Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - JJ McCarthy: 'Not 100%' but will he start?!?!? (Part 1)

Episode Date: October 16, 2025

Matthew Coller breaks down Kevin O'Connell and JJ McCarthy's comments about whether McCarthy will play this weekend versus the Eagles. The Purple Insider podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. Also, check out our sponsor HIMS at https://hims.com/purpleinsider Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, everybody, welcome into another episode of Purple Insider presented by Fandul, Matthew Collar, here, and spent the day out at TCO Performance Center. We heard from Kevin O'Connell. We heard from J.J. McCarthy and Carson Wentz as well. So we could dive into the takeaways. We'll have the Fandul question the day as always. and your questions, thoughts, comments, and feelings. So let me just get this out of the way.

I think after hearing from J.J. McCarthy, from Kevin O'Connell, and then the injury report comes out, and J.J. McCarthy is limited, whereas Carson Wentz was a full participant, that as of this moment, it seems like things are leaning in the direction of J.J. McCarthy not playing against the Philadelphia Eagles. Because Kevin O'Connell has said that he doesn't want McCarthy to go back out there unless he is 100%. And J.J. McCarthy said today that he is not 100%. Uh, ankle is, you know, it's, it's getting there. I wouldn't say it's 100% right now. But, you know, we're striving every day to get there as fast as possible. So,

do you think it's that for me selfishly, I'm going to play if it was, you know, off or not. But, you know, we got to be smart here and understand, you know, there's a lot of things that go into place. And, you know, at the end of the day, I'm just going to do what I'm told and try to get better as fast as possible. I mean, that comment right there does not exactly scream I'm playing on Sunday.

Neither does a limited participation on the injury report. So, of course, this isn't 100%. It's not locked in. He could fully practice tomorrow and Friday and be ready to go. But it seems unlikely that with a limited amount of practice on any day, I mean, think about how many times Kevin O'Connell has gone up to the podium and talked about how McCarthy missed that one practice on the Thursday before the Atlanta game and not having a full practice today would suggest to you that it is a lot less likely that he's going to be out there based on things that they've said before about needing him to be 100%. He confirms that he's not needing him to have the full week of practice, doesn't get the full week of practice.

if he doesn't today. So if that seems to point toward Carson Wentz being the starting quarterback on Sunday. Now, that doesn't necessarily guarantee that he would start also next Thursday against the Chargers. I mean, because if McCarthy is practicing and getting back toward 100% health, yes, it is a short week game plan, but he could also start getting ahead on that game plan as the backup quarterback or even potentially as inactive quarterback and have Max Brosmer be the backup on Sunday. So it doesn't lock it in that Wentz is going to get the next two games. It certainly does make it a lot more possible or likely that it will be Carson Wentz against Philly and against the Chargers,

which then opens the door to the quarterback question being asked again maybe a couple of weeks down the road when the Vikings go to Ford Field to play against the Detroit Lions. Now, I just want to say once again, this is not locked in. It is not 100%. We did not have Kevin O'Connell come out and say, guys, he is not playing. He is out this week. We did not have that. And maybe we will on Friday when O'Connell announces the inactives for the game or the

statuses for the game. It's very possible he'll come out and say, who is starting he also might take it up to game time we don't really know uh haven't run into this situation too much in the o'connell era in fact i can't think of any other time that we did run into this uh when jaron hall took over for nick mullins i believe he named nick uh uh let's see no we there was several benchings that year we had yes he named jaron hall the starter we also had nick mullins take over for josh dobbs and i think think he named Nick Mullins the starter as well at some point during the week.

Now, maybe this is a little bit different than that, but that's the only thing we have to work with previously with different quarterbacks playing, but he has said who was going to be the starter in the past, in that one instance in 2023 with the backups playing. But if you want J.J. McCarthy to have the best chance to succeed, putting him out there against a team like this with one of the best defensive coordinators in the NFL, some of the best players. I know that they have not been a perfect version of themselves, but some of the best players in the NFL on defense with an ankle that's not 100 percent, with a week of practice that was not full participation. It just doesn't seem like a good idea, nor does it seem like

it's something that would match up with anything that Kevin O'Connell has said previously. So for the sake of this conversation, let's talk about what it would mean if Carson Wendt starts these next two games against Philadelphia and against the Los Angeles Chargers. So your thoughts, reactions to that very real possibility now that McCarthy will not play this week. I'll give you my thoughts in a minute, but I want to give you a little more of what was said out at TCO Performance Center from J.J. McCarthy, where he talked about having last week to break things down with Kevin O'Connell and Josh McCown. It was really awesome because, you know, it was that kind of one-on-one quarterback training type session that you don't really get at this level.

And especially with someone like, you know, Coach O'Connell and Coach McCown, it was really, you know, awesome to soak all that in and just get back to, you know, the fundamentals. You know, everyone in this position and, you know, other positions and other professions, they're always working on perfecting that part of their craft, the fundamentals, the basics. So it was just awesome to, you know, get it back on the field and spin it, but get that wisdom and advice from those guys. Is there anything that you've taken away watching Carson the last few weeks, things that you gleaned that maybe open your eyes about anything? For sure. I would say just, you know, his, you could tell by his experience with the anticipation into windows, with the quickness of when

the ball's getting out of his hand, just little things. that he does pre-snap that he's been, you know, kind of telling me about we're reading certain plays, seeing different leverages from certain, you know, secondary defenders. And, you know, just the timing of everything is something that I've been really impressed with and, you know, took a lot from. So a lot of great detail there from J.J. McCarthy about how Carson Wentz has played quarterback over the last couple weeks and certainly against the Browns. We saw him get the ball out quickly. It was one of the fastest in the NFL. We've discussed that a lot. But McCarthy, took notice there as well.

And when we've listened to Kevin O'Connell talk about J.J. McCarthy and breaking everything down to the fundamentals, the basics, as you just heard him discuss there, that to me sounds like it needs more time than just a bi-week, one-on-one session with the coach and the QB coach, and then a couple days of practice. because a week of practice leading into a game against an opponent like this, there's not that many plays to go around. There's not that many first team reps that the quarterback really gets. These weeks are short.

