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McCarthy must master the basics before return

Everyone wants to see the kid but Kevin O'Connell made it clear on Monday that fundamentals are at the center of the QB decision

Oct 14, 2025
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Photo courtesy Minnesota Vikings

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By Matthew Coller

EAGAN — If you were hoping for Kevin O’Connell to stand at the lectern inside TCO Performance Center and declare his starting quarterback for Sunday afternoon’s contest against the Philadelphia Eagles at US Bank Stadium, then you were disappointed by Monday’s press conference. You were also living in dreamland because no NFL head coach is going to forego an opportunity to play who’s-the-quarterback with the opposing team.

The question is whether O’Connell knows yet if JJ McCarthy or Carson Wentz will be QB1.

“JJ has his plan of attack that we want to try to make sure we maximize every single day and prepare all of our guys to be ready to go and make the best decision for our team,” O’Connell said.

Later in his chat with the media, KOC insinuated that the response from McCarthy’s healing ankle along with how ready he performed in practice would be determining factors of whether he returns to starting.

“We’ll allow the health and the readiness factor to help drive that decision later on in the week,” he said.

So if the Vikings’ head coach wants to see McCarthy this week at practice before making his decision, what is he looking for?

It would appear the answer lies in the young quarterback’s feet.

During the bye week, McCarthy worked with O’Connell on getting back to basics. KOC described a lot of the focus as being on his footwork.

“The beauty of the work last week was, [it was] purely about: Let’s just work on the technique and fundamentals and break it down to a place where we can really take tangible, ‘wow, that felt different, that felt great,’ or that’s why we coach it like that,” O’Connell said. “Pretty soon he’s throwing the ball great and he’s got a smile on his face and stacking reps upon reps that will matter as now he gets to transition to actual real reps on the practice field.”

O’Connell also talked about progressions, noting that McCarthy learned from watching Carson Wentz that sometimes keeping the drive rolling with a checkdown has a lot of value. He called it the “power of completions” and used a TJ Hockenson first-down reception on an underneath throw from Wentz as a prime example.

“That seems like just quarterback play 101, but I watched a lot of football yesterday and didn’t see it as much as you would think,” O’Connell said. “We’re trying to give the best plays we possibly can but within those plays you have five eligible [receivers] for a reason. Finding that open eligible and putting the ball in play and… staying efficient as an offense ends up being the quarterback’s job a lot of the time.”

It seems reasonable to take away that O’Connell needs to see his first-year starting quarterback lock into the basics of throwing and decision making in order to put him back under center. Considering that Wentz has given them a solid baseline of QB play and won two of the last three games, the Vikings have the option to wait until they feel completely confident in McCarthy before he returns.

“Since we left Chicago, he practiced one time officially, so… you’re allowing him to get his health back and get his feet back underneath him,” O’Connell said.

Analysis: If the Vikings are indeed letting McCarthy’s performance in practice — with a particular focus on the footwork that he’s been learning since he arrived last year — determine whether he is going to start against the Eagles, that seems like the most rational approach to the situation.

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