ClutchPoints
thyOne impressive game does not a career make. The Minnesota Vikings have been one of the most disappointing teams in the NFL this season, and one of the biggest reasons has been the poor play and slow development of second-year quarterback J.J. McCarthy.
Prior to facing the Washington Commanders at U.S. Bank Stadium in Week 14, McCarthy appeared to be a bumbling, stumbling and somewhat hopeless signal caller for a team that was playing some of the worst offensive football in recent memory. It became a foregone conclusion that the Vikings would be looking for a veteran quarterback in the offseason who could raise the level of play and return the team to contender status.
Minnesota’s doldrums had shunted the team to last place in the NFC North, and there appears to be little chance of escaping the division’s cellar. The encounter with the Commanders seemed likely to cement the belief that Washington had a dynamic quarterback for the present and future in Jayden Daniels and the Vikings had badly miscalculated with McCarthy.
However, the Vikings finally showed some life as they pounded the visitors by a 31-0 margin. McCarthy looked like a solid NFL quarterback as he directed the offense to four touchdowns, and that included three TD passes to his tight ends. Josh Oliver caught two scoring passes while T.J. Hockenson caught one.
McCarthy played sharp and impressive football as one of his scoring drives was a 19-play, 98-yard drive that included five third-down conversions. The Vikings led 7-0 at the time, and when Jordan Mason crashed into the end zone from eight yards out, the belief on the Vikings sideline was unmistakable while the Commanders were left whimpering.
McCarthy came through with the best professional effort of his career as he completed 16 of 23 passes for 163 yards and he did not throw an interception. His rushing numbers were not huge, but he ran six times for 19 yards, and one of his runs was a 16-yard scramble. The Vikings were in charge of this game from the game’s initial drive and their grip never abated.
Since the Vikings had been in the grip of a four-game losing streak and were coming off back-to-back brutal performances against the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks, the win over the Commanders has produced some degree of hope going forward.
Optimists believe that McCarthy has turned the corner and is on his way to becoming a winning quarterback. Realists know that a dynamic performance like the one he had against the Commanders is just a first step.
The narrative before the game was that McCarthy was a disaster and that both general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and head coach Kevin O’Connell had failed. That conclusion was harsh, because it takes quarterbacks 20-30 starts to write the story of their careers.
One excellent game does not reverse the original conclusion. It is a nice step and there is...