And in the by week, everybody else had the time off. And McCarthy was here working with O'Connell. And O'Connell talked about how rare that is that he actually gets to as the head guy spend time one-on-one with J.J. McCarthy. But once you get into the week, If there was some sort of competition going on in practice where you're taking every other rep, you might get, I don't know, 10 reps in a day or something like that. I mean, you can't have these super intense practices in the middle of an NFL season.

You couldn't ask everybody else to do that. Hey, guys, sorry, we need a QB competition between these two guys. So can everybody else just have like a hundred reps in a four hour practice? There are rules. Like, you can't do it that way. and it also wouldn't make any sense to go into the week being banged up because you had a super physical or super intense practice, you really need to be closer to 100% health than farther away.

So you have to kind of figure out early in the week what you're going to do. And this may have given the answer to them, which is, all right, if he can't practice in full, then Carson Wentz is taking the first team reps on a Wednesday. That's a very important practice. Thursday is the most important practice of the week. So we'll see about tomorrow if McCarthy takes full reps for the first time tomorrow. But that doesn't mean full first team reps. It might just mean full participation in actually being out there.

But we didn't hear anything today from O'Connell or McCarthy or anybody else that would highly suggest McCarthy is back. That doesn't mean it's going to happen. It just, that's a tea leaves type of situation. That's where we're at right now with the Vikings quarterback position is just trying to read the tea leaves a little bit and say, all right, if he couldn't practice 100% on Wednesday, this is already something that's been discussed a lot about how he missed one practice the other week. And that threw him off. You need him to have the entire week as QB1. No messing around with, well, you get some reps. how do you look in practice, how's it, there's just not enough time.

And if that means that you have to start Carson Wentz because of that, then you should start Carson Wentz because of that. Now, a question that's come up a lot and O'Connell acknowledged that since you're only dealing with one or two games, one game specifically that we've really torn down and looked at every single part of the Vikings game against Atlanta, who now looks like they have a pretty good defense, by the way, but right, we've just over-analyzed. that game. But O'Connell talked about why he didn't feel like J.J. McCarthy's footwork when it got

into the actual game was the same from what we saw in training camp and in practice where he had improved and improved throughout the summer to by the end of the year, the end of the summer, that is the end of training camp. I thought that he had improved immensely when it came to the timing, the footwork, the football coming out of his hands. And so O'Connell, addressed why that might not have matched up in the actual game. Yeah. Just like does the footwork sort of go astray during games or what happened where you had to sort to go back to some of the fundamental mechanics that you've seen done well in training

camp? Yeah, I think, you know, live football and real, real reps of, you know, some of the things he did, it wasn't just real football because he did some things in the Chicago game to help us win that game demonstrating a lot of, a lot of real positive. you know, on the road in a pretty, pretty significant environment, crowd noise, first time out, a lot of really positive things. And then it kind of circles back to, it was our, you know, he's been here, the timeline you said,

but that doesn't necessarily mean he's been on the grass, practicing, doing the things that help you build a layer of consistency where you can not only take it to the game with you, but then the ebbs and flows of the position, whether it's, you know, the pocket breaking down or maybe it's, you know, once the injury happened, being firm on that back foot and what the combination of a lot of those experiences

can do to your fundamentals are a very, very normal thing for a young player. It's, you know, easy to say, like, why wasn't it like that every time he played? That was really a significant injury that he was playing through in that game. There was a lot of variables to that one performance that I know because he hasn't been out there

we're, you know, taking a lot of looks at probably continuously, and I understand that, but there's a bigger picture to playing quarterback and how I view the position. So they're an insightful answer from Kevin O'Connell about just McCarthy and how things can get changed up quickly. And the reality is that in practice, no one can smack you in the face for real. They can touch you and yell sack, but they cannot actually rip you down to the ground. and we have seen superstar quarterbacks, many of them, be impacted negatively by pressure when it came to their fundamentals, their technique, their footwork.

Look at last year's playoffs. We saw it from Patrick Mahomes in the Super Bowl. We saw it from Sam Darnal, the C.J. Stroud, Justin Herbert, a number of quarterbacks who were getting pressured consistently, and that happened with J.J. McCarthy. I think that when it comes to the Atlanta game, We have way, way, way over-analyzed one game and we could move on from just that one game. Chicago was much better earlier in the game for him than it was against Atlanta and the fourth quarter was very good for J.J. McCarthy. I think what we really need to feel like with him is that it's going to be a complete starting over when he does get back under center at some point.

We really just have no sample size whatsoever. You could try to look at this tape or that tape and you could say, oh, well, KOC should have called this play better or this or that or the other thing. And, you know, I've heard every explanation, every excuse, every analysis that could possibly go into one game. It's too much. It's too much because we can't, there are full years of quarterback play where we come out of the season and go, you know, I don't really know what this guy is.

and I like to use Justin Herbert as an example of somebody that the internet still argues over. The guy has been in the league for how many years and yet still, how good is Justin Herbert really? And after he loses the playoff game, you get big talking heads coming out saying he'll never win the big one and all this. You're like, what this guy? What? Like, this guy is awesome. And yet, you know, that's the nature of the NFL. So if you think that you can watch one Atlanta game and pick apart. everything that happened, what's fixable, what it means for the big picture.

I promise you can't. It's just not a big enough sample size to really know that. But here's what we know is that there were concerning enough things that happened in that game to the point where Kevin O'Connell felt like they needed to have one-on-one sessions during the byweek to break down to the basics of J.J. McCarthy's throwing motion, which says to me, this is going to need more time. And here's my take on this if he doesn't play. And if it is Carson Wentz, is I will die on the hill that it's okay to develop players,

that it's okay to develop any position, any player. Dallas Turner last year, they played him a certain amount of snaps. And every night I did the live show and every person wanted to tell me he's the biggest bust. And he might be, I don't know. But I was okay with Dallas Turner, not at 21 years old being asked to play 70 snaps per game. And if he had, he probably would have gotten a few more sacks and might have been a worse player in the long term because he would have been over his head and there's where you get bad habits. That's where you get injuries. It's okay to develop football players.

