CHICAGO — The stage was set for young quarterback J.J. McCarthy to make the Chicago Bears pay for passing on him twice in the 2024 NFL Draft. After cheering for them as a kid growing up in La Grange Park, Ill., McCarthy had a chance to beat them in front of a national television audience in primetime.
It looked like any chance of that went up in flames shortly after halftime when McCarthy threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown.
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To that point, the Vikings had been an abject disaster on offense, and that might be putting it lightly. The potent passing attack that has become synonymous with head coach Kevin O’Connell was nowhere to be found. The rebuilt running game that was touted for the past few months was rendered completely ineffective.
Not exactly a recipe for a comeback.
But the Vikings kept hanging around and hanging around, and when McCarthy eventually found his rhythm, they unleashed a tidal wave on the Bears. The result? A stunning 27-24 win for the Vikings at Soldier Field.
“It felt like everything that could go wrong kind of did,” O’Connell said. “There are many teams that would wilt in those circumstances and our team did not. It’s a credit to our players and what they have built in that locker room.”
It’s also a credit to McCarthy for sticking with it.
In the end, he completed 13 of 20 passes for 143 yards and a pair of touchdowns, to go along with a couple of carries for 25 yards and a touchdown on the ground.
Though it wasn’t the sexiest stat line on the surface, McCarthy most importantly showed his moxie, staring adversity directly in the face and emerging victorious like he has at pretty much every stage of his life.
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“We’re so blessed to be able to play this game so every snap we get is a complete blessing,” McCarthy said. “That’s something I was mentioning to the guys in the huddle when we were down. I feel like we did a great job. This team showed a lot of poise and responded very well.”
The slow start for McCarthy caused an overreaction on social media, with a chunk of the fan base labeling him a bust. There wasn’t much to write home about as McCarthy’s nerves seemed to get the best of him for prolonged stretches.
On the other end, quarterback Caleb Williams showcased how dangerous he can be when the play breaks down, escaping pressure and rushing for a touchdown to put the Bears up 7-0 in the early stages.
Meanwhile, as the Vikings continued to struggle mightily on offense, their best play to that point was a pass interference penalty that gained them 42 yards and set up a field goal from kicker Will Reichard to trim the deficit to 7-3.
A field goal from kicker Cairo Santos stretched the lead to 10-3 for the Bears before McCarthy finally showed some life with a 31-yard completion to receiver Jalen Nailor. That set up a 59-yard field goal from Reichard to cut the deficit to 10-6 at halftime.
As much as the Vikings had struggled to that point, O’Connell continued to instill confidence in McCarthy at every turn.
“I told him at halftime, ‘You are going to bring us back to win this game,” O’Connell said. “The look in his eye was fantastic.”
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What did that moment mean to McCarthy?
“It meant everything,” McCarthy said. “That gave me all the confidence to go out there and execute the plays.”
Not before a rookie mistake that flipped the game on its head.
After moving the Vikings into scoring position, McCarthy tried to rip a ball to the sideline, and cornerback Nahshon Wright undercut the route and returned it 74 yards for a touchdown to make it 17-6 in favor of the Bears.
You simply can’t make that throw in that situation. That’s a lesson he can take with him moving forward.
“You never want to earn wisdom that way,” McCarthy said with a smile while crediting O’Connell and quarterback coach Josh McCown for helping him lock back in. “We were all on the same page like, ‘Alright. That happened. Onto the next play.'”
A missed field goal from Santos kept the door ajar, however, and the Vikings came storming through.
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After a few nice runs from running back Jordan Mason, McCarthy threw the first touchdown pass of his career, a strike to Justin Jefferson that cut the deficit to 17-12 after a failed conversion.
The onslaught continued as McCarthy found running back Aaron Jones for a deep touchdown pass on the next possession to make it 20-17.
The next time the Vikings got the ball back, McCarthy showcased his legs, taking a read option 14 yards into the end zone to stretch the lead to 27-17. That prompted an outpouring of emotion from his teammates both on the field and on the sideline.
“That was so cool,” right tackle Brian O’Neill said. “We knew it had a chance to pop because of how they were playing on the edges. We put that play in this week, and we thought it (was) going to hit whether he handed it off or he pulled it. Then he pulled it and we were going (expletive) nuts.”
Though the Bears got a touchdown late on a pass from Williams to receiver Rome Odunze to make it 27-24, the Vikings walked away with a win.
Asked if he learned anything about McCarthy throughout the game, Jefferson might have summed it up best.
“No,” Jefferson said. “I already knew what J.J. was about.”
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Now the rest of the NFL does too.
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