After missing several games due to an ankle injury, the Minnesota Vikings are expected to have J.J. McCarthy back under center. Moreover, his arrival comes at the right time, considering Carson Wentz’s 2025 NFL season is done due to a shoulder injury.
Whether Minnesota can bounce back with a Week 9 win over the Detroit Lions and push for the playoffs in the NFC remains to be seen. Nonetheless, the Vikings will hope that McCarthy can stay healthy for the remainder of the season to see what they have in the player.
Even though the young signal caller is returning, FS1 host Colin Cowherd dropped a comparison to the Indianapolis Colts. Cowherd believes that the Vikings are in the same boat the Colts were before they went after Daniel Jones, who was with Minnesota last season, to eventually replace Anthony Richardson as the starter.
“I saw this story [on October 31] about an underlying tension surrounding the Vikings and J.J. McCarthy in the building,” Cowherd said on the October 31 edition of “The Herd.” “There’s an underlying tension. And what I’m about to say, I absolutely believe is true: The Minnesota Vikings this year are the Indianapolis Colts last year.
“The roster was excellent — O-line, weapons, head coach. The Colts just needed a quarterback. The Indianapolis media the last two years has been banging on the Colts organization, saying they didn’t have a quarterback. Once you get the alpha at quarterback, it changes everything. But if you don’t, you look incompetent.”
Should the Vikings Regret Not Paying Sam Darnold?
Over the offseason, the Vikings front office decided not to pay Sam Darnold despite his production and handed the keys to the franchise over to McCarthy. Nonetheless, Cowherd believes that Minnesota are facing the consequences for not paying Darnold this offseason.
“Quarterback is the steak,“ Cowherd added. “You can have a great… you go to a restaurant — the vino is good, the sides are amazing, bathrooms are clean. I mean, the apps are unbelievable, the dessert’s super. Steak stinks? Bad experience. It doesn’t matter. If the steak’s bad, I don’t care about the sides, the vino, the staff, or the ambiance. Steak bad, night bad.
“In the NFL — Minnesota and the Colts — roster like the GM, excellent offensive coach. Quarterback’s bad, everybody looks incompetent. That is the NFL. And I will pay for both — a great steak and a great quarterback. Don’t go cheap. Want to save money? Do it on your paper towels, okay? Don’t do it on your steak. Don’t do it on your quarterback.
“I mean, you’ve gone to a restaurant before — a steakhouse can get everything right. The steak is burnt, too raw, just not very good. Ruins the night. I like Brussels sprouts as much as the next guy. I like that espresso at the end of the night, too. Got to get the steak right.”
J.J. McCarthy Will Look to Get Off on the Right Foot
Before the matchup against the Lions, wide receiver Justin Jefferson met with reporters on October 30 to talk about what it means to have the second-year quarterback back in the starting role.
“Looks good,“ Jefferson told reporters. “Just going through the plays, going through the motions, dialing up the connection, and, of course, expanding the relationship that we have out there on the field. So it’s been great. I feel like he has the confidence to go out there and do what we expect him to do.
“It’s just all about having that energy and thinking about one play at a time—not thinking about the big play, making the best play of the game, or being perfect throughout the game. It’s just all about taking one play at a time, leaning on everybody in the offense to go to work, and just lead us. And that’s pretty much the main message to him.”
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