Credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images
Sunday night was supposed to be a celebration at U.S. Bank Stadium. Not only was football back in the Twin Cities, but so was Adam Thielen, who was honored pregame, lathering up Minnesota Vikings fans in attendance at U.S. Bank Stadium for what we hoped would be the perfect weekend nightcap against the Atlanta Falcons.
Unfortunately, it was not that. Quite the opposite, in fact. On Sunday Night Football, with the entire world watching, the Vikings laid a dud. Outside of Brian Flores’ bend-but-don’t-break defensive creating some early game highlights, the 70,000+ packed into The Bank were rendered completely useless.
Steadily, Vikings fans went from rabid at kickoff, to nervous by halftime… and apathetic by mid-fourth quarter, after former Viking John Parker Romo kicked the Falcons to a late 15-6 lead that might as well have been 45-6.
What We Learned – Minnesota Vikings vs Atlanta Falcons
Credit: Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images
That’s what happens when, less than one week after a historic comeback victory in Chicago — where we saw the Vikings score three fourth quarter touchdowns while Brian Flores’ defense wrapped Caleb Williams’ brain into a second half pretzel — the offense forgets how to move the ball and your defense how to stop the run.
So on that note, let’s dig into what we learned about the Minnesota Vikings during Sunday’s lullaby 22-6 week two home loss against the Atlanta Falcons.
Minnesota Vikings tough in the redzone, but soft against the run
Before we get to the struggles of JJ McCarthy, let’s discuss Brian Flores’ 2025 crew, and what to take away from their performance last night, one that raised just as many questions about the MN Vikings defense as it brought answers.
But how well did it work, really? Because the Falcons piled up a mind-numbing 218 rushing yards, on 5.6 yards per carry. Atlanta’s offense also passed for 198 yards. By himself, Bijan Robinson rushed for 22 times and accounted for 143 yards on the ground (6.5 YPC).
You want a shot at a lot of $$$ as WR or RB
Practice long sticks with one stride and drive stepping with toes of other foot pointed 90 degrees to boundary at full speed.
This kind of hip movement underscores great routes and RB C.O.D.
Bijan Robinson #Falcons pic.twitter.com/duFTAPdZdb
— Matt Waldman (@MattWaldman) September 15, 2025
Flores knew that the Falcons were going to establish the run early, if they were allowed to do so. That’s how they built their team, behind the ultra-talented Bijan Robinson, especially once they moved on from Kirk Cousins as their starter.
It’s possible B-Flo was fine with that, which would explain Minnesota’s “bend-but-don’t-break” defensive strategy. You could even argue that it worked, being Atlanta didn’t score its first touchdown until there was just 3:22 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Combine all that with the Vikings’ offensive struggles, and there should be no surprise that the Bears won the time of possession battle 36:32 to 23:28. And when your offense is only on the field for 1/3 of the game, you get QB stat lines like JJ McCarthy’s Sunday night.
JJ McCarthy takes major step back
It took a crazed comeback in Chicago for McCarthy to reach 143 yards passing in week one. That’s not a huge deal, especially in a win.
In week one vs the Bears, even before he led the comeback, McCarthy looked poised and somewhat comfortable in the pocket, against the Bears, especially for a redshirt rookie making his NFL debut. He progressed through his reads, before delivering accurately and on-time to open receivers, when they were there.
None of that was true last night, where the Vikings’ youngster looked more like a deer in headlights than he did a professional quarterback, finishing 11/21 for 158 yards, 0 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.
JJ McCarthy tonight:
•11/21
•158 yards
•0 TDs
•2 INTs
•22-6 Loss
Maybe he should just stick to handing the ball off
— Daily MSU (@daily_msu) September 15, 2025
But per usual, it isn’t what McCarthy did on paper that made me nervous, it was what I saw with my eyes. Sunday night, back at home with no crowd noise to deal with, JJ looked oddly uncomfortable, under the bright lights of U.S. Bank Stadium.
The 22-year-old struggled to get the team lined up on time, set protections properly and communicate with Kevin O’Connell. Those issues led to all sorts of free pass rushers, missed blocking assignments and multiple fumbled or bobbled exchanges between McCarthy and two different centers.
Related: JJ McCarthy’s Legendary Moment in Vikings Huddle Shook Teammates, Sparked Comeback
When he did get the ball in his hands successfully, life wasn’t much better., as McCarthy struggled to go through reads and get the ball out on time. Worse yet, he missed throws that are normally free throws for him.
The kid was bouncing footballs short of his receivers, throwing them over their heads. It was an ugly night for the redshirt rookie.
“JJ McCarthy can’t throw” pic.twitter.com/SNYNFdtWEk
— Blake (@RyanDayRuinedMe) September 15, 2025
We all expect growing pains from the Minnesota Vikings’ young franchise QB this season. Last night, it was HOW he made his mistakes that was most worrisome. Going forward, what matters is how he responds.
Please, make the injuries stop
The Minnesota Vikings entered 2025 feeling downright cocky about their medical staff, even targeting injury-prone offensive and defensive linemen in free agency, in order to save a buck.
