Daily Norseman
It wasn’t always easy, and it wasn’t always pretty for J.J. McCarthy in his first meaningful start for the Minnesota Vikings. But after a rough first three quarters at Soldier Field, McCarthy lit up the Chicago Bears in the fourth quarter and powered the Vikings to a 27-24 victory in a game that they trailed by a score of 17-6 going into the final quarter of play.
How impressive was what McCarthy did on Monday night? Well, here are three stats from various sources that are all pretty impressive.
First off, according to ESPN’s Monday Night Football research staff, McCarthy is the first quarterback in NFL history to overcome a fourth-quarter deficit of ten points or more and win since Steve Young did it for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers against the Detroit Lions in 1985. Unless my math is off, that’s 40 years. That’s not a bad stat.
The next one, according to the NFL, is that McCarthy is the first quarterback to have two passing touchdowns and a rushing touchdown in his NFL debut since Cam Newton did it for the Carolina Panthers in 2011.
But while those two stats are pretty impressive, it’s more impressive when you become the first person in league history to do something.
Per Scott Van Pelt on ESPN SportsCenter just a bit ago, McCarthy is the first quarterback ever. . .ever. . .to account for three fourth-quarter touchdowns in his NFL debut. And the team, obviously, needed every one of them in order to make the comeback they did against their division rivals on Monday night.
Sure, the first three quarters were pretty rough, and I think everyone will acknowledge that. But when the Vikings needed J.J. McCarthy to be great, that’s precisely what he was, and the Vikings are now 1-0 on the 2025 NFL season rather than 0-1.
