thyOne impressive game does not a career make. The Minnesota Vikings have been one of the most disappointing teams in the NFL this season, and one of the biggest reasons has been the poor play and slow development of second-year quarterback J.J. McCarthy.
Prior to facing the Washington Commanders at U.S. Bank Stadium in Week 14, McCarthy appeared to be a bumbling, stumbling and somewhat hopeless signal caller for a team that was playing some of the worst offensive football in recent memory. It became a foregone conclusion that the Vikings would be looking for a veteran quarterback in the offseason who could raise the level of play and return the team to contender status.
Minnesota's doldrums had shunted the team to last place in the NFC North, and there appears to be little chance of escaping the division's cellar. The encounter with the Commanders seemed likely to cement the belief that Washington had a dynamic quarterback for the present and future in Jayden Daniels and the Vikings had badly miscalculated with McCarthy.
Vikings gain relief with performance against Washington
However, the Vikings finally showed some life as they pounded the visitors by a 31-0 margin. McCarthy looked like a solid NFL quarterback as he directed the offense to four touchdowns, and that included three TD passes to his tight ends. Josh Oliver caught two scoring passes while T.J. Hockenson caught one.
McCarthy played sharp and impressive football as one of his scoring drives was a 19-play, 98-yard drive that included five third-down conversions. The Vikings led 7-0 at the time, and when Jordan Mason crashed into the end zone from eight yards out, the belief on the Vikings sideline was unmistakable while the Commanders were left whimpering.
McCarthy came through with the best professional effort of his career as he completed 16 of 23 passes for 163 yards and he did not throw an interception. His rushing numbers were not huge, but he ran six times for 19 yards, and one of his runs was a 16-yard scramble. The Vikings were in charge of this game from the game's initial drive and their grip never abated.
Since the Vikings had been in the grip of a four-game losing streak and were coming off back-to-back brutal performances against the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks, the win over the Commanders has produced some degree of hope going forward.
Optimists believe that McCarthy has turned the corner and is on his way to becoming a winning quarterback. Realists know that a dynamic performance like the one he had against the Commanders is just a first step.
The narrative before the game was that McCarthy was a disaster and that both general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and head coach Kevin O'Connell had failed. That conclusion was harsh, because it takes quarterbacks 20-30 starts to write the story of their careers.
Much more is needed
One excellent game does not reverse the original conclusion. It is a nice step and there is some degree of hope at this point, but the Vikings don't know what kind of future McCarthy will author as the team's QB1.
There was quite a bit of improvement in McCarthy's play. He demonstrated the ability to get rid of the ball quickly and he also showed he had more than a fastball. McCar demonstrated the ability to loft the ball over the first layer of coverage and deliver an accurate pass. He did so on a third-down conversion to wideout Jordan Addison on the 98-yard drive that almost certainly would have been an incomplete pass or interception in prior games.
That play was one of O'Connell's favorites in the game. “You’ve got to layer that ball up and over,” O’Connell said. “The layering of the ball, feeling that space, finding it in rhythm, that’s what I loved about that.”
It would be wrong to draw any conclusions from this game, just like it was wrong to write him off because of the struggles in his previous starts this season.
The remaining four games of this season will allow the Vikings to get a greater idea of what McCarthy can do. He will get a chance to exploit two poor defenses on the road against the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants before the Vikings conclude the season with home games against the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers.
The picture will have a lot more definition at that point, but it will not be complete. More evidence will still be needed and the Vikings would be wise to bring in a solid veteran to compete with McCarthy in 2026 rather than anoint him or send him to the chopping block.
