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The Minnesota Vikings are just days away from kicking off their 2025 NFL season, looking to build off last year’s 14-win campaign that ended in a Wild Card round flameout. Last year, Minnesota was led by quarterback Sam Darnold, but this year, it will be JJ McCarthy at the controls, a player who is effectively a rookie after missing all of last season due to injury.
The Vikings’ first matchup of the year will be a divisional showdown against the Chicago Bears, and as it turns out, McCarthy used to be a big fan of the Bears growing up, as evidenced by a recently unearthed photo from Chip Scoggins of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
This is J.J. McCarthy at his first NFL game. He was 4 years old. The Bears hosted the Vikings that day. Monday night will be a full circle moment for McCarthy and his family. pic.twitter.com/6C3rn6zTk0
— Chip Scoggins (@chipscoggins) September 3, 2025
“This is J.J. McCarthy at his first NFL game. He was 4 years old. The Bears hosted the Vikings that day. Monday night will be a full circle moment for McCarthy and his family,” wrote Scoggins in the caption of the tweet.
McCarthy will certainly be rooting for the Vikings on Monday night as he looks to pick up the first win of his NFL career against a fellow 2024 draftee, Bears quarterback Caleb Williams.
Last year, the Minnesota Vikings defied nearly everyone’s expectations by winning 14 games, including being the NFL’s last undefeated team at one point in the season. Sam Darnold played well above the standard he had set earlier in his career, and the Vikings’ defensive units turned out to be one of the most impressive in the league.
Unfortunately, some of the more problematic aspects of Darnold’s game showed through at the worst time in Minnesota’s Wild Card loss to the Los Angeles Rams, which may have made it a bit easier to watch him walk out the door this year and join the Seattle Seahawks.
Minnesota now hands over the reins to McCarthy, who won a national championship with the Michigan Wolverines the last time he stepped on the field for a game that counted.
The Bears and Vikings are slated to get things underway on Monday evening at 8:15 PM ET from Soldier Field in Chicago.
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