Confidence builder? Vikings crush Commanders

JJ McCarthy put together a highly efficient day and the defense completely dominated

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By Matthew Coller

MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Vikings put together the type of performance that we expected from them in 2025.

They played phenomenal defense, starting the game out with goal line stop on fourth down and putting the icing on the cake with an interception by Andrew Van Ginkel. They ran the football, slamming forward repeatedly with the duo of Jordan Mason and Aaron Jones. And JJ McCarthy managed the game well, protecting the football, converting third downs and getting the Vikings into the end zone.

There’s certainly some things you can say about that fact like: Too little, too late. Or that it’s fool’s gold because it happened against a 3-9 horrendous Washington Commanders team.

It would be tough to argue those points. Washington’s last chance at putting together a respectable season came last week against the Denver Broncos when they lost in overtime. They didn’t seem to have any juice from the start, despite the fact that they were getting back quarterback Jayden Daniels. But Daniels didn’t look ready to play and Brian Flores blitzed his face off. He didn’t seem ready for it (or maybe oft-touted Kliff Kingsbury didn’t have him ready for it, who’s to say).

And the Washington defense, which ranked allllll the way at the bottom of the NFL, certainly played that way. They didn’t come close to stopping the run. I’m not sure that they pressured JJ McCarthy a single time other than his one 9-yard loss sack.

Let’s be frank: The Vikings beat a Triple-A team.

What are you supposed to do with a win like that?

In the NFL, we are trained to react to every game like it’s the be-all, end-all. Every weekend is sheer fact. But there’s no way to take a game like this and make it into the truth about McCarthy or the 2025 Vikings.

One thing you can argue is that it’s good for him to finally get some confidence. He must have felt as low as he’s ever been in his NFL career following the loss to the Green Bay Packers. Getting him a chance to play with a lead, from clean pockets allowed the first-year starter to find wide open tight ends in front of him and throw deep out routes to the sidelines.

In a world where we are already talking about who the quarterback is going to be in 2026, we do have to keep in mind that there are four more games for McCarthy to show the team that he should be in the conversation for QB1 next year. It’s plausible that he can build off his first complete performance in the NFL and head into the final few weeks of the year with more belief in himself and a mentality that he doesn’t have to try to win the Super Bowl on every play.

It might have also given the head coach/play caller some information about what works for McCarthy.

Or it might mean nothing. It’s really hard to say.

The outcome is certainly better than the alternative (unless you were hoping for a higher draft pick).

At very least, the win leaves the door open for a strong finish and a bounce back from some very, very low moments. We’ll find out in the coming weeks if there was something to this whooping or if it was just a blip like their victory over Cincinnati earlier this season.

Here’s how it went down…