There are so many players on this roster right now who did not walk into the league. and suddenly take over. Josh Mattelis is one of them. Aaron Jones did not start out as a superstar running back in Green Bay. He had development time all across the roster. It happens. Sometimes with Justin Jefferson, his first start, he goes for 175 and the guy's maybe the greatest receiver to ever play, right?

Or at least he could put himself in that conversation. That's going to be Jerry Rice and Moss and so forth. But you know what I'm saying? that's not everybody sometimes players need more development than that especially young guys and especially at the hardest position in football and I cannot help look at history and look at the current state of the NFL and point out all the quarterbacks throughout the history of the league and all the quarterbacks currently in the league who did not step in right away and just start throwing a million touchdowns and have every technique

perfectly fine and dominate the league. How many is that ever happened to just in general? Like even this 2024 draft class that, you should be excited watching the NFL each week about young emerging quarterbacks, but Caleb Williams, he's getting better, but also has his moments where you're like, what the heck is that guy doing? Michael Pennix the other night had a very good game against the Buffalo

Bills. At the same time, he almost threw a horrific interception that would have given away that game at the end and the guy drops it and they might have lost because of that. He's still making mistakes as a young quarterback. We're seeing some sophomore slump from Jaden Daniels, who was unbelievable last year. He's certainly not perfect. How about Bo Nix the other day? I just looked miserable, Bo Nix, where his coach, I'm not sure fully trusts him yet or maybe never will, but his accuracy from the pocket, they're not going and throwing 50 yards downfield all the time.

These are quarterbacks who were much more experienced in college than J.J. McCarthy. So if he needs more time to get to 100% to where those fundamentals can feel right on his ankle and also feel right under his feet and get back to where they had made progress, that's okay. He is 22 years old. And I'll go even this far. if J.J. McCarthy does not get back on the field this year and they just have Carson Wentz play,

I fully understand what everyone's going to tell me about the timeline and the win now. And I agree with you. I mean, I've been the person banging this drum for, I don't know how long of, hey, get the rookie quarterback contract, build up the entire roster and profit, do what the Eagles did, do what the 49ers did, do what the Rams did with Jared Gough. I'm that, I'm that person. But here's what I know is if the guy's not ready, then that plan is not going to work. And you have to give it more time. And it might have to work next year instead of this year. When I look around, Jonathan Grenard, Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, Jordan Mason, anyone named Jordan really, Darrasaw, Will Fries, Donovan Jackson.

there's a lot of players here. Isaiah Rogers has emerged. Byron Murphy is under contract. There's a lot of players here. Blake Cashman as well, who will still be on the team for next year. And if that's how it's got to go, that's the best for J.J. McCarthy

to have the best chance to succeed, then that's what they should do. And is that fun for everybody? Not so much. Is that as entertaining for everybody as you thought it was going to be? Not so much. but it's probably the right thing to do if that's what Kevin O'Connell and the staff

decides is the best thing to do and McCarthy's just going to have to fight through it and he's going to have to work through it. Now, personally, I think he will play again this year. I wouldn't be surprised if the Vikings go one in one in the next two or even lose the next two and McCarthy is playing against the Detroit Lions in the beginning of November. I would not be surprised by that at all. I think that's a fairly likely thing. In fact, if they lost 35 to zero on Sunday and they can't move the ball at all and whence is lost out there, then it returns the ball over five times, then McCarthy might start on Thursday night. We don't know when it's going to happen. It could even still be Sunday. It's less likely

after today, but it still could be Sunday. My point is that you can't be so laser focused on the timeline, the timeline, the timeline, the timeline. Like, I get it. I get it. I am a timeline. person. I think it's very important. I think that's the best thing this franchise is done is understood their timeline. But you can't be so obsessed with we must play him on the rookie deal tomorrow. We can't waste any more rookie deal days. And then send him out there and have him get hurt again because he's not seeing it or his footwork isn't right or the game's moving too fast for him and he needs more time to develop. So I am fully on board with whatever way they decide to handle this in terms of bringing him back tomorrow or bringing him back as part of a

QB competition next year in training camp. If they think that's the best way to do it, then do it that best way. Don't do it in a way where you feel so much pressure from everybody to play the kid that you end up making a big mistake and you end up not being able to develop him as much as you should have because long term, what you're asking for by rushing is for him to be a a Arizona Cardinal in four years and we're going, hey, J.J. McCarthy's playing really good for the Cardinals or five or six years or whatever down the road. That's not what you want. If you're the Carolina Panthers who had Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold or you're the Jets or you're the Browns, I mean, my God, the Browns. If you're

the Browns and you're watching Baker Mayfield, you got to be like, really? And I know some of that was him and some immaturity and some franchise dysfunction and everything else. but there's also the element of not putting guys in the right positions to succeed and then bailing when they don't have success. It's not a good model. So however long this takes is fine because you need that to work. And if it takes longer for it to work, then that's the best approach to it. Now, I don't think, again, I don't think that's how it's going to go.

I think we'll see McCarthy fairly soon in this season. And until then, let's circle back to the other part, too. Until then, Carson Wentz can win games with this team. And they're in an NFC that's wide open. So let's see what happens. Against the Eagles, if he plays, against the Chargers, if he plays, those are two teams that have been okay this year. They've been kind of like the Vikings,

where there's been some ups, some downs, some injuries, some frustrations, some struggles at times, some successes at times. some successes at times, it's sort of the same thing. It's four and two team, four and two team. They're just other teams in the league that are above average. That's what these next two opponents are. And if he wins and if he plays well, then continue to play Carson Wentz and win

and try to make the playoffs and go forward and let J.J. McCarthy learn from Carson Wentz. You already heard earlier when I played the clip about how much he's been taking away from Wentz, And it sounds to me, like, I'm not in there, but it sounds like from what the way that they've talked is that Wence is a tremendous influence to help J.J. McCarthy learn how to really be an NFL quarterback in this system. So that's my opinion. I mean, I'm sure that there will be some differing thoughts and feelings and we'll get to them in just a second. But my feeling is however long this takes to get him back into the best position possible to succeed when he starts again is the right way to go.

