MINNEAPOLIS — JJ McCarthyHis first season as an NFL quarterback went so poorly that on Sunday Minnesota Vikings wanted nothing more than for him to remember what it was like when good things happened.
So, in front of a subdued crowd at U.S. Stadium. Banks coach Kevin O'Connell took an approach that combined McCarthy's series of small wins into one of the greatest wins in team history.
The Vikings beat the Vikings 31-0. Washington commanders It was the franchise's largest margin of victory in a lockout since 1980. It made the Vikings the first NFL team to force a shutout after shutting themselves out in the previous game, and it was a wake-up call for an offense that had not scored a touchdown in 22 possessions entering the game.
But most of all, O'Connell said later, McCarthy “hopefully imbibed a sense of what winning football can be like for our team when our quarterback plays winning football.”
At 5-8, the Vikings' chances of making the playoffs are slim, and their main remaining priority is fixing McCarthy. He missed the Vikings' 26-0 Week 13 loss in Seattle with a concussion but entered Sunday's game with the third-lowest QBR in the NFL (24.1) among the 50 quarterbacks with at least one start during that span.
O'Connell decided to get after the Vikings won the first coin toss, going against his usual approach because he wanted to “kind of raise the building in different ways to avoid any feeling…here we go again.”
With the Commanders primarily playing zone coverage and using a standard four-man rush, McCarthy led the Vikings to touchdowns on each of their first two possessions. He threw accurately, making eight of his first nine throws. And while O'Connell recorded almost as many running moves (28) as tackles (29) during the game, not including kneeling, McCarthy still made some key throws. He finished the game with five completions on seven throws on third or fourth down.
Overall, McCarthy finished his career with career highs in completion percentage (69.6) and assists (3). Perhaps most importantly, it was his first NFL game without a turnover after entering the game with the highest average turnovers per game (1.83) in the league.
“It’s definitely encouraging,” McCarthy said. “I always knew I had it and I always knew the potential was there. But I look at it right now and there are so many ways I could improve. “I’m so far away from where I want to be, so it’s just great to get a win and grow in this game.”
