even if the start was rough.
“I told him at halftime ‘you are going to bring us back to win this game’ and the look on his eye was fantastic,” O'Connell said after the game, per NFL Network's Bridget Condon,
As shaky as it was in the beginning, it turned out to be so far so good on Monday night in the Windy City. McCarthy proved he has what it takes to be the guy.
The Vikings are back in Minneapolis in Week 2, when they face the Atlanta Falcons in McCarthy's first home outing, before they face Cincinnati in Week 3 and hit the road for Europe in Weeks 4 and 5.
Minnesota will make NFL history when they become the first team to play in three different countries in one season, they face Pittsburgh in the NFL's first ever Dublin game in Week 4.
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Before facing the Cleveland Browns at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in Week 5 ahead of their bye week.
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