We cannot have this microscope type of view. It needs to be a much broader view of McCarthy's career as a whole and planning to have him for a very long time, not planning to just make sure you play him in his rookie quarterback deal. And I know that people will say, well, we need to find out. I mean, yeah, I get where you're coming from. But if you rush him, all you're going to find out is that he's not ready. And then he's going to end up back on the bench or back on, you know, injured reserve or something. So that's my feeling as of right now, and we'll see if we ultimately get

an announcement from Kevin O'Connell later in the week. Fandul question of the day, by the way, then we'll get to your questions, thoughts and feelings. The Vikings are plus 950 right now to win the NFC North. Green Bay is minus 105. Detroit is plus 106. What do you need to see from this team in order to believe in the next two games that they can win this division? that is the thought

uh you know grand this is time to quit watching until next season uh well i have to say that i have felt that from a lot of you guys uh this over the last couple of weeks the numbers certainly reflected and it's a little it's a little odd to me i got to say it's a little odd how and i felt this last year how the fan base has essentially not wanted to even, like, engage with the Minnesota Vikings if J.J. McCarthy is not the quarterback. I got to, I got to tell you. Like, that's a little bit, um, a little bit on

the surprising side to me. I mean, you give your heart and soul to this team for so long. And they're pretty good now that they're going to be healthy. At least they can be in the discussion. And McCarthy could still very much play. But there's been a lot of like I just don't, I just refuse to pay attention to this team if it's not J.J. McCarthy. I mean, I guess you're going to have to check back in in a while. I mean, someone's going to have to explain that to me because, you know, that's a fan mentality thing that I can't really connect with. I mean, this is, you know, what I do 24-7.

So I love every detail. I was going to go over the injury report more about every game. I love every matchup and how it all plays out. So it always seems strange to me. But I felt that last year. I mean, after the Jaguars game, the numbers reflected it for me. After the Jaguars game, Vikings fans gave up on Sam Darnold,

which was crazy to me because you were in the middle of a season with a winning record. And yet, I think once folks with this fan base feel like you can't win the Super Bowl, then you just like, we're out, which this year might not be the best year to do that because when you look around the NFC, there's a lot of flawed teams. But I'm not trying to tell you Carson Wentz is going to win the Super Bowl. I'm just saying that, you know, I mean, you never know what can happen. Nick Foles won the Super Bowl at U.S. Bank Stadium. So that's why we watch.

That's why we cover it is because you never know what's going to happen. But maybe you'll have to, in the comments, try to break that one down for me because that mentality, I just do not understand. Let me circle back and get to your comments here. Let's see. Weebbs says stop cover. for KOC and JJ, stop making excuses for JJ not to play. Well, look, I mean, if his ankle is not 100% to practice,

making excuses, there's no excuse. If he can't fully practice, he can't start for the Minnesota Vikings against the Philadelphia Eagles. You just can't do that. I mean, you wouldn't want too many guys to start on an injured high ankle sprain if it wasn't healed in the regular season anyway, you would not want that necessarily to happen if it wasn't responding very well and you had a good backup quarterback with a winning record or something.

A lot of teams would want to sit their starting quarterback even with that. Now, maybe if it's Mahomes and it's the AFC championship, you're going to force the guy out there. But if you're in a position where your starting quarterback has won two out of the last three games, and the only one they lost was against a good team, by three points. I know it was uglier than that, but they lost by three points

and had the ball with a chance to win the game with a minute left. I mean, if that's the performance you've gotten from your backup, I don't think you want to run out there and say, oh, okay, let's have him practice half the week and then go start after he struggled

for most of the time that he was already starting. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I don't know what covering is being done for KOC. But I will say this, though, that I have now covered, not covered four, but covered Kevin O'Connell for how long. Let's see. He was introduced in 2022. That would have been, was that January? February?

January? February? I think it was, oh, we won the Super Bowl. So February of 2022. So we're going on three years here plus of being around Kevin O'Connell every day. the owner's meetings, the training camps, the combines, all those things. I have heard this man talk many, many, many times. And you know what I've come away with is that I think he knows quarterback play.

I know, shocking, right? Shocking stuff. Amazing insight. But I think that he not only understands quarterback play, but analyzes it at a bigger level and a level of detail. and this isn't just coming from me. Daniel Jones said this in an interview like a couple of days ago. But he understands it at a level of nuance that is beyond anybody I've ever been around before.

And I also think that he understands quarterback play through the lens of his own career that he never felt like he was developed properly. He's also been in places where they rushed quarterbacks in when they weren't ready. Washington, Dwayne Haskins, Cleveland, Johnny Mansell. I mean, he's been in those places. He's been in those positions. I think that the first thing Kevin O'Connell thinks about when he wakes up is quarterback play and developing quarterbacks.

And the last thing before he goes to bed is quarterback play. And I think of all people on planet earth in the football world when it comes to this position, you would put him up there against just about anybody. And I don't think it's a crazy thought or take to say, you know what, when he feels like McCarthy's ready to go, physically, mentally, technically, then he'll put him in and that will probably be the right time to do it. And if that's not till much later in the season, then that's not till much later in the season. But I understand where he's coming from when he said earlier this week,

I want him to be 100% because his mobility is a big part of his game. And then if you're talking about driving off the foot that's injured, okay, if you're Sam Darnold last year who was playing with an injured leg or foot or whatever it was after DeNeil Hunter landed on him, okay, well, you're Sam Darnold, your arm is made of gold and you're 27. It's a little bit different when you're McCarthy and you're still trying to get this stuff down, the fundamentals and the techniques, you're still getting it down, but you're supposed to go out there and play with a foot that's not 100% underneath you.

