J.J. McCarthy was 4 years old when he attended his first NFL game.
He wore a navy Brian Urlacher jersey to Soldier Field and watched the Vikings, of all teams, make a 55-yard field goal at the gun to beat the Bears, 34-31. His father bought a program on the way out of the stadium to commemorate the first of his son’s many trips to see the Bears.
Don’t expect the La Grange Park native — and now the Vikings quarterback — to get too sentimental about it Monday night when he makes his NFL debut against those same Bears.
“I feel like home is in Minnesota,” he told Vikings reporters this week.
The quarterback’s hometown team awaits nonetheless.
When he was a child, McCarthy fantasized about playing for the Bears. Just 18 months ago, Bears quarterback Caleb Williams dreamed of playing for the Vikings — before the draft, Williams admired coach Kevin O’Connell and was intrigued by the idea of playing alongside all-world receiver Justin Jefferson. Williams and his father discussed ways to force his way to the Vikings, including by ripping the city of Chicago, before Williams decided he was willing to head to Halas Hall.
That’s not the only way the two will be connected for years to come. If both become their team’s franchise quarterback, they can be rivals for the next decade.
Williams and McCarthy went to camps together and then matriculated through the 2024 draft alongside each other, but aren’t particularly close.
“I know that he’s a competitor, he’s won some games … and won a national championship at the college level,” Williams said. “I think he’s a competitor. And the rivalry part of it, we’ll have to see.”
Kirk Cousins never had one. When he quarterbacked the Vikings from 2018-23, the Bears started eight different quarterbacks, including first-round picks Mitch Trubisky and Justin Fields. When Jay Cutler played for the Bears from 2009-16, the Vikings countered with 10 different starters, from Brett Favre, who is now 55 years old, to Teddy Bridgewater, who’s 32.
Williams and McCarthy, by contrast, have a chance to come up together. And to be compared to each other for the rest of his career.
The Bears drafted Williams first overall last year while the Vikings took him nine picks later. They never wavered from Williams but saw the appeal of McCarthy, who hadn’t yet turned 21 when he won a national title at Michigan. After Williams, they thought he had the highest potential of the first-round candidates.
McCarthy joined a roster that could bring out just that, headlined by Jefferson, who was two years removed from totaling 1,809 receiving yards, sixth-most in NFL history. McCarthy’s season ended before it started, though, when he tore his meniscus during his preseason debut in 2024. He needed two surgeries to fix it, and sat out the season. Sam Darnold played all 16 games, throwing for 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns and going 14-3.
The Vikings let Darnold leave free agency, though, confident in what McCarthy could do. They flirted with Aaron Rodgers, but decided against signing him.
A year-and-a-half after he was drafted, McCarthy gets the chance to show the Vikings what he can do — while back at home.
“Those are a lot of things that don’t necessarily have to do with him doing his job,” Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell said. “We tried to build a world where running the offense and playing quarterback is a collection of really small things — some would even consider them routine things. And can we do the routine things routinely?”
Monday night won’t feel routine, though, no matter how much the Vikings might want it to.
“There’s pure excitement, pure confidence. …” McCarthy said. “The best advice I received was, ‘Just go be you.’”