NFL 2025 Week 14: It’s (Probably) Time To Say Goodbye To J.J. McCarthy’s Vikings Era
There are still five weeks left in the 2025 NFL regular season, but it’s safe to say this season was a total disaster for the Minnesota Vikings.
Sure, every fan drinks their team’s Kool-Aid coming out of training camp. Every fan wants to believe their team can shockingly dominate the NFL and finally get it done, even if their belief lacks realistic logic. I was no different this year, and I’ll be the first one to admit that I was wrong. But even people who weren’t Vikings fans could’ve looked at this team coming into the 2025 season and told you the Vikings had a competitive roster with a good chance of another successful season. Except there was just one thing holding them back: their quarterback.
Was J.J. McCarthy the Wrong Decision?
It was hard not to be skeptical about the decisions the front office made at quarterback coming into this year. At the end of the 2024 season, the Vikings had QBs Sam Darnold, Daniel Jones, and rookie J.J. McCarthy all in the QB room. The Vikings chose to let both Jones and Darnold walk in free agency while banking on McCarthy to recover from his torn meniscus that cost him the 2024 season. Darnold took a $100 million payday with the Seattle Seahawks, while Jones took his more likely option to be a starter with the Indianapolis Colts. With both teams near the top of each conference, it seems both veteran QBs made wise decisions that paid off just like they’d hoped. And given how McCarthy’s time as a Viking has worked out so far, it makes the Vikings’ decision to let the two veterans walk away seem even more foolish.
The Vikings probably made the right call to let both go. Darnold’s payday was something they couldn’t offer (although reports this week say the Vikings still tried to keep him), and there were whispers that they did make an offer to Jones that he simply turned down. It is the full buy-in to McCarthy, with absolutely no backup plan, however, that frustrates me and all of Vikings nation so deeply. That lack of an adequate backup plan was clearly illustrated by backup QB Max Brosmer’s abysmal performance against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 13.
It’s not like McCarthy is a bad person. Despite the corniness of the “alter ego” talk, he seems like a high-character leader the locker room needs. He has the “C” on his chest for a reason, and you can tell he takes it seriously. But without strong on-field performances to back up his captain role, the leadership is starting to feel more like the same corniness Russell Wilson harnessed during his disastrous tenure, doing high knees in the aisles with the Denver Broncos. Add in the injuries that have plagued his career thus far, and McCarthy’s looking like a total disaster.
What the Statistics Say About McCarthy
I could keep up the disastrous QB comparisons (I did also compare McCarthy’s situation to Christian Ponder in my Week 11 postgame recap), but McCarthy’s stats in his five starts this season tell the real story. It’s hard to hound a guy who’s had just five meaningful NFL games in his career, but he’s making it feel easy for frustrated fans like me. In those five starts, McCarthy has a 2-3 record, a completion percentage under 53%, six passing TDs, and eight INTs. He has a 26.7 QBR in those five games, has averaged just 168 passing yards per game, and has yet to not throw an INT in one of his NFL starts.
For those wondering what a good QBR is, MVP candidate and fellow 2024 NFL Draft alum Drake Maye has a 72.8 QBR right now with the New England Patriots. And just to rub salt in the wound, Sam Darnold has a 64.3 QBR, while Daniel Jones has a 64.9. Translation: McCarthy’s been really bad.
Why McCarthy’s Performances Haven’t Been Enough
Mistakes would be forgivable for a guy who’s basically a rookie if he showed some flashes of elite potential. McCarthy has shown flashes of being a competitor–he can suddenly start leading 4th quarter comebacks on a dime–but his play for the rest of every game has never screamed “elite game-changer” like his top-10 draft pick status would suggest. He’s badly missed some wide-open throws that make me want to scream into a pillow.
And the bigger problem with his poor play isn’t just that he’s looking like he’ll never be a quality NFL QB–it’s the fact that the Vikings played themselves into this situation by having absolutely no backup plan in case this happened. No “break glass in case of emergency” option, no parachute to pull when they jumped out of the plane–they went all in on McCarthy, and it might end up getting someone fired.
Surely the Vikings could’ve had a better backup QB option in case the exact scenario going on with the now 4-6 Vikings occurred. This team has a far too good roster and a far too scary cap space situation next year not to have someone to lead the offense and give McCarthy some QB competition that would hopefully make him play better. Sam Howell was never a real option, and Carson Wentz’s injury and age stopped him before he got a chance to really get going. But not making a better move for a backup before the season started and rushing in Wentz was, simply put, a dumb decision. For people who get paid to build rosters for thousands of different game scenarios, the oversight is simply astounding, especially for an analytical guy like GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.
It’s Time to Ship Out McCarthy
This team had high hopes. They’ve been crushed by self-inflicted wounds, with the worst of those being gambling everything on McCarthy this season. I don’t want to hear more calls for patience with his development. The McCarthy experiment should be over–trade options for a better QB need to be investigated in the offseason. The Vikings’ season is essentially over, but they shouldn’t keep treading water. It’s time to say “Nein” to “Nine” and send him packing.