McCarthy’s growing pains aren’t going to suddenly vanish anytime soon for frustrated Vikings

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — J.J. McCarthy and the Minnesota Vikings fell too far behind on his development during his injury absences to warrant another pause.

As erratic as his performance has been recently for a team fading fast from the NFC playoff race, the Vikings realize how vital it is for McCarthy to continue to build his catalog of meaningful snaps.

The Vikings (4-6) also don’t have any viable alternatives at this point, even if they were tempted to prioritize their record over his progress down the stretch of this dual-goal season built around the belief they could contend while conducting on-the-job-training for McCarthy.

“What’s best for the young quarterback, what’s best for our offense, what’s best for the team, that’s my job to manage all of that, and I’ve got to do a better job of that,” coach Kevin O’Connell said after Minnesota’s 19-17 loss to Chicago on Sunday.

Even if Sam Darnold’s success last season might well have kept McCarthy’s playing time as a rookie to a minimum, there’s no doubt his knee surgery recovery was a major setback. The sprained ankle earlier this season that effectively delayed the process by another five games was another costly blow.

Whether or not the sore throwing hand he’s played with over the past week factored into his recent accuracy trouble is irrelevant to the big picture reality that McCarthy’s growing pains won’t suddenly vanish in the next game. The nature of NFL quarterback play requires more time than that.

“There are some plays where he’s making it hard on himself. That’s probably the most frustrating part for him,” O’Connell said. “It’s talked about and repped and practiced at length, and then in those moments, in his fifth start — just the variance to it is causing his job to be more difficult than it needs to be.”

While completing just 36 of 74 passes over the past two games, McCarthy has struggled to establish consistency with his footwork and follow-through. Sometimes the ball simply comes in too hot. Whatever the cause, he seems to fully realize his lack of margin for misfiring to open receivers even after only five career games.

“I just can’t have it. This league is too hard,” McCarthy said. “I’ve got to be able to make those throws.”

The Vikings have been nothing but supportive publicly.

“He’s made of the right stuff. He’s going to keep working at it. We’re going to go back to work and continue to find every avenue to try to help build the consistency to his mechanics,” O’Connell said, “and then I firmly believe the accuracy will come from that.”

What needs help

Just about anything related to the quarterback at this point, but with McCarthy’s tendency to overthrow in either distance or velocity he could benefit from more calmness with his demeanor even if his intensity is typically a strength. There’s no evidence of overdoing it more glaring than this data from Sportradar: McCarthy is 0 for 11 with one interception and four sacks on third and fourth downs with 3 yards or less to go.

What’s working

The only category of any significance the Vikings offense currently has a top-10 league ranking in is rushing yards per attempt, with an average of 4.66 yards per play on the ground that’s ninth best in the NFL and the team’s highest since 2020. Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason are finding space and taking advantage of it when they’re getting the ball.

Stock up

Edge rusher Dallas Turner had three quarterback hits and two of his season-high seven tackles for loss, including a sack, plus one pass deflected at the line. After starting five games earlier with mixed-at-best results while Andrew Van Ginkel was out, Turner took the injured Jonathan Greenard’s place on Sunday and produced one of the finest games of his young career.

Stock down

Tight end T.J. Hockenson is having the least productive season of his career, with just 34 catches for 280 yards and two touchdowns. According to Sportradar analysis, Hockenson’s drop rate of catchable passes (8.1%) is the highest in his seven years in the league. Though he has been asked to block this season more than he or the team would have predicted or preferred and the unstable quarterback play has clearly factored in, Hockenson’s impact as a receiver has never been lower.

Injury report

Health is the best reason the Vikings have for optimism down the stretch. Greenard (shoulder) has a chance to make his injury a one-game absence. Ryan Kelly (concussion) has returned to practice appears close to returning to his role as the starting center.

Key number

57.4 — The average number of plays the Vikings have had per game this season is their lowest since 1962 (55.3), according to Sportradar, the second year of the franchise. Their marks in first downs per game (17.5) and three-and-out possession rate (26.5%) are their worst since 2006, and their average net gain (5.16 yards) per play is their lowest since 2016.

Up next

The Vikings visit Green Bay this Sunday with a two-game winning streak at Lambeau Field. They have another tough road trip the following week at Seattle before returning home to play struggling Washington on Dec. 7.

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