‘We Knew He Had That Dog in Him:’ Inside J.J. McCarthy’s Debut Comeback Win

CHICAGO — For three quarters, it was ugly.

Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy’s NFL debut was, by his own count, his first real football game in 609 days, with all the rust you might expect to accumulate in such time.

Minnesota trailed 17-6 in the fourth quarter, and McCarthy had accounted for more Bears points — on a 74-yard pick-six by Chicago cornerback Nahshon Wright — than he had for his own offense. The Vikings had mustered only 85 total yards on nine drives, with only five first downs for the night, going 0-for-8 on third downs.

“For a while there, it just felt like everything that could go wrong kind of did,” Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell said after the game. “And many, many times, teams will wilt in those circumstances. Ours did not.”

McCarthy, making his debut less than 20 miles from his hometown, had struggled at such levels that critics online wondered if the Vikings should trade to bring Kirk Cousins back, if the 2024 first-round pick just wasn’t the answer for Minnesota after missing his entire rookie season due to knee surgery.

And then, in three successive drives, McCarthy changed everything, with his defense stepping up at the same time. All-Pro receiver Justin Jefferson, who had 4 receiving yards on three targets, caught a 13-yard touchdown pass from McCarthy with 12:13 left, cutting the Bears’ lead to 17-12.

Then the next drive, a 27-yard touchdown pass to running back Aaron Jones for the lead, and the next, O’Connell called for a zone-read play where McCarthy took off on his own, running 14 yards for an unimaginable 27-17 lead. Three drives, three touchdowns and a complete flip of the script in the stadium where he grew up cheering for the hometown Bears. Chicago added a late score but fell 27-24.

“I was absolutely fired up. It was like the perfect time to call it,” McCarthy said of his final touchdown. “The offensive line did a great job, T.J. [Hockenson] with that block, just finishing the job. That was one of my favorites.”

McCarthy is still only 22, and such a turnaround would be impressive in any game, let alone a player’s first. The last time any quarterback led his team out of a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter of his NFL debut, it was Steve Young, in 1985. McCarthy was the first player to account for three touchdowns in the fourth quarter of an NFL debut, ever. 

And the Vikings saw it coming.

“I told him at halftime: ‘You are going to bring us back to win this game, and the look in his eye was fantastic,’” O’Connell said. “And the best thing was just the belief I felt from that team, and ultimately, that doesn’t get done without him in the second half, two passing touchdowns and a critical rushing touchdown.”

The Vikings believed in McCarthy all along, from the moment they drafted him 10th overall in 2024. Sam Darnold stepped in last season and threw for 35 touchdowns in a Pro Bowl season, guiding them to a 14-3 record, and still, Minnesota let him leave and sign a $100 million contract with the Seahawks. That meant trusting someone who’d never thrown a pass in the NFL. This offseason, the Vikings could have brought in a Hall of Famer in Aaron Rodgers, but again, they stuck with their guy, with players voting McCarthy as a team captain before the season.

Jefferson was asked after the win if he learned anything about his quarterback.

“I already knew what J.J. was about. This was all about showing the world,” Jefferson said. “We knew him coming in from Michigan, being a national champion, we knew he had that dog in him. And really today, seeing his composure, seeing his grit, seeing him lead the team — even when we were down — it goes a long way.”

McCarthy said his confidence had gotten a spark earlier, just before halftime. The Vikings got the ball at their 31 with 19 seconds left, trailing 10-3, a take-a-knee-and-head-in moment for many teams. But McCarthy found receiver Jalen Nailor for a 28-yard gain, and kicker Will Reichard connected on a 59-yard field goal, giving the team a dose of momentum going into the locker room.

Even as they struggled, McCarthy found ways to lift his teammates. In the huddle in the third quarter, long before any comeback truly began, he looked at his offense, motioned to the loud stadium all around them and asked, “Where would you rather be?”

“I’ve never actually said that before, but I feel like it was at the perfect time,” McCarthy said. “Guys were kind of, you know, just in their head a little bit. I feel like a smile goes a long way. So there were a lot of smiles right after I said that, just a little bit of perspective shift. Yeah, things weren’t going our way, but we’re here. We’re doing this together. And the boys, they responded perfectly.”

The NFC North could be the NFL’s most entertaining division this year — its top three teams went a combined 40-11 last year, then went 0-3 in the playoffs. The Packers showed Sunday in a win over the Lions that last year’s standings could turn upside-down. Green Bay and Chicago went a combined 2-10 in the division, but were on their way to a 2-0 start this season before McCarthy and the Vikings pulled themselves off the mat in dramatic fashion.

“He just kept his belief and his trust in himself,” O’Connell said. “The phrase I like to use is being at your best when your best is required. There’s no other time than to have two passing touchdowns and a rushing touchdown, 21 points in just the fourth quarter alone. Just a really big-time moment to build off of.”

The Vikings are an emphatic 1-0 to start the season, and the Bears have an agonizing 0-1 start. The McCarthy era has begun, and he looked back on his first game since winning a national title with Michigan in January 2024, appreciating how far he’d come between two victories worth celebrating.

“It’s been a long journey,” he said. “It’s been a while of just being in the training room, watching a lot of film, learning the playbook and trying to master that. It’s such a blessing to be an NFL football player and play in this league, and I’m grateful we get to go out there next week and play the Falcons on Sunday night.”

Greg Auman is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He previously spent a decade covering the Buccaneers for the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.

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