- J.J. McCarthy led the Minnesota Vikings to a comeback victory over the Chicago Bears after a poor performance in the first three quarters.
- McCarthy helped the Vikings score 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter, overcoming an 11-point deficit.
- The rookie quarterback is the first since Steve Young in 1985 to win his debut after trailing by 10 or more points in the fourth quarter.
CHICAGO — For three quarters, J.J. McCarthy was bad. Painfully bad. Bad as in, “Guy hasn’t played football in a year” bad.
But the fourth quarter? McCarthy was magic, reminding everyone why the Minnesota Vikings used the 10th pick in the 2024 draft on him.
The Vikings scored 21 unanswered points on the Chicago Bears in the fourth quarter Monday night, with McCarthy responsible for all but one of them. In digging the Vikings out of an 11-point hole, he also dug himself out of the kind of demoralizing performance that can leave a significant dent on a young quarterback’s confidence and development. (See Caleb Williams, 2024 season.)
“He stepped into the huddle — we were losing, I want to say late third, early fourth (quarter) and he goes, `Is there any place else you guys would rather be?’ That says a lot about you right there,” Aaron Jones said after the game.
“This kid is special. He’s different up here,” Jones added, pointing at his head. “I’ve been saying it the whole time.”
A lot more people will be saying it now.
McCarthy is the first quarterback to overcome a deficit of 10 points or more in the fourth quarter and win his debut since 1985, according to ESPN. The guy who did it back then? A guy named Steve Young.
“I told him at halftime, `You’re going to bring us back to win this game.’ And the look in his eye was fantastic,” Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell said.
McCarthy had not played a “real” football game in almost two years, since leading Michigan to the national title. He missed all of last year after tearing the meniscus in his right knee during the preseason, and barely played in the preseason this year — a decision that looked foolish for much of the game Monday night.
McCarthy looked flustered by the speed of the game and got harried when the Bears brought pressure. He was sacked on each of Minnesota’s first two drives and attempted one pass in each drive. With the Vikings in the red zone on their third drive, his throw to Justin Jefferson on third-and-8 was too low.
Minnesota also was whistled for delay of game twice in the first three quarters.
And in what surely looked like the dagger for the Vikings, McCarthy threw a pick-six on Minnesota’s first drive of the second half. Looking for Jefferson, McCarthy telegraphed his throw and Nahshon Wright stepped in front of it and took it 74 yards to give Chicago a 17-6 lead with 13:03 left in the third.
“You never want to earn wisdom that way,” McCarthy said, smiling sheepishly. “It sucks. It’s one of the worst things you could do as a quarterback, but you can’t do anything about it. You’ve got to focus on the next play.
“Just go out there and execute and play as one and move on from that.”
Williams and the Bears gave McCarthy some help, suddenly reverting to the team that endured a 10-game skid on its way to a 5-12 finish last year. Williams, who had looked much more poised in the first half, started making bad decisions, overthrowing his receivers and putting the ball in the wrong spots.
The rest of the Bears got sloppy, too, committing far too many stupid penalties.
But part of being an elite-level quarterback is being able to take advantage of an opponent’s misfortunes.
After Cairo Santos missed a 50-yard field goal attempt, McCarthy found his groove. He hit Jefferson for 17 yards and, three plays later, found him for a 13-yard touchdown. The Vikings attempted the two-point conversion, but Jonathan Owens shoved Josh Oliver out of bounds just in front of the end zone.
After a dismal three-and-out by the Bears — Williams was sacked and then nearly picked by Andrew Van Ginkel — McCarthy went right back to work, finding Jones for a 27-yard score. Minnesota went for the two-point conversion again, and this time McCarthy connected with Adam Thielen to put the Vikings up 20-17.
And they weren’t done yet.
McCarthy’s 10-yard pass to Jefferson put the Vikings at the Bears 14, and McCarthy ran in for the score on the next play, taking advantage of a hole created by T.J. Hockenson.
“That was one of my favorites, for sure,” McCarthy said, grinning.
McCarthy is the first to say he can play better. Will have to play better going forward.
But the learning curve for a young quarterback is steep, and bad losses — and bad play in bad losses — can make it seem insurmountable. McCarthy, and his team, now know that it’s not. That no matter how badly he plays, he can work his way out of it.
Because he did.
“There’s no way to deny, we don’t win this game unless J.J. plays the way he did in the second half. And, most importantly, he kept the belief of his football team behind him,” O’Connell said. “Now we know it’s possible.”
For McCarthy, it seems like anything is.
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.
