Daily Norseman
That performance was the reason I believed a 12-5 season was possible. True to the Vikings’ pattern of being inconsistently consistent, they became the first team since the 1992 Denver Broncos to be shut out one week, only to do the same to an opponent the next week. Also, true to Vikings’ style, it’s almost certainly a story of too little, too late.
J.J. McCarthy delivered the first complete game of his young NFL career. Good for him. I’m thrilled he got a chance to tell his critics to pound sand. Both his passer rating of 129.2 and QBR of 75.2 were far above his previous highs—98.5 and 50.6, respectively—achieved in Week 1’s win against the Chicago Bears. According to Next Gen Stats, McCarthy’s EPA per dropback was +0.28, a career high that ranked in the top 10 among Week 14-qualified quarterbacks. He averaged 2.56 seconds to throw Sunday, his fastest in any game this season by more than a quarter of a second. It’s also no coincidence that this was the first time this season that the Vikings’ offense truly looked in rhythm, with a game plan that didn’t feel forced or on cruise control after a historic first half by Isaiah Rodgers.
In embracing my new Debbie Downer/glass-half-empty heel persona, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that the performance was against a porous Commanders’ defense that ranks 30th in pass yards allowed per game, 30th in total yards per game, and 28th in points per game. When browsing the usual Vikings-related content on social media, it’s also clear that some issues with mechanics persist, and a few big plays were left on the table. The purple neurons of extraordinary bias are pushing back on this narrative, reminding me that the Ravens and Bears defenses were also weak, and McCarthy didn’t play well against either of them in November. So, by that measure, his efficient, turnover-free performance was definitely a step in the right direction.
In my last article, I mentioned that McCarthy had five games remaining to change the story. I couldn’t think of a better way to start the first chapter. If the rest of the book is as good as the beginning, then we’ll be left to wonder what might have been.
If Only This Had Happened a Month Ago
Christopher Gates hit the nail on the head earlier this week when discussing KOC’s decision to reexamine and reframe the approach to McCarthy ahead of the Commanders game. This paragraph said it all:
*What we saw on Sunday against the Commanders is what we should have been seeing all season long, and I don’t know why it took until Week 14 to make this shift. Let the young quarterback get the basics of an NFL offense down first, let him adjust to the speed of the game, and then add some of the more complex things in to it as the season progresses. Then, maybe, over the summer you can add a bigger...
