It hasn’t been pretty for Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy through the first two games of his career.
The 22-year-old quarterback’s ESPN QBR ranks 32nd of 33 qualifying quarterbacks. He’s completed 24 of 41 passes (58.5%) for 301 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions.
While he mounted an 11-point comeback win over the Chicago Bears in Week 1, he failed to score a touchdown against the Atlanta Falcons in a 22-6 loss on Sunday night.
Ranking 31st in total yards through two weeks, the Vikings offensive struggles are evident — and they may not be a couple of fixes away.
After the game, head coach Kevin O’Connell issued a warning that this is what the development of McCarthy would look like.
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“This is going to be a process for our team,” O’Connell said. “Our young quarterback is going to make some plays. He’s going to make some unbelievable throws. … And then, other times, he’s going to have an attempt and just miss something a little long, and we will go back and try to fix it. Sometimes, the fundamentals are going to be right, the technique is going to be right, but he’s learning on the fly right now. The way you overcome that is by the full group’s execution level being to a certain standard that we can go try to compete and win with.”
To matters worse for McCarthy, O’Connell announced on Monday that he is dealing with an ankle sprain and ruled out McCarthy for Week 3. Carson Wentz will get the start against the Cincinnati Bengals in what’s looking like an early must-win game for both teams.
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Coming off a season-ending mensicus tear his rookie year, McCarthy is already facing adversity this season — but the Vikings have not lost confidence in the young signal caller.
“He’s built for this,” Adam Thielen said in a locker room interview. “That’s why they fell in love with him in the draft process, and why we all are so confident in him because he’s legitimately built for that. It’s going to be a process as a team, like it is every year. You just keep going to work and learning from the good things and learning from the bad times, and keep building every single week.”
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