{"id":266252,"date":"2025-08-06T11:49:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T11:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/266252\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T11:49:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T11:49:10","slug":"j-j-mccarthy-is-getting-comfortable-being-uncomfortable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/266252\/","title":{"rendered":"J.J. McCarthy Is Getting Comfortable Being Uncomfortable"},"content":{"rendered":"

J.J. McCarthy<\/a> says that in a recent team meeting, Kevin O\u2019Connell<\/a> highlighted \u201ca lot of situations from last year that really made the difference in the outcomes of those games.\u201d<\/p>\n

Checks out, right?<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connell emphasizes situational mastery to the extent that he\u2019s commissioned polo shirts with a faux Masters logo on them. It\u2019s something a dad in Bloomington would do. Still, I\u2019m sure O\u2019Connell would like his loyal family to stop cutting out of work one game after succeeding in the regular season.<\/p>\n

McCarthy\u2019s film sessions with O\u2019Connell likely include every game from last season. However, O\u2019Connell likely emphasized the Week 18 Detroit Lions game.<\/p>\n

Detroit and the Los Angeles Rams were the only teams that beat the Vikings last year. The Lions beat them<\/a> in Week 7 coming out of the bye, and then the Rams defeated them<\/a> five days later in L.A. Still, the Week 18 game in Detroit felt like a larger letdown.<\/p>\n

Vikings special teams coordinator Matt Daniels<\/a> expected it to be a \u201cslobber knocker<\/a>,\u201d a much-hyped game between two 14-win teams. However, the Lions attacked Minnesota\u2019s interior offensive line, causing<\/a> Sam Darnold<\/a> to regress.<\/p>\n

He was 18 of 41 for 166 yards in Detroit, resulting in a 55.5 passer rating. It was his lowest rating aside from his debacle<\/a> in Jacksonville, and when he started sailing balls<\/a> in the second half against the New York Jets in London.<\/p>\n

Darnold resurrected his career<\/a> in Minnesota. Still, he looked like the player ghosts haunted<\/a> when he played for the New York Jets. Darnold looked uncomfortable throughout the game. His footwork diminished, and he struggled to complete easy passes to Justin Jefferson<\/a> downfield and T.J. Hockenson<\/a> as a bailout option.<\/p>\n

Still, O\u2019Connell felt the Vikings were only a few plays away from making a 31-9 loss a closer contest. He focused on the red zone, where Darnold was one for nine.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought Flo and the guys did some really good things in the first half to keep us in the football game,\u201d O\u2019Connell said after the game, referring to defensive coordinator Brian Flores. He added that the game could have been very different in the end \u201cif we had one or two more plays down in the red zone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most quarterbacks would have trouble operating an offense behind Minnesota\u2019s deteriorating interior offensive line. Still, ultimately, a lack of situational mastery kept the Vikings from competing in Detroit. Sean McVay saw what the Lions did and beat his former offensive coordinator using a similar approach a week later, eliminating them<\/a> 27-9 in a neutral-site game.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connell rued the interior offensive line\u2019s play after the Rams eliminated Minnesota in Glendale, Ariz. In the offseason, the Vikings bolstered<\/a> their trenches to give McCarthy the best opportunity<\/a> to succeed in his first season as a starter. Still, a better offensive line alone won\u2019t guarantee that McCarthy succeeds. He must also develop situational mastery.<\/p>\n

\u201cA great drill we had the other day, a three-way drill of just third [down], depending on where we\u2019re on the field, is it a go-forward situation, is it a punt, is it a field goal?\u201d McCarthy said at camp. \u201cI feel like just being able to really take those situations extremely seriously and be uncomfortable in those situations, it\u2019s going to make us even more comfortable when they really come.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCarthy will enter an inferno immediately. The Vikings play the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field on Monday Night Football to start the season. There, McCarthy will face Caleb Williams<\/a>, whom the Bears took first-overall after considering<\/a> McCarthy.<\/p>\n

Given that McCarthy grew up in La Grange Park, Ill., a Chicago suburb half an hour from the city, he will have friends and family in attendance. O\u2019Connell will be pacing the sidelines, hoping that he and the Vikings were wise to move on from Darnold to pave the way for his first-year quarterback.<\/p>\n

Inevitably, there will be a big play. A third-and-long deep in Bears territory with the Vikings trailing, where McCarthy must move the chains to keep the drive alive. McCarthy spent<\/a> last season studying the playbook and attending team meetings to prepare for this moment. Still, he won\u2019t feel comfortable in front of a hostile crowd, with Chicago\u2019s defense bearing down on him.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s in a moment like that where he must find comfort to deliver for a team with championship aspirations. The Vikings feel he\u2019ll be ready. McCarthy is using training camp to ensure they\u2019re right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"J.J. McCarthy says that in a recent team meeting, Kevin O\u2019Connell highlighted \u201ca lot of situations from last…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":266253,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2073],"tags":[7,1519,6192,233,259,2529,6,234],"class_list":{"0":"post-266252","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-vikings","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-j-j-mccarthy","10":"tag-kevin-oconnell","11":"tag-minnesota","12":"tag-minnesota-vikings","13":"tag-minnesotavikings","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-vikings"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114981671164894906","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/266253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}