It just doesn't make a whole lot of sense. So if he's out for much longer because they want him at 100%, they want him to prove it in practice, they want him to get reps with the scout team, then that's okay. And I know everyone wants to rush this and I know I am aware that this is not a popular opinion. I mean, I think that most of you would rather have me pounding this table, screaming that COC has no idea what he's doing and he has to play McCarthy or I'm going to jump off of the top of TCO Performance Center, but I'm just not.

going to say that because I don't believe that. I've just watched too much NFL films to think that you should just put every young quarterback out there. There's way too many guys through historically who needed more development and it ended up working out for them. So I think that whatever he decides to do with the timing of this, I'll probably be on the side of. If you want to call that covering forum or whatever you want to. I just, this is, this is like saying, I think Kevin Durant knows how to shoot a basketball. Like, that's the level that we're talking about here, of knowledge of this, of not only just how to do it, but also the person, the player, he's been around him every day since McCarthy got here. We've talked to JJ McCarthy 10 times at a

podium. We've watched a handful of training camp practices over the last two years. It's not the same. So I'm a pro development. I'm pro taking your time with a quarterback to make sure that he is ready to go. And you might say, well, you can't baby him. You can't hide him away forever. Okay. But you know, Jordan Love spent three years waiting, came out, made the playoffs, was a drive away for making the NFC championship in his first year. There's so many examples. But that's a, that's a pretty good one of a guy who had to rebuild a lot of his mechanics. Go watch Jordan love playing college it's a mess it's a mess mechanically and when he first came out look at him play in preseason it look at his first start against kansas city in 2022 it wasn't good

so i think uh that this is not the worst result that you can end up having all right let me get uh to yeah i mean because you're saying you can't shield him forever it's not it's not it's not shielding him it's picking the right time to get him back in the game. I'm not saying bench him for the entire year. I'm saying that this week, if he doesn't play against the Eagles, where it certainly doesn't look like he's going to,

and then if he doesn't play against the Chargers, it's not the end of the world. It's not the end of McCarthy's career. We don't need to start talking about what team to trade him to. We don't need to get to the point where you're saying, well, this is why they should have signed Rogers or whatever. We're just not there yet. This is where we have to take one step at a time.

with this. Marauder says Vikings need to ride the wave of the rookie. The theory only goes so far. Experience teaches people. He had one bad game. Right. You know, look, I don't disagree that you can say the best teacher is actually playing. Does history tell us that, though? Does history actually tell us? Or do you just really want to see J.J. McCarthy? Most of these comments sound to me like, no, I just really want to see J.J. McCarthy, so I'm flipping this table. I don't want to watch Carson Wentz. I'm flipping this table. That's what most of the comments sound like. They're not that logical. Like, I get what you're saying about, yes, okay, you have to get them out there, and that's the only way he's going to learn. But that's just not true.

It's not true that that's the only way he's going to learn. Last year, the plan for J.J. McCarthy, who had not played a lot in college was to sit behind Sam Darnold for the entire year and practice and get better with the scout team and work on his technique. He missed that entire year. Now, the team thought maybe not correctly that he would be able to learn a lot through the VR and learn a lot through all the watching Sam Darnold and game preparation, and all those things, and I'm sure he did. I'm sure he did, but that was not able to simulate what it's actually like to get out there

and play. And the biggest thing is, there can't be another injury. So if there's concern about how well he's seeing things, how well he's getting rid of the football, the technique and all that stuff that he needs to work on in practice, where they are taking high-speed reps against the first-team defense if you're running the scout team and you're learning a lot running the scout team, heck, even Carson Wentz said his last couple years as a backup, he even learned a lot by running the scout team. So practice does help you.

And I think this goes for just about anything. I mean, would you say that just for example, only going out and playing, or if you're a singer, only going out and singing in front of U.S. Bank Stadium is the only way to become a better singer? Or would you say that maybe practicing inside your house and being completely ready to sing in front of U.S. Bank Stadium, that that that that. that would be a way you could improve. I think that there's a lot of other examples of this of players finding ways to improve

through practicing in an environment where the other team isn't trying to kill you to get down these fundamentals and basics that they just keep going back to. So I don't fully disagree that, well, he has to get out there and play. Like, yes, eventually, yes. Does it have to be this week? No, it does not have to be this week. And again, I didn't say he never should play again. Some of you are acting like I'm saying he should just never, ever play.

He should just actually sit on the bench until he's 32. That's not what anybody actually thinks. I'm saying this week, next week, two more weeks, and then see where he's at with practice. Then you get a longer week leading up to the game against the Detroit Lions, and you've got a chance to reassess. If you lose the next two games and he looks good in practice, then it's an easy choice. Where it does get complicated, and this is where Kevin O'Connell is going to have to do a delicate dance, is if Carson Wentz wins the next two games and is rolling and the team is battling for the top of the NFC North,

but you're not going to bench him at that point. And then maybe you go until the wheels come off. But, I mean, it's just, to me, it's just a thing. that might take more time than anybody thought it would or wanted it to because it's not as simple as, well, he looked good in training camp, so he must be fine. And I want him to play really, really badly. That's just, to me, that's just how it sounds a lot.

So if I was asked to play guitar in front of U.S. Bank Stadium, would I do it? Yes, I would be perfectly fine with that. I mean, I've, I have played for 25 years, I think, maybe, maybe more than that. I would be fine with that. You know, for a couple of weeks there, with two years ago, they had a guy come out and shred a guitar, and I can do that. So I, I would be willing to do that. Let's see.

Enemy cap says, ultimately, I trust whatever KOC decides, but still flipping the table until he starts. Now, see, there you go. That is a fair take. That is a fair take right there. I, and that's where I totally understand it. And Tim says 60 plus years without a Super Bowl. But here's the thing.

You can't make every single opinion and every single thought about what the team should do about 60 years ago. You just can't. And Kevin O'Connell isn't and this team isn't and you shouldn't. You don't have to make everything about your trauma. Truly, you don't. You don't have to make every kicking decision about Gary Anderson or every, if you're Cleveland, you don't have to make every running back decision based on Ernest Biner or every, you know, a guy who fumbles to get rid of them or something.

Like, you just can't do that in football. You can't try to look at every single decision and say, well, yeah, look, we haven't won the Super Bowl in 60 years. So put the kid back out there. Like, that doesn't really, it doesn't really make sense. Now, I know what you're talking about, Tim, and I didn't finish reading your comment because it's a good one. So I'm not, like, going after what you said, uh, creates a sense of urgency right or wrong. And it's, and that's where, like, yes, there is a sense of urgency.

