Questions must be raised after McCarthy's performance in Green Bay
The worrisome numbers are stacking up on the Vikings young QB
By Matthew Coller
GREEN BAY, Wisc. — Warning: You might want to look away from your computer/phone screen if you are easily made nauseous by very ugly factoids regarding the Minnesota Vikings.
Here we go…
On Sunday, JJ McCarthy threw 19 passes, totaling 87 yards and lost 35 yards to sacks against the Green Bay Packers. Since 2015, there have only been 13 instances of quarterbacks throwing at least 15 passes and gaining under 100 yards while losing 35+ yards to sacks. One was by Josh Dobbs against the Vegas Raiders in 2023. Only three times did the quarterback also have at least two interceptions.
Only one such game has ever met the criteria of sub-100 yards, 35 yards lost to sacks and 2 (or more) INTs in Vikings history and that came in 1962 when the league’s quarterback rating on average was 72.6.
If it was just one no-good, rotten day for McCarthy, then it could be brushed off as part of the learning curve. Baker Mayfield had one of those games. So did Justin Herbert. But the latest in a string of rough outings for McCarthy has now put him in some very disturbing territory.
In the last 10 years, the only QBs with lower ratings through six starts (min. 100 attempts) are Bryce Petty, Jake Luton, DeShone Kizer, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, Jake Luton and Nathan Peterman.
Per Danny Heifetz of The Ringer, McCarthy now ranks 851 out of 852 in Expected Points Added per Dropback among qualified passers since 2000, per Tru Media. The only player below McCarthy is JaMarcus Russell.
What is even more problematic is the fact that head coach Kevin O’Connell did everything he could to keep McCarthy from having to play quarterback on Sunday. Talk about factoids, you won’t find many times in history that a team lost 23-6 and had more runs than passes.
In the first half, the Vikings hung with the Packers despite asking very little of their QB. On their two scoring drives, McCarthy totaled 1-for-4 with 15 yards and 1-for-2 with 19 yards and one sack (-7 yards).
On their only other drive in which the Vikings were able to move the ball, they went 10 plays, 58 yards and seven of those yards - yes, seven — came through the air. That drive ended when O’Connell attempted a QB sneak with his tight end and then RB Jordan Mason got stuffed.
Once the Vikings made a huge mistake on a punt return, giving the Packers a free touchdown to go up by 11 points early in the third quarter, they were forced into trying to pass the ball more often. From that point on, the Vikings gained -1 yards.
That level of offensive ineptitude is unfathomable considering the amount of talent surrounding the quarterback.
After the game, the team’s leadership inside the locker room did all it could to avoid the elephant in the room.
Tackle Brian O’Neill put it on everybody’s shoulders.
“There needs to be some added urgency, understanding that it hasn’t been good enough,” he said.
Safety Josh Metellus said the team’s issues are not just with the quarterback, rather it is an “all 11” problem.
“The quarterback gets the blame… it’s never on one guy,” Metellus said.
O’Connell looked back at the miscue on special teams as the moment the game turned.
“The formula cannot be to end up being down double digits in the second half,” O’Connell said. At least knowing where it kind of takes you — out of the game that you want to play.”
The head coach views it that way because he felt that the gameplan to lean on the run, play good defense and win in the kicking game was good enough to stay in it. He was right about that. If the Vikings could have kept the score close, it wouldn’t have been a shock to see Will Reichard and Ryan Wright outkick the Packers’ specialists. Reichard drilled one from 59 yards out and Wright was brilliant pinning Green Bay deep.
But from a bigger perspective, the gameplan was very telling about where the team is at right now with its quarterback. After switching to a run-first offense last week against Chicago and still getting burned by McCarthy mistakes, they went into full Tim Tebow Broncos offensive mode.
“We got to keep putting together plans that give us a chance to express what we want to be as an offense with some talented players in that huddle while also giving him a chance to grow, but not putting the game totally in his hands where the variance of a young quarterback will cost our whole team,” O’Connell said. “And I think there’s a — there’s a needle to thread there.”
To thread that needle, the Vikings would have to essentially play perfect football in the other two phases and only have to pass during a handful of advantageous situations. That’s not realistic. All the Packers had to do was get one good break on special teams, a couple third down conversations and control the clock with the ground game and they won easily.
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