Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy has entered the concussion protocol after reporting symptoms on the flight home Sunday night, coach Kevin O’Connell said Monday.
“[He] reported some kind of symptoms in regards to his head, and we wanted to get back here once we kind of heard he was evaluated last night,” O’Connell said of McCarthy. “After completing those tests, our training staff and doctors and medical team have decided that the right place for him is to put him in the protocol for now.”
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Minnesota fell to 4-7 after Sunday’s 23-6 loss to the Green Bay Packers. The Vikings spent the first half relying on running backs Jordan Mason and Aaron Jones to lead a ball-control attack, but when they needed McCarthy, Minnesota couldn’t handle the Packers’ pass rush.
McCarthy went 12 of 19 for 87 yards and had interceptions on the final two series.
With a 24.9 QBR after six starts, McCarthy is off to one of the worst career starts of any NFL quarterback in the past decade.
Sunday’s game against the Packers was one of the least aggressive game plans of O’Connell’s tenure, as the Vikings used designed runs on 58.6% of their plays in the first half — the highest first-half rate since he arrived in 2022 and only the third time they’ve been over 50%.
Max Brosmer will work with the first team while McCarthy remains in the protocol, but O’Connell isn’t ready to say that McCarthy is out for Sunday’s game against the Seattle Seahawks.
ESPN’s Kevin Seifert and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
