The Minnesota Vikings have a lot of hope resting on their franchise quarterback, J.J. McCarthy, who was back in action for the team’s first preseason game of the 2025-26 run last weekend. It was great to finally see McCarthy out there on the field, and he performed very well, which should easy some concerns from Vikings followers who have been nervous about his NFL debut.
The Vikings and McCarthy beat the Houston Texans in that game by a final score of 20-10, but it’s the preseason, so winning wasn’t even the best part of that outcome. The best thing was seeing McCarthy having a good game, in addition to Vikings backup quarterbacks Sam Howell and Max Brosmer.
Now, one former NFL quarterback is singing the praises of McCarthy, and it should make Minnesota smile.
J.J. McCarthy Has the Perfect Recipe for Success
On Tuesday, August 12, Fox Sports’ Colin Cowherd had former NFL quarterback and current NBC Sports analyst Chris Simms on his “The Herd with Colin Cowherd” show, and the discussion turned to Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy. While Cowherd has been opening critical of McCarthy, Simms was not.
GettyJ.J. McCarthy #9 of the Minnesota Vikings.
In the discussed, Simms said, “I would be shocked if it didn’t work out. Now, the things you bring up, I think, are legitimate questions. You’re right there. You’d like to have had some more games right through the ball 30 and 40 times. But at the same time, Colin, I’d argue, he did play a pro-style football type of attack.”
He added, “You know, maybe an NFL [defensive-minded] type of team, and he had to manage the game that way. And when he did drop back to pass, it wasn’t like, ‘Oh, I throw a screen here or a little bubble screen over here.’ He had to throw the ball and push the ball down the field. …I think he has an incredible arm, his body looks good, [and he’s] definitely put on some weight.”
Simms also called O’Connell a “quarterback whisperer” and said that the teams is “going to be better running the football this year in Minnesota than we’ve seen in years past. And of course, he’s got the weapons around him on the outside.”
Minnesota Vikings and the Team’s X Factor
In a piece published on Wednesday, August 13, for ESPN, the publication’s staff looks at each NFL team and predicts the win-loss record and X factor for each team. So, let’s get into their prediction for the Vikings, which is mixed. “To look at the bigger picture and just how good — or bad — every team could be this season, we turned to our ESPN Football Power Index (FPI),” ESPN explains.
For the Cowboys, the ceiling is 11-6, and the floor is 6-11. So, what’s the X factor for the Vikings? The one thing that will make or break the team this season, ESPN believes, is their run game.
“Is Kevin O’Connell serious about the run game?” Kevin Seifert states in the piece. “The Vikings coach took a step toward balancing his offense in 2024 from its pass-happy ways in 2022-23, but the ascendance of first-time starter J.J. McCarthy will necessitate a bigger shift.”
Let’s hope McCarthy hits the ground running when the season takes off.
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