With a victory on Sunday afternoon, J.J. McCarthy had arrived for the Minnesota Vikings. McCarthy already introduced himself to the NFL world with a fourth-quarter comeback against the Chicago Bears. But leading the Vikings to a win over the heavily favored Detroit Lions was a reminder that he’s the team’s quarterback of the present.
The win comes with its perks. McCarthy has been everywhere since Sunday’s victory, becoming the subject of social media brainrot, Instagram edits, and morning talk shows. While some believe he did what it took to win the game, others were upset that McCarthy didn’t put up monster stats in the process.
All of this is life as an NFL quarterback. But for McCarthy, it could be the groundwork to become the NFC North’s next great heel.
“Heel” is the term given to the villains in professional wrestling. Their job is to come in, get booed, and come away with a win that eats at the audience before the good guy (or babyface) finally overcomes them. Some of the best heels are so good at their job that fans wind up cheering for them anyway. But in the NFL landscape, heels are what drive rivalries inside a division.
The Green Bay Packers are a perfect example. For years, the Packers ran the NFC North and were led by a Hall of Fame quarterback. Before Brett Favre produced Minnesota memories in 2009, he was leading the Packers to seven division titles and a Super Bowl victory in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Aaron Rodgers took the mantle from there, winning eight division titles and another win in the Super Bowl.
As a result, the other three teams in the North could not stand Favre and Rodgers. Favre drove people crazy in the same way that Patrick Mahomes does now, with commentators spewing superlatives at him anytime he blesses them with his presence. Rodgers didn’t have the same “Aw, shucks” personality, but he was so good that the rest of the division didn’t shed a tear when he was traded to the New York Jets after the 2022 season.
But since Rodgers’ departure, it’s been hard to put a finger on who the NFC North’s biggest villain is.
The Lions have run the division as back-to-back champions and could be on track for a third straight title. But they’re led by Dan Campbell, who sounds like the guy at the end of the bar that will tell you that he’s “seen some things.” Even Jared Goff seems like a normal guy who just happens to play quarterback. And Lions fans, who have seemed to have multiplied since 2023, don’t count because they hardly influence the outcome of the game.
The Bears are on the upswing, but don’t have a real villain. Ben Johnson seems ready to throw down with a reporter at any moment, but hasn’t won enough for fans to feel anything towards him. Similarly, Caleb Williams is a quarterback who could rise to the top of the list, but like Johnson, hasn’t established many true feelings of fans in the NFC North.
Then there’s old, reliable Green Bay. The Packers have drawn the ire of the rest of the division by simply being the perfect team in the perfect city with the perfect quarterback for the past three decades. But even that seems to be fading.
Jordan Love is ascending, but his mental lapses on the field and lack of a championship ring dent the cause. Matt LaFleur also has the wins to be a villain and sounds like the guy who would scream at people for putting up Christmas lights too early. But he also lacks the punch that makes people want to see him fail.
All of this brings us back to McCarthy. Through three starts, McCarthy hasn’t put up gaudy stats, but he’s led the Vikings to a 2-1 record. He’ll need to win a lot more to reach the “heel” criteria laid out in this article, but he already seems to be breaking the brains of everyone else in the division.
Reporters seem upset that the Vikings chose McCarthy instead of splashier names like Aaron Rodgers. A section of Vikings fans is still wondering why they didn’t keep Sam Darnold or Daniel Jones. Others are still clinging to the memory of Kirk Cousins dancing shirtless in a pair of giant chains. Tape analysts are pointing at EPA and film while screaming, “He can’t keep getting away with this!”
Even a section of boat-rowing Gopher fans believe that Max Brosmer is the quarterback of the future, giving McCarthy heat from his own fanbase.
The most important element has been the way other fans have reacted to him. McCarthy’s enthusiasm after the game has been met with modern-day terms like “cringe” and “negative aura.”
When McCarthy explained he had an alter ego known as “Nine” when he puts on the uniform, other teams dubbed it the lamest thing they’ve ever heard before referring to their quarterback as “Pookie.”
However, the thing that will drive everyone crazy is if he keeps winning. Looking through McCarthy’s career, he’s been able to do that a lot. He compiled a 36-2 record in high school before going 27-1 and winning a national championship at the University of Michigan. McCarthy’s college coach, Jim Harbaugh, who had his own chance to become the North’s biggest heel a few years ago, proclaimed that he would wind up being the best quarterback of the 2024 draft one month before he slid to the Vikings at 10th overall.
Of course, fans have still resorted to the term “handoff merchant” or brought up McCarthy’s “weak arm strength” as a way to poke holes in his success. Some even are clinging to the thought that he was “soft benched” after his first two starts despite a Grade II high ankle sprain requiring a four to six week recovery period, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
But in his first two starts against division rivals, it hasn’t stopped McCarthy from getting his arm raised at the end of the fight.
McCarthy has a long way to go before he can claim the title of the ultimate heel. But it appears the groundwork has already been laid. If McCarthy can continue to stack wins together, the groans of the audience will grow louder, and Vikings fans will be the ones cheering amid a sea of boos.