Also, another comment though does need to be added. JJ seems both
1. Wound a bit tight
2. Pretty immature
A. Doing the griddy before crossing the goal line after being warned not to
B. The penalty for roughing after the play was dead... Just stupid
C. His over acting after taking himself in the last game (he was absolutely right to take himself out if he felt he was too injured, that was showing some growth... But then he made a big deal about it... Just tell KOC and take yourself out (and go to the blue tent). That is it. No kabuki is necessary
I would assume with another year or two he will mature but it is not a good luck when the data is bad
I also question how his immaturity impacted things we didn’t see. Was he really ready to show up and do the work required to do the job? Also, I don't really care too much about how he "feels" about things that are facts. The Vikings would very likely have done better if he wasn't the starting QB - if only having someone who was actually available to play, let alone be able to do basic things at the line and make throws to one of the best receiving corps around. I don't see how "protecting" him from that will help him. His performance wasn't good enough and it negatively impacted the team. He needs to do better or he won't be a starting QB in the NFL. No one is throwing him under the bus. You can argue he wasn't ready and should not have been put in that position, but he needs to earn the job and the respect of his peers and the support of the fans by doing the work.
Agreed and agreed. Publicly announcing an alter ego for oneself after having accomplished nothing was certainly a revealing choice, too. It's hard being a young QB, hell it's hard being a QB at any age, but that's the job one signs-up to do. It's possible JJMC improves--the bar is appallingly low--but for every Kerry Collins there are myriad Manziels. It's also a live question whether the rare success stories were possible at the first stop, or self-improvement was only possible after the ego-jarring impact of being jettisoned.
But. The key point remains that He. Can't. Stay. Healthy.
In the quiet words of James Hetfield, nothing else matters.
I do still think KOC needs to take some blame for not starting out with the cookie cutter, “baby’s first offense” right out of the gate, but that is just one symptom of the massive misevaluation of how ready he was to play. You have to act like you don’t have a starting QB at all right now and make the best signing or trade you can. If JJ needs to be part of a trade, whether that’s because the other team wants him or the QB you want won’t play here with JJ still on the team, then go ahead and do it. Otherwise, he’ll be on the team and will have every right to show up to camp looking like the next Peyton Manning, but you have to act as if he’s done at this point until he proves otherwise.
I think the Vikings are stuck with McCarthy in 2026. Brezinski is not likely to give up the draft capital we have accrued to bring in Kyler Murray or someone else at his level. The whole organization bet on number nine and it did not work out in 2025. We need better luck in 2026.
J.J getting hurt, then hurt again, and then again, certainly delayed his progression. No one outside of the building knows how mature/immature he is either in the locker room, classroom or wherever. He's also, by his playing history from high school to college, never seemed to struggle with adversity. if that has anything to do with it.
The bottom line is he's playing a man's game with grown men who do not get paid just to play football. They get paid to win.
Because I'm a desperate "coping" fan, I asked google AI to compare McCarthy's first year to Eli Mannings first year because I remembered Manning sucked his first year, Then I asked to compare to Manning's second year, just 10 games. They were pretty comparable but Manning was better. So I cherry picked, and compared McCarthy's best games, Detroit, Chicago, Dallas, and Manning still outperformed McCarthy, although it was close. Bottom line, I have no idea, if McCarthy is the long term answer, or what the Vikings should do. I'll just put my faith in KOC to make the right call. Maybe I'll go dig my Kirk Cousins Vikings Jersey out of the trash can that I threw it in after the Playoff Loss to the Giants and see if it has an magic left.
It don't matter who you blame, who's fired, what the timeline reveals, quotes from hidden sources, all this huffing and puffing doesn't sugar-coat the realest reality that nobody wants to address...
The Minnesota Vikings drafted J.J. McCarthy.
If these buffoons allow the noise to disrupt "the plan", everyone must be dismissed.
No one can convince me that if the people who declared strategy suddenly becomes a finger pointing contestants, the organization has failed the young QB.
Of course, it would be ideal if the young 1st round QB was much better... but let's stop with the deflection and gossip swirling... KOC needs to put up or shut up.
Well, one of "the plan's" architects has already been dismissed.
The thing with draftees is that nobody knows how they will pan out. There is massive variance, but the upside of a QB making peanuts is huge. We just saw the downside. There comes a point where it's time to wipe one's mouth and try again; that point is in the rearview mirror.
The best case scenario is Jared Goff. He had a terrible first year, one of the worst ever. He was able to turn things around, though I don’t think he’s better than 12th or so overall.
I get it, but that's not exactly an apples to apples comparison. The Rams started 3-1, slid to 4-5, then benched Keenum, threw Goff into the fray and fired Fisher en route to a 4-12 season.
Goff was throwing to Tavon Austin, Kenny Britt, Lance Kendricks and someone named Brian Quick. His OL included an all-time bust at LT plus two rookies at RG and RT. His OC got fired and spent the rest of his career as a TE coach. Plus, it was the franchise's first season back in LA.
Critically, and despite that mis en scene, Goff also answered the bell every week.
Yeah Goff was absolutely in a worse situation. JJMC was better off than 90% of rookies. Although, let’s also not forget that Caleb Williams was supposed to have it made his rookie year.
Williams going from 68 sacks to 24 sacks is remarkable, a historical outlier--and disappointing for the rest of the Norris. Josh Allen had a 56% completion percentage and TD:INT of 30:21, then in his third year became the mvp candidate. Those are rarities, but they do happen.
The much bigger concern is that Williams, despite all those sacks and runs, has started 36 games. Allen missed 4 games as a rookie with an elbow injury, and then started every game for 7 straight seasons. . .
You put it as clearly as possible..
