Analyst: JJ McCarthy Needs to Take a Chill Pill

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Analyst: JJ McCarthy Needs to Take a Chill Pill

J.J. McCarthy, Minnesota Vikings — Brad Rempel-Imagn Images Brad Rempel-Imagn Images

Ted Schwerzler · Minnesota Sports Fan

Thu, Nov 20, 2025 ·

4 min read

MN Vikings need a more calm McCarthy

Sunday's loss against the Chicago Bears was the culmination of ineptitude for McCarthy. He sailed passes all over the place, and even Cris Carter wasn't going to give him a pass for a come-from-behind drive after the spot he put the team in.

Acosta wonderfully broke down the film to assess what went wrong for McCarthy. He missed and struggled in a multitude of different ways, but he summarized it so eloquently.

In the long term, I think what J.J. McCarthy needs to chill out. Every throw he's missed this season has looked the same: he's so amped up and tight as a passer that he's throwing his entire body into passes that don't need to set records on the radar gun. His mechanics are bad because he's rushing through them, as if the game is moving too fast for him. Which is fascinating because he looks like he knows where to go with the ball, it's just his mechanics and body slowing him down. He's trying to play catch up, having been the only 2024 QB to miss his rookie season for a team that won 14 games last season without him. For McCarthy to truly succeed in Minnesota, he has to take advice from a former Packer QB, Aaron Rodgers: R-E-L-A-X.

It's going to take time for the former Michigan quarterback to settle in at this level. It's irrelevant how much O'Connell would like to sell McCarthy getting mental reps last year matters. The fact is that he missed a full season of practice and game reps. He's also missed time this year.

Until McCarthy can calm himself for the duration of a game at the highest level, things are going to go awry. He operates, as Acosta says, " like a puppy with the zoomies. " No one must be more in control at the NFL level than the quarterback. So far, McCarthy has not.

While he's whipping every pass like a Jhoan Duran fastball, he's hit on just 52.9% of his passes . The Vikings signal caller owns a 6/8 TD/INT ratio, and he has just 842 yards in five games.

Minnesota probably doesn't have enough runway left to make something of this season. They do have seven games in which McCarthy can grow up though, and they need to see that take place.

Misstep from the beginning for O'Connell

Even though the footwork and fastball issues were present at Michigan, it's probably not fair to simply suggest that drafting McCarthy was a mistake. It's also not logical to fault the kid for getting hurt and missing the season.

What was avoidable was a level of preparedness that head coach Kevin O'Connell opted against . This preseason McCarthy played just a single drive , throwing seven passes. For a guy that has not seen the field and has immense youth on his side, the coach treating him like a grizzled vet was weird.

By far the most frustrating thing about McCarthy is that his eyes are in the right place for a majority of these passes; his mechanics and accuracy just make it not matter. Jefferson w/free release vs Noah Sewell and he throws it to Duluth pic.twitter.com/0NaLimVVCh

— JP Acosta (@acosta32_jp) November 17, 2025

Chemistry has not been there between McCarthy and his receivers all season. Justin Jefferson missed virtually all of camp with a hamstring injury . There was still never a desire to put McCarthy in front of constant game action.

The idea that joint practices were enough was goofy then. It looks worse now, and while the coach needs to see improvement, he didn't do himself any favors here either.

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