The second half of Monday night’s game between the Minnesota Vikings and the Chicago Bears was not even two minutes old, and the jokes were flying on social media.
Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy, making his first career start, had just thrown a disastrous pick-six into the teeth of a Chicago zero blitz. After a sluggish first half, McCarthy and Minnesota now trailed 16-6 on the road, and the young QB looked rattled. Social media was filled with references to the running game McCarthy utilized while winning a national championship at Michigan, questions over whether he was already a bust, and even a mention or two of Carson Wentz, signed by the team in recent weeks to back up the second-year passer.
How brutal was the interception? According to ESPN’s win probability model, Minnesota’s chances of victory were 42.5% on the play before the pick-six, despite already trailing by four points on the road.
They dropped to 17.7% after.
Those questions about the young quarterback raised on social media lingered into the fourth quarter when, suddenly, McCarthy and the Vikings offense started to click.
And the young quarterback began answering those questions.
He connected with Justin Jefferson on this out-breaking route to pick up 17 yards, and get the Minnesota offense into the red zone:
Two things stand out about this throw. First, the fact that McCarthy delivers this ball in the face of pressure. Chicago pass rusher Tanoh Kpassagnon breaks free with a spin move off the edge and has a free run at the quarterback, but McCarthy hangs in the pocket and delivers a strike. The other note on this throw? The velocity. Any questions about McCarthy’s ability to dial up the RPMs on throws outside the numbers were not immediately erased with this throw, but here he shows that he can crank things up when needed.
Then, three plays later, the two linked up again, for McCarthy’s first NFL touchdown pass:
Here, the Vikings run both Jefferson and Jalen Nailor on in-breaking routes, with Nailor on the inside breaking across the middle first, followed by Jefferson. On this replay angle, you can see McCarthy’s view of the play, and how he navigates the pocket — and some interior pressure — before delivering another strike:
Minnesota forced a three-and-out on Chicago’s next drive, and a pass interference penalty gave the Vikings a fresh set of downs at the Bears’ 27-yard line.
That’s when McCarthy gave the Vikings their first lead of the season, connecting with Aaron Jones on a vertical route out of the backfield:
The young QB then linked up with veteran Adam Thielen on the two-point conversion to stake Minnesota to a three-point lead.
McCarthy tacked on another Minnesota touchdown himself to close out the Vikings’ next possession, scampering around right end on this zone read for a 14-yard touchdown run:
While the Bears scored a touchdown on their ensuing possession to close back within three points, it would not be enough on this night.
After the game, Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell had nothing but praise for his young quarterback.
“There’s no way to deny, we don’t win this game unless J.J. plays the way he did in the second half,” O’Connell said after the game. “Most importantly, he kept the belief of his football team behind him. Now, we know it’s possible.
“I told him at halftime, ‘You are going to bring us back to win this game,’ and the look in his eye was fantastic,” O’Connell added. “The best thing is just the belief I felt from the team and unit. Ultimately, that doesn’t get done without him in the second half — two passing touchdowns and the critical rushing touchdown at the end.”
As for McCarthy, who became the first quarterback since 1950 to lead a ten-point, fourth-quarter comeback in his NFL debut, it was a long journey to this moment.
“It’s been a long journey,” McCarthy said. “I think it’s been 609 days, I think I saw since my last competitive football game, which was the national championship. So, it’s been a while of being just in the training room, watching a lot of film, learning the playbook and trying to master that. At the end of the day, it’s such a blessing to be an NFL football player and play in this league.”
Belief is a powerful thing. It can shape minds, influence public opinion, and change the trajectory of a player’s career.
It can change the course of a season.
To much of the outside world Monday night during halftime there was no faith in McCarthy, and that brutal pick-six early in the third quarter did little to dispel that notion.
Yet where it mattered — in Minnesota’s locker room, in their huddle, and in their young quarterback’s mind — that belief persisted. A belief in a young quarterback, his head coach, and that they would figure it out in the end.
“Proud of the group, but J.J. especially,” O’Connell said. “Heckuva growth moment for him and one that I had total belief in him that we were gonna figure it out together.”
On one night in Chicago, O’Connell and his young QB did just that.
