The Minnesota Vikings dropkicked the Detroit Lions, who were coming out of their bye week, at Ford Field on Sunday, and quarterback JJ McCarthy had a bit of fun with his vanquished opponents in the game’s aftermath.
McCarthy took to Instagram on Monday, November 3, and posted a four-word message that served as a joke/troll at the Lions’ expense.
“Knee caps are intact,” McCarthy captioned the post, which was a series of photographs from the Vikings-Lions contest.
The quarterback’s comments were a wink to a now rather infamous press conference that Lions head coach Dan Campbell gave in January of 2021 when Detroit announced him as its new leader.
Here’s what I do know, that this team is going to take on the identity of this city. And this city’s been down, and it found a way to get up. It’s found a way to overcome adversity. So this team’s going to be built on, we’re going to kick you in the teeth, all right? And when you punch us back, we’re going to smile at you, and when you knock us down, we’re going to get up. And on the way up, we’re going to bite a kneecap off.
And we’re going to stand up, and then it’s going to take two more shots to knock us down. And on the way up, we’re going to take your other kneecap, and we’re going to get up, and then it’s going to take three shots to get us down. And when we do, we’re going to take another hunk out of you. Before long, we’re going to be the last one standing. That’s going to be the mentality.
JJ McCarthy Was Hero of Vikings’ Crucial Road Win in Detroit
GettyMinnesota Vikings quarterback JJ McCarthy.
McCarthy deserves to walk around with swagger after besting the Lions in the state of Michigan, where the now 22-year-old quarterback attended college and led the Wolverines to a national championship.
He returned to the area over the weekend after missing five games (six weeks) with a high-ankle sprain, and did so to considerable questions about his readiness for the NFL spotlight after struggling through seven of the eight quarters he played in the team’s first two games of 2025 to kick off his professional career.
McCarthy completed 14-of-25 pass attempts for 143 yards, two TDs and one INT. He also rushed for a score and made a crucial third-down conversion on a pass to wide receiver Jalen Nailor late in the fourth quarter to seal the three-point victory.
JJ McCarthy Says Vikings Playing With Different Energy Now
GettyMinnesota Vikings quarterback JJ McCarthy.
Following the game, McCarthy spoke about a new energy in Minnesota following its 3-4 start to the year, something the team is desperately going to need as it faces the toughest schedule in the league coming down the final 10-game stretch, which included playing on the road against the Lions over the weekend.
“Obviously, a lot of excitement … and I’m just so proud of the guys,” McCarthy told Tom Rinaldi of FOX Sports during a postgame interview. “We fought, we had a different energy this week, a different level of focus. But there’s a lot more we can clean up.”
“We haven’t reached our potential,” McCarthy continued. “We haven’t even gotten close yet.”
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