And the timeline does matter because there are older players on this team. There are veterans on this team. But also, it's not like the core of this team is a hundred and seven years old. Justin Jefferson is not on the brink of retirement and Jordan Addison has another year of his rookie deal and Christian Derisaw is under contract and Brian O'Neill is still in his late prime will continue to play I'm sure for several more years

you just drafted a promising left guard in Donovan Jackson you have probably what five or six of the defensive players who you would say are locked in really good players in their prime Van Ginkle who by the way was back at practice today a good sign there. He signed an extension in the off season. So did Murphy. Like this isn't a, if you don't win this year,

the franchise just goes in the tank and it's completely over. But Tim, I get your frustration just to finish your comment, says many of us have been watching the same nonsense with the QB Mary go around. Well, that's another thing that's kind of funny too. Like, I mean, look, I understand. I kind of actually love the Vikings quarterback history because there's so many interesting characters.

so many surprise seasons, so many great seasons by these quarterbacks. I mean, nonsense, I think is probably a better description of like Chicago or the Jets where the Vikings have had great seasons from their quarterbacks. It's just a different guy all the time. And I empathize with that because it's something that has been talked about for so long of going with, you know, Tommy Kramer and Wade Wilson and all. all the way through even Kirk Cousins where it never really felt like

Kirk Cousins was the franchise quarterback because every year it was, is Kirk even coming back? Are they going to trade him? They sign him to an extension and looking for the next QB, kind of looking down the road of when can you move on from that big contract.

So that was never locked in. Dante had his ups and downs. The team was kind of a mess and then the injury. And, you know, Teddy was on his way up. and then it has the injury. So, look, like, I know it. I've been doing this long enough to know it inside and out by heart every single

one of those seasons from, you know, Randall Cunningham or Jeff George or, I'll throw Brad Johnson in there the one year that he came back and then won some games and, you know, all that stuff. Gus Farrat, like, you've had all of it and that's not what you were looking for. But if on the other side of that, either take another season like that where you're competing with a quarterback that you didn't expect or rush the guy that you love and risk it going the wrong direction, I think you'd much rather just go week to week. And I think I suggested this last year. I think at the beginning of last year, when nobody wanted Darnold to be the quarterback

and so many people bailed on the team before they even started, trust me, I remember, I remember, because it's the same feeling as I'm having now after McCarthy, got hurt, and it was like, I'm not watching this year. A lot of that, like, we need McCarthy to play, and I can't watch Sam Darnold and all sorts of things. You just never know where this team is going to take you. But you would much rather go week to week with a team that can definitely win games with Carson Wentz until McCarthy is ready, then play him this week with an ankle that's not 100%.

And with a limited practice, that to me is the end right there. When you see the limited practice, it's like, okay, all right, can't do it. If he said, I'm not 100%, but nobody's 100%. All right, I can buy that that's just sort of quarterback speak. When you see the limited practice, okay, I'm out. I don't think it's a good idea for him to start unless he gets all of the practice reps for an entire week that they decide on Monday, he's the quarterback and he goes all the way through the week.

And that's the circumstance that I want. I don't want competition in practice. I don't want limitation in practice from him. He needs every advantage that he is going to get to lock into whatever game plan, whatever week. And when it happens, I'm not really sure. But I do think that, you know, Tim really hit it on the head, that there is a, this urgency type of thing here with, you know, the way that fans have looked at this situation that just doesn't match up with the best possible option for handling J.J. McCarthy

situation. So that's kind of where we're at. I'll get back to your questions. But for those just joining. And I have seen a few people say that YouTube has been a little glitchy. I mean, I don't think it's on my end. I think it's on YouTube's end. Just reload if it goes glitchy on you. Because that worked for me. But the Fandulul question of the day, Vikings are plus 950 to win the NFC North, Green Bay minus 105, and Detroit plus 160. So favored by far over the Vikings, what do you need to see in these two games to believe that they can win the division? So let's see.

Matt says if he's not doing fundamentals correctly out there, you need to take a breather for a few weeks and reinforce those. That's exactly how I feel, exactly how I feel. Zandas jury is still out on Jordan Love. Not really. No, not really. Jordan Love is not the best quarterback in the league, but he's clearly an NFL starting quarterback,

franchise type of quarterback that you're going into every season believing you can be in the playoffs with. I mean, he's been in the playoffs now, both years as a starter. They're leading the division right now. He's averaging 8.6 yards per attempt, nine touchdowns, two picks, He's in the top 10 by PFF. I mean, Jordan Love, look, I'm not crowning him as the best quarterback in the league, but you know that Jordan loves your guy for Green Bay.

They're not going week to week being like, do we know anything? Like, no, they know. And they probably knew about the second half of the season in his first year as a starter. But think about how long he had to wait in order to get in there, which was really the point, is that he had to wait for all that. time to get in there. And it was a hundred percent the right thing to do because he was not fundamentally ready. He might have been after two years. But even when he got his first start against Kansas City in 2022, he didn't look ready really at all. And for the first handful of

starts, he didn't look ready. It took a while for Jordan Love. That's the only point is that there's examples all over the place through history of quarterbacks just not starting right away and then getting better as they went along and being more prepared to start and have like Carson Palmer. I mean, I know I'm going back here and I'm going back before there was the rookie contract. Carson Palmer, Eli Manning, these guys didn't start right away. Alex Smith, these are number one overall picks who didn't start right away. Philip Rivers didn't start right away. And in guys that did, you know, sometimes did have struggles, but often were quarterbacks like last year what we saw with Bo Nix and Jane Daniels who had a lot more

college experience. And McCarthy just doesn't have the practice built up and he doesn't have the experience from his past to be locked in on some of these things right now. And so give him more time. And he's coming off of a serious injury. That's another thing too is that, you know, we can go back to what he did in college. We could go back to last year's injury and all that. But even just any player who's coming off of a three-week absence where they couldn't throw a football in practice, it's hard to throw them right back out there. It's not an outside linebacker.