Also, another comment though does need to be added. JJ seems both
1. Wound a bit tight
2. Pretty immature
A. Doing the griddy before crossing the goal line after being warned not to
B. The penalty for roughing after the play was dead... Just stupid
C. His over acting after taking himself in the last game (he was absolutely right to take himself out if he felt he was too injured, that was showing some growth... But then he made a big deal about it... Just tell KOC and take yourself out (and go to the blue tent). That is it. No kabuki is necessary
I would assume with another year or two he will mature but it is not a good luck when the data is bad
I also question how his immaturity impacted things we didn’t see. Was he really ready to show up and do the work required to do the job? Also, I don't really care too much about how he "feels" about things that are facts. The Vikings would very likely have done better if he wasn't the starting QB - if only having someone who was actually available to play, let alone be able to do basic things at the line and make throws to one of the best receiving corps around. I don't see how "protecting" him from that will help him. His performance wasn't good enough and it negatively impacted the team. He needs to do better or he won't be a starting QB in the NFL. No one is throwing him under the bus. You can argue he wasn't ready and should not have been put in that position, but he needs to earn the job and the respect of his peers and the support of the fans by doing the work.
Agreed and agreed. Publicly announcing an alter ego for oneself after having accomplished nothing was certainly a revealing choice, too. It's hard being a young QB, hell it's hard being a QB at any age, but that's the job one signs-up to do. It's possible JJMC improves--the bar is appallingly low--but for every Kerry Collins there are myriad Manziels. It's also a live question whether the rare success stories were possible at the first stop, or self-improvement was only possible after the ego-jarring impact of being jettisoned.
But. The key point remains that He. Can't. Stay. Healthy.
In the quiet words of James Hetfield, nothing else matters.
Just thought I’d say that I always enjoy reading the comments here.
I do still think KOC needs to take some blame for not starting out with the cookie cutter, “baby’s first offense” right out of the gate, but that is just one symptom of the massive misevaluation of how ready he was to play. You have to act like you don’t have a starting QB at all right now and make the best signing or trade you can. If JJ needs to be part of a trade, whether that’s because the other team wants him or the QB you want won’t play here with JJ still on the team, then go ahead and do it. Otherwise, he’ll be on the team and will have every right to show up to camp looking like the next Peyton Manning, but you have to act as if he’s done at this point until he proves otherwise.
I think the Vikings are stuck with McCarthy in 2026. Brezinski is not likely to give up the draft capital we have accrued to bring in Kyler Murray or someone else at his level. The whole organization bet on number nine and it did not work out in 2025. We need better luck in 2026.
J.J getting hurt, then hurt again, and then again, certainly delayed his progression. No one outside of the building knows how mature/immature he is either in the locker room, classroom or wherever. He's also, by his playing history from high school to college, never seemed to struggle with adversity. if that has anything to do with it.
The bottom line is he's playing a man's game with grown men who do not get paid just to play football. They get paid to win.
Because I'm a desperate "coping" fan, I asked google AI to compare McCarthy's first year to Eli Mannings first year because I remembered Manning sucked his first year, Then I asked to compare to Manning's second year, just 10 games. They were pretty comparable but Manning was better. So I cherry picked, and compared McCarthy's best games, Detroit, Chicago, Dallas, and Manning still outperformed McCarthy, although it was close. Bottom line, I have no idea, if McCarthy is the long term answer, or what the Vikings should do. I'll just put my faith in KOC to make the right call. Maybe I'll go dig my Kirk Cousins Vikings Jersey out of the trash can that I threw it in after the Playoff Loss to the Giants and see if it has an magic left.
I'm sorry...
It don't matter who you blame, who's fired, what the timeline reveals, quotes from hidden sources, all this huffing and puffing doesn't sugar-coat the realest reality that nobody wants to address...
The Minnesota Vikings drafted J.J. McCarthy.
If these buffoons allow the noise to disrupt "the plan", everyone must be dismissed.
No one can convince me that if the people who declared strategy suddenly becomes a finger pointing contestants, the organization has failed the young QB.
Of course, it would be ideal if the young 1st round QB was much better... but let's stop with the deflection and gossip swirling... KOC needs to put up or shut up.
Well, one of "the plan's" architects has already been dismissed.
The thing with draftees is that nobody knows how they will pan out. There is massive variance, but the upside of a QB making peanuts is huge. We just saw the downside. There comes a point where it's time to wipe one's mouth and try again; that point is in the rearview mirror.
The best case scenario is Jared Goff. He had a terrible first year, one of the worst ever. He was able to turn things around, though I don’t think he’s better than 12th or so overall.
I get it, but that's not exactly an apples to apples comparison. The Rams started 3-1, slid to 4-5, then benched Keenum, threw Goff into the fray and fired Fisher en route to a 4-12 season.
Goff was throwing to Tavon Austin, Kenny Britt, Lance Kendricks and someone named Brian Quick. His OL included an all-time bust at LT plus two rookies at RG and RT. His OC got fired and spent the rest of his career as a TE coach. Plus, it was the franchise's first season back in LA.
Critically, and despite that mis en scene, Goff also answered the bell every week.
Yeah Goff was absolutely in a worse situation. JJMC was better off than 90% of rookies. Although, let’s also not forget that Caleb Williams was supposed to have it made his rookie year.
Williams going from 68 sacks to 24 sacks is remarkable, a historical outlier--and disappointing for the rest of the Norris. Josh Allen had a 56% completion percentage and TD:INT of 30:21, then in his third year became the mvp candidate. Those are rarities, but they do happen.
The much bigger concern is that Williams, despite all those sacks and runs, has started 36 games. Allen missed 4 games as a rookie with an elbow injury, and then started every game for 7 straight seasons. . .