Coming off another rough outing in Week 11, J.J. McCarthy’s long-term foothold on the starting job with the Minnesota Vikings looks particularly shaky as the team tries to keep its playoff hopes alive this season.
Despite McCarthy’s struggles thus far, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler and Dan Graziano noted there doesn’t appear to be any indication that head coach Kevin O’Connell is looking to bench the second-year quarterback.
McCarthy’s job security is almost set by default because Minnesota’s current backup is undrafted rookie Max Brosmer. Carson Wentz made five starts when McCarthy was out due to an ankle injury, but he is out for the season after undergoing shoulder surgery in October.
Here is what Graziano wrote about the Vikings’ quarterback situation right now:
“I don’t believe they’ve seriously considered going to Brosmer, who as you mentioned probably needs even more seasoning than McCarthy. The Wentz injury has really deprived them of any serious alternative even if they wanted to sit McCarthy to let him catch his breath.”
Fowler added the Vikings basically have “no choice” to stick with McCarthy right now and hope the coaching staff can build him up over the final seven games of the regular season.
In three games since returning from injury, McCarthy has thrown for 541 yards, four touchdowns and five interceptions with a 50.5 completion percentage.
Among 38 quarterbacks with at least 100 attempts this season, McCarthy ranks last in completion percentage (52.9) and 34th in yards per attempt (6.0). He has the fifth-highest sack percentage (9.7) out of 35 qualified quarterbacks. His interception rate of 5.7 percent is 1.5 points higher than any other player in the league (4.2 percent for Geno Smith and Tua Tagovailoa).
The situation has led to some visible frustration during games from some of Minnesota’s key players, most notably Justin Jefferson.
When the Vikings opted to go with McCarthy in 2025 after having tremendous success with Sam Darnold last season, the belief was their infrastructure with O’Connell calling plays, a receiver room led by Jefferson and Jordan Addison and a deep defense coordinated by Brian Flores would provide enough cushion for the young quarterback to work through things as he adjusted to the NFL.
Things haven’t gone as the Vikings planned, to say the least. Some of the issues can be attributed to the time McCarthy missed with the injury, depriving him of valuable reps that he needs as a player who wasn’t asked to do a lot of complex stuff during his time at Michigan, but he has looked unplayable for much of this season when he has been healthy.
The Vikings need McCarthy to figure things out in a hurry because they are in danger of falling too far behind in the playoff race to catch up. They fell to 4-6 after Sunday’s loss to the Chicago Bears and are two losses behind the San Francisco 49ers for the final wild card spot in the NFC entering Week 12.