Trona guy says if McCarthy doesn't develop, this COC get fired. Like this year? No. I have said this before that when you reach a certain level of coaching, and I know, hasn't won any playoff games. I was there at both of them, but when you reach a certain level, what Mike Tomlin is at, I know he's got a Super Bowl, but even recently everyone wanted Mike Tomlin fired for getting his

mediocre teams to the playoffs, or Kyle Shanahan or Sean McVeigh or Matt LaFlor, like there's really good quarterbacks that you're just going to stick with through thick and thin. And I think that the pressure would certainly mount. But we are a far, far away. And this is a very important point, too, about Jake. J. McCarthy is I don't think that we should even be talking about the B word. Oh, he's a bust. What I'm talking about is the D word, which is development. I'm talking about

the best way to develop. What I've seen from McCarthy in training camp and in practice and preseason and leading up to this and even the fourth quarter in Chicago was there's potential in J.J. McCarthy. But it's also very raw potential. at this moment. There's, there's no world where I'm saying right now, oh, man, it is, it is, if he doesn't play against Philly, it's over, or, or if he doesn't play the game against Detroit after this run of two games in a row, uh, it's over. He's out. He's done. I'm not, I'm not saying that at all. I'm saying that we need a lot of time in the current NFL, we see all sorts of quarterbacks need more time before they're ready to go. And the guys who step in right

away, usually have major ups and downs, and they also usually have a lot more college experience. You know, Jackson Dart, what did he throw in college? Did he throw like 1,300 passes in college? And even then, he lost to the Saints. And so, you know, these things happen.

Son of beavers, by God, it's Matthew from the top of U.S. Bank Stadium. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Hopefully not. Hopefully not. But, you know, I, I, look, this is what I try to do here is to give you the best perspective I can based on history, for one, analytics a lot of times, can't use that so much here, what I hear, what I've seen,

what I'm hearing at the podium, what I'm hearing from the coach, all those things. That's the best I can do. I usually try, I'm sorry, I was going to say, like, try to take the emotion out of it because Like, that's, that's what I'm here for, right, is to be the objective observer. But I was, if you caught what Jonathan Gannon said in response to someone asking him about not being emotional, oh, man, that's a, that was a crazy quote. So go look up, go look that up. Let's see. Trona guy says if J.J. McCarthy's out this game, he'll be back after the Chargers game.

I mean, it makes sense depending on where they're at. I think we can create kind of like a true. of, or a, what do they call those? Like a choose your own adventure type of, if it goes this way, then it's going to go that way. I forget what those are called. But if Carson Wentz plays like we would expect from Carson Wentz. And the Vikings go one in one.

And he's just okay. And he throws for 175 yards a touch and a pick against the Chargers. and they lose that game after beating Philadelphia, 17, 14, or something like that, right? Like, it's that kind of okay, backup level quarterback play, and you go one and one. And you're talking about going to play Detroit at, what would that make them, four and three. And you're in the middle, it's not great, it's not terrible. That might be a good time to play J.J. McCarthy. Because I don't want to talk out of both sides of my mouth, because I have said previously,

that the highest ceiling for this year is if J.J. McCarthy comes back and I would still say that. And so when he's ready to go, then put him in. I mean, there's not very many scenarios that I could come up with in the Choose Your Own Adventure where I would go, okay, it's Carson Wentz's show, folks. I don't care if McCarthy's ready.

It's Carson Wentz's show. There's only one scenario where that happens. And that's if Wence goes berserk. over the next two games and then beats the lions and then all right okay well now you're now you're really rolling with this guy and something special might be happening here so you can't do it uh you can't go i mean that but it would have to go that way even two wins if he just is okay but not great there would still be an argument to going back to j j mccarthy because i will maintain that the best chance to actually compete in the playoffs would

be if McCarthy comes back and he gets through the rocky times of returning and then turns the corner. And that's why I like that Jordan Love example that I know you guys hate the Packers so much that, you know, what anytime you even say Jordan Love, like again, you want to rage vomit. But like, just stay with me here. That first season of Jordan Love starting was a good example. He showed early on that he could play. He had some rocky moments. And then once he turned to corner. He gave his team a chance to win a playoff game, to win another playoff game where he played well enough. That's what you're still looking for. And that's still on the table for McCarthy if he doesn't play these next two games to come back, get back in the mix, work through

the early ups and downs, and then hit his stride. And the people who are, that's why when people say, like, I'm bailing on this season or whatever, I'm like, really? Because we have no idea where this thing is going to take us. So, like, I just kind of can't wait to see where this all goes. And when McCarthy comes back and how Wentz plays. And the other part is that Wentz is a pretty good story. Like, I guess, I guess everyone's done with that. And they don't care about pretty good stories. They just want, you know, championships. I get it. But a guy being a backup for as long as he was and not really looking like you had a job to come back here and play well is kind of cool. I guess for those in the Dakota,

it's very cool. Every once in a while, I get that I'll say, hey, you know, the best chance is going to be with McCarthy and I'll get that one person from South Dakota who says, you know, go up to the top of the stadium and jump off because Wentz is the best. But, you know, I think that there is a scenario where Wentz plays extremely well and he ends up starting for the foreseeable future. But it just doesn't seem super likely based on his history. that you're going to win 13 games with Carson Wentz as your quarterback or 12 games with Carson Wentz as your quarterback. More likely, and I was looking up his history going back for 2021 when he played with the Colts. And it was some amazing games where he averaged nine yards an attempt and through three touchdowns. It was great. And then it was other games where he averaged four yards in attempt and struggled.

So, I mean, I feel or sense the fan base concern. because you have Jefferson, you have Addison, you have a line that's going to get healthier here. I sense the concern that Wentz is going to play really well and stay in the game. But I don't know that that's super likely. I think what they want is for him to play the next couple games, for them to at least split and then go back to J.J. McCarthy.

So you don't have to panic right now about where they're at. The only scenario, there's only one scenario where I would say you have to panic. That scenario would be if the, Vikings do not play well, and McCarthy is not in. That's the panic scenario. That means something is really wrong. I don't see any evidence of that. It feels like they want to get him back in.

They want to find out as much as you do. They also think he's good. Otherwise, they wouldn't have done this. And as much as I've scrutinized the Atlanta game, right after the Atlanta game, I said, well, yeah, I mean, I still think he'll be fine. I think I still said I thought they would win 11 games after that. I still said I think that they'll get back together. Where it's a little bit on the other side of that is when you hear the fundamentals have to be rebuilt.

