'A step in the right direction'

JJ McCarthy was happy (but not satisfied) with his best career game, a blowout win over the Commanders

Dec 7, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy (9) rushes the ball past Washington Commanders outside linebacker Von Miller (24) during the first half at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-Imagn Images

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By Matthew Coller

MINNEAPOLIS — Describing JJ McCarthy as happy after the Minnesota Vikings’ 31-0 win over the Washington Commanders probably wouldn’t quite capture his body language correctly. It is probably better described as relieved.

Before Sunday’s stellar 16-for-23, 151-yard, three-touchdown showing at US Bank Stadium, McCarthy had been at the helm for three straight losses, the last of which was such a beating that it put him into the concussion protocol.

He needed this one.

“It’s definitely reassuring,” McCarthy said. “I always knew I had that, and I always knew the potential is there.”

The beginning of the game dictated the rest of the afternoon for the Vikings’ quarterback. When they won the coin toss, head coach Kevin O’Connell elected to take the ball first with hopes of getting McCarthy into a groove early and getting ahead in the game. The Vikings have often been playing from behind this season, which has allowed opponents to play aggressively against them.

This time, McCarthy completed his first pass to tight end Ben Sims, then hit an open TJ Hockenson. When they got inside the red zone with help from a pop pass to Jalen Nailor and effective running, McCarthy was able to find tight end Josh Oliver for a touchdown.

After the Vikings’ defense got a fourth down stop at the 2-yard line, McCarthy put together a drive that included several key throws. The Vikings went 98 yards on 19 plays and ate up 12 minutes of game time. That drive included a third-and-7 conversion with a 12-yard completion to Nailor, a third-and-8 conversion on a 21-yard throw to Jordan Addison and a third-and-12 conversion with a 13-yard pass to Justin Jefferson.

Those clutch conversions seemed to set the tone for McCarthy’s confident performance. He led three second-half scoring drives after that, one of which featured a 20-yard gain to Addison and a fourth down touchdown pass to Hockenson.

It also looked the way we normally expect an O’Connell offense to look. The ball was coming out (mostly) on time to receivers who were breaking open. There wasn’t a lot of chaos or confusion amongst the offensive players. Per ESPN’s Kevin Seifert, along the way McCarthy got rid of the football on average 2.56 seconds, easily his quickest of the year.

It’s hard not to connect McCarthy’s performance to the message that O’Connell delivered to his quarterback and offense this week. He told McCarthy that they weren’t going to put much focus into teaching throwing fundamentals and they were going to simplify the offense in order to put less on the quarterback’s plate.

He said that the plan took them back to the basics of the offense.

“This was a lot of stuff that we worked on in OTAs and training camp and it was specialty routes for those specific guys,” McCarthy said.

The other message that O’Connell imparted on his QB was to focus on his decision making. McCarthy had zero turnovers and no passes that even came close to an interception.

“I thought JJ had some phenomenal plays on third down, and then just continued to play within himself,” O’Connell said. “Decision making was going to be the priority today and it felt like he played a very clean game, protected the football….ran the show. So, very proud of him.”

O’Connell was asked if there were particular plays in the game that stood out to him as examples of McCarthy having things click for him. He pointed to two.

One was a completion to Addison on third-and-long amidst the 98-yard drive

“That was not his first progression, Justin Jefferson got taken away and he throws a pretty nice level drive throw to the void and realizes that Jordan Addison is going to go get that ball for him,” O’Connell said.

The other was a fourth down touchdown late in the game that put a bow on a nine-play, 65-yard drive. It was only a 2-yard pass but the head coach loved what he saw from his quarterback.

“They’re playing kind of a split safety… Justin Jefferson does an unbelievable job outside releasing on the cloud corner, which opens up the window for TJ but JJ’s got to trust that thing and locate that football accuracy in the low red zone put us in the end zone,” O’Connell explained.

As well as McCarthy played, there are caveats that have to be pointed out.

Washington entered the game dead last in the NFL in net yards per pass attempt allowed and second-to-last in opposing QB rating. The Vikings also ran the heck out of the football, gaining 162 yards on the ground. They were also playing with the lead for the entire game.

All of those things played heavily in McCarthy’s favor.

So what does O’Connell want him to take away from this victory?

“Hopefully absorbing the feeling of what winning football can be for our team when our quarterback plays winning football,” O’Connell said. “And that’s what he did today. Regardless of statistics or anything like that, he played winning football. He protected the ball. He made throws situationally. He made some chunk throws on some of the early downs.”

While it was winning football, there were still a few miscues. In particular, McCarthy took four sacks. He entered the game with a sack percentage of over 11%, which is Justin Fields territory, and that didn’t improve despite playing a team with very little in terms of pass rush.

“There’s still going to be a lot of things we’ve got to clean up and it’s just another step in the right direction,” McCarthy said.

A few takes from the game…