So far, not good. For weeks/months, coaches and those around TCO Performance Center have been touting Christian Darrisaw’s recovery and rehab from knee surgery that ended his 2024 season halfway through.
They were so sure of themselves that most of the fanbase and those in media expected the 25-year-old All-Pro caliber blindside protector to suit up week one.
He didn’t. Then in week two, after being a full-participant in practice all week, Darrisaw was inactive again. As a result, JJ McCarthy has been dealing with constant pressure from the left side.
.@AtlantaFalcons @Vikings Falcons rookie class all showed up and showed out @jalonwalkr @JamesPearceJr10 @xavierwatts6 @Billy2Bowman the Falcons have a pass rush. spread the news. #BaldysBreakdowns pic.twitter.com/i1XbanGQqd
— Brian Baldinger (@BaldyNFL) September 15, 2025
To make matters worse, there is still concern over whether or not Darrisaw will be ready to play in week three, which would raise even bigger problems, being Skule and Kelly may very-well have to sit out too, after they suffered concussions vs the Falcons.
On defense, the injury list just keeps growing. None of Harrison Smith, Blake Cashman (IR) or Andrew Van Ginkel were active on Sunday night, leaving massive gaps at the second and third levels that helped lead to Bijan Robinson’s big day.
Related: Kevin O’Connell Says Jettas Isn’t the Diva He Sees Elsewhere
On both sides of the football, if the Minnesota Vikings cannot start to get healthier, it may not matter how much better McCarthy gets or how much KOC learns on the job. And for a team so confident in that department, it’s time to walk the walk.
This team has a lot of problems, but they can’t really fix them if most of their best players aren’t on the field. Thankfully, the upcoming Vikings schedule is the easiest it will be all season, so there is plenty of room to turn things around.
Kevin O’Connell needs to be better
There’s only one person, outside of McCarthy himself, who’s responsible for making sure JJ bounces back from Sunday’s brutal week two showing.
It took just three seasons for Kevin O’Connell to ascend up the NFL head coaching ranks and establish himself as, possibly, the best QB whisperer in the entire league.
But he needs to do more than whisper, if he wants McCarthy to develop into a top NFL quarterback. We all know that, behind the scenes, our young QB is being taken care of and coached better than most.
What about during games, though? Because the Minnesota Vikings are still missing their star left tackle, Christian Darrisaw, and injury issues up front just continue to get worse.
Some rookie-on-rookie fun with Falcons first-round pick James Pearce Jr. beating Vikings first-round pick Donovan Jackson for the sack.
Pearce had a 23% pass rush win rate at Tennessee last season. pic.twitter.com/IwFQC0EO2k
— Bobby Football (@Rob__Paul) September 15, 2025
Beyond injuries, though, it sure seems like there is too much on the young QB’s plate pre-snap, when it comes to offensive checks and protections, causing late breaks out of the huddle and rushing at the line of scrimmage.
It’s on O’Connell, especially if the line doesn’t get healthier this week, to simplify the process for JJ McCarthy so he can play fast and loose.
Oh, and when you have short yardage situations, how about we just give the ball to Jordan Mason (since that’s why the Vikings got him), instead of play action fake tosses and/or QB sneaks that continue to fail?
This is the one I keep coming back to.
JJ McCarthy has drove you down the entire field. You’ve been sworn by running the ball the entire game, but when you have the ball at the two yard line, you don’t. pic.twitter.com/hvNGGG5hx9
— 𝙆𝙖𝙨𝙚 (@verysadvikings) September 15, 2025
There is no doubting KOC’s abilities as a play-caller or his future as an NFL head coach. But it’s on him to make life easier for JJ McCarthy going forward. And if he can’t, then nothing he has done to this point will matter.
MN Vikings hope on the horizon…?
Next week, they will host a Joe Burrow-less Cincinnati Bengals, before flying overseas to defend their undefeated international record against the Cleveland Browns (week 4) and Pittsburgh Steelers (week 5).
Both contests were supposed to be road games, Instead, they are at neutral sites, (Dublin and London) a scheduling outlier that the Vikings must take advantage of.
JJ McCarthy had 4 chunk completions in one drive that got us down to the two yard line.
Once protection is sorted out, they should open up the playbook for him. He can do this! pic.twitter.com/sUHPkgpSAy
— 𝙆𝙖𝙨𝙚 (@verysadvikings) September 15, 2025
Related: Vikings HC Wastes No Time Delivering Legendary Message
To do so, however, their defense needs to be better against the run and JJ McCarthy needs to be better overall. That means moving on from an ugly week two lands at the feet of head coach Kevin O’Connell and defensive coordinator Brian Flores.
In the meantime, fans need to try and remember that there are still 15 games (of 17) remaining… so there’s a whole lot we have yet to learn about the 2025 Minnesota Vikings. A month from now, we’ll realize how little we actually knew about this team, after the Falcons loss.
Mentioned in this article: Atlanta Falcons J.J. McCarthy Kevin O’Connell What We Learned
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