That's where, or locked back in, whatever way you want to put it. That's where you start to raise an eyebrow. But I still feel that after what we saw from two games, that there's plenty of reason to think that McCarthy can still come back in at some point this season and get going. My main point is, don't do it until he's ready. Don't do it until he's truly ready. So let's just say Carson Wentz, this is what I should have added to the to the Fandual question of the day.

Let's say it's Carson Wentz. Vikings are plus 950 to win the NFC North. What do you need to see from the next two games to believe that they can win the North? That is our Fandual question of the day. So interested in your answer is there. Nick inside out says seriously Carson Wentz could be great though all you got to do is remind yourself chaos he does this with quarterbacks he finally playing for his favorite team he wants

to be great well that's true yeah he is he is playing for he's also playing with a team with one of the greatest receivers in NFL history to this point and his number two receiver could be a number one receiver on 80% of teams or 60% of teams so yeah I mean that you're right about that, that Carson Wentz could have it lock in and could play extremely good football here going forward. And to me, all that would do, let's say they win the next two. Let's say they win the next two and he's great. Well, then you're not sitting him against Detroit. All that does is say, all right, ride this until the wheels come off. And then once that happens, because it probably will, like once he struggles, then you've got McCarthy ready to go. But even if McCarthy's

starting experience gets pushed back. Like, think about Michael Penix. This is something I might have to just say, hey, I was wrong about this when it comes to calling J.J. McCarthy a rookie. All offseason, I didn't like that. Like, no way. He's got way more experience,

way more experience behind the scenes. But if we just put him in the, he's a rookie type of mindset and treat it that way, last year Michael Pennix played when? His last like four games, he came in, he looked comfortable he played well he gave Atlanta a chance to win games and he was much more ready than he would have been if they had put him in early in the season and then they went into this year feeling great about him if that's what happens where Wentz plays them through

this next section and he's really good but then the wheels start to come off so they go to McCarthy and have him try to save the season at the end whether it works or not like who knows if it actually works, that would be great. If it doesn't, like, let's say he plays the final four games. And that's just how it ends up working out. Well, you've got, oh, man, you got some games there. You've got some division games that are pretty tough, but at home. So let's say that he plays those and it looks good and it's clicking.

And maybe they go nine and eight and miss the playoffs or something. You would still feel good about where he ended up going into next year. Or maybe you make the playoffs because it, it's, it's, he's in a good spot. Like there's just, the 50 different ways that this could go at this point. Sean says, I know quarterback drives the conversation, but can we stop talking about what is with JJ

and hear more about the gentle giant of a left guard chances on Sunday? Yeah, Sean, well, Donovan Jackson was limited today, so I don't think that that is great. Yeah, okay, I'll run through the, and if you have questions about other stuff, absolutely, I'm ready for that. Maybe we should do that. Like, there's an hour, there is an hour of J.J. McCarthy, Carson Wentz.

Let's get some other stuff going. Like, look, if Wentz is starting, let's go on that assumption. From now, I'm going to go, I'm going to give you another hour here. Let's go on the assumption that Carson Wentz is starting. And let's talk about the rest of the team, the rest of the NFL and go from there. And if you're just joining in, you can rewind and hear me, you know, threatened to the climb to the top of tall buildings. So I'm not afraid of heights, though. I think I'd be okay.

At least I don't think so. I've never climbed to the top of U.S. Bank Stadium. It's very big. What was the question? Oh, about Donovan Jackson. Yeah, let me go through the entire injury report here. So Donovan Jackson was limited today, which doesn't necessarily mean that he won't play.

It could mean that he still is able to get back, but he was not a full participant, which is a tad concerning for him. But Thursday and Friday will tell us a little bit more. The good news was that Andrew Van Ginkle was limited, and was not out. That is very good news for the Vikings because it gives him a chance, at least to play. And again, tomorrow we'll find out more.

But that's a big step up from Monday where he wasn't doing anything. He was just off on the side field running wind sprints. He was not really fully participating. Even getting 20 snaps out of Andrew Van Ginkle to get him ramped up would be a huge gain. There's been so much weight on Dallas Turner these last couple of weeks. I think that's been tough. Brian O'Neill also limited. To me, that might be a little ahead of his timeline for an MCL injury that might have to wait another week.

And Ty Engrobb Dawkins has a hip and is limited. But Blake Cashman was a full participant. And there was a report from CBS Sports yesterday that the plan is to play Blake Cashman. But, you know, it's hard to go on that on a Wednesday where he hasn't gotten. back there and practiced and looking for how it actually responds. So early week, hey, this guy's going to play on Sunday. Well, we don't really know yet. You got to see if there's any issues in practice.

But if there isn't, then we will very, very likely see Blake Cashman playing. And that's enormous for them. It's stopping Saquan Barkley. Also, if I didn't say thank you for the super chat, thank you so much, Sean. And thank you also to Stephen says, I agree about JJ being a rookie. I also pushed back on the notion, but it seems pretty clear he's still a rookie. Or at least we have to kind of mentally have it that way. So he's not, he's not a rookie in terms of mentally the amount of information he has in his head about KOC's offense, how it works, how other teams' defenses in the NFL work, how the league operates, all those things he learned last year.

And he watched Sam Darnold go through it and everything else. in terms of his actual on-the-field performance, he is very much a rookie. He's not only just a rookie, but he's a very raw rookie. He is a rookie that did not have the number of snaps that Michael Pennix or Jackson Dart or Bo Nicks or any of those other quarterbacks had. So I think that that differentiation was probably the thing that I missed was from the physical perspective, very much a rookie. And if the plan was last year for him not to get out there to,

much until maybe later in the season. If that's how it ends up here, well, it's unfortunate, but sometimes the football gods have other plans than what you wanted. What they wanted was develop him behind Darnold, have a great sense for how good he was going to be in practice and then have him start this year. But that's just not what happened. That's not that his meniscus had other plans. And what I really would have liked to have seen was J.J.

McCarthy v. Cincinnati Bengals. because you talk about a get-right game, an opportunity to go out there and play well and get the confidence back up, but his ankle had other plans. And they really do need him to stay healthy going forward. But thank you for the super chat there. Let's see.

Patrick says Green Bay did not look convincing against Cincinnati. I agree with that take.