Murphy: An emblematic end to the season for McCarthy
Brian Murphy writes about the Vikings wrapping up their year with McCarthy being sidelined mid-game. What happens now?
By Brian Murphy
J.J. McCarthy’s season ended familiarly: progression halted by a needless mistake, followed by an apology, followed by a worsening injury, followed by apologists pretending that the larger pattern isn’t staring them in the face.
Early Sunday, with nothing on the line but professionalism, McCarthy delivered a stiff-arm to a Packers defender and then a little extra. An undisciplined taunting penalty that turned a manageable down-and-distance into another self-inflicted wound that short-circuited the game’s opening drive.
Coach Kevin O’Connell called it what it was: a post-snap blunder that set the offense back. McCarthy called it excitement, selfishness, something that “can’t happen again.”
Therein lies the rub. There’s always something like that happening. Not always in the same way, but always at the wrong time.
The Vikings closed their season with a 16-3 win over a Green Bay team that barely showed up, resting starters, punting eight straight times, and treating Week 18 at U.S. Bank Stadium like a walkthrough.
Minnesota’s defense feasted. Justin Jefferson finally cracked 1,000 yards. C.J. Ham may have taken a farewell bow. Harrison Smith joked about attending his own football funeral.
And McCarthy? He was productive and erratic, briefly. And then he was gone. Again.
Fourteen completions. One hundred eighty-two yards. A solid first half. Then swelling in his fractured throwing hand, another early exit, another afternoon handed off to someone else. Max Brosmer finished the game. The Vikings finished the season. McCarthy finished another chapter defined less by growth than by interruption.
This was supposed to be the evaluation year, when the Vikings finally learned what they had in the former first-round pick. Instead, they’re learning availability is elusive, consistency is not his calling card, and discipline seems optional when emotions run hot.
I’d ask McCarthy to read the room, but he’d probably sail the book out the back of the end zone.
McCarthy missed seven games outright and chunks of two others. Knee surgery wiped out his rookie year. This season added new ailments to the list, capped by a finale he couldn’t finish. Unlucky is becoming unreliable. Development is morphing into perpetual work in progress.
It would be franchise malpractice to bury McCarthy under the stadium. But Minnesota’s talent evaluators, from general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah to O’Connell on down, have a real mess on their hands, with job security lashed to a franchise quarterback whose ability to fulfill his promise may have to take a back seat to real progress.
The Vikings went 9-8 and were eliminated three weeks ago, a record that flatters their resilience but disguises their instability. O’Connell praised the team’s focus, and he should. They didn’t quit. Five consecutive victories is a tall task in the NFL. But leadership also requires recognizing when patience becomes inertia.
McCarthy’s apologists will point to flashes. They always do. He moves well. He throws a clean ball. He shows command. Right up until the moment he doesn’t. Right up until the penalty flag comes out, or the medical staff does.
The taunting penalty mattered not because it swung the game -- it didn’t -- but because it revealed the same lack of situational awareness that has shadowed him all season. High stakes or low, franchise quarterbacks don’t sabotage themselves. They certainly don’t do it reflexively.
McCarthy owned it afterward, promised it wouldn’t happen again, apologized to teammates and fans. Accountability is admirable. But in Year Three of the experiment, apologies are starting to feel like press releases for the same underwhelming product.
Meanwhile, the Vikings’ offense continues to orbit around Jefferson’s brilliance, asking him to drag quarterbacks to relevance. Jefferson reached 1,000 yards for the sixth straight season, a routine accomplishment no one should take for granted.
That should terrify the front office. Generational receivers don’t stay patient forever, especially when their prime is spent catching passes from a rotating cast of “almosts.”
This offseason, the Vikings must clear cap space, reinforce the offensive line, and shore up the secondary. Fine. But none of it matters if they continue to cross their fingers at quarterback.
They don’t need a savior. They need a professional. Someone who stays on the field. Someone who doesn’t turn second-and-short into second-and-long with a lapse of judgment. Someone whose biggest question isn’t whether he’ll finish the game.
Acknowledging that might not be McCarthy in 2026 is smarter than pretending otherwise. This doesn’t mean giving up on him entirely. It means acknowledging reality. The Vikings cannot enter another season with McCarthy as the unquestioned plan and hope durability magically appears. Hope is not a depth chart.
Bring in competition. Bring in insurance. Bring in someone capable of taking over without the offense exhaling in relief when the backup jogs in. If McCarthy earns the job, great. If not, the Vikings will have finally prioritized stability over sentiment.
Sunday’s win was tidy, forgettable, and oddly fitting. A season that promised clarity delivered ambiguity instead. McCarthy flashed, faltered, apologized, and hobbled off one last time.
At some point, potential stops being intriguing and starts being expensive.
The Vikings are there now.
Great article Murph 👏
If I'm the Coach and GM I'm not putting my job on the line by a quarterback that doesn't learn from his mistakes. Flashes don't create wins just losses. Pulling himself out of the game didn't bother me much as the 15 yard penalty.