With the much-anticipated return of J.J. McCarthy, the Vikings not only managed to overcome the largest point-spread of the KOC era, but also the biggest upset win since 2010 against the Detroit Lions.
The oddsmakers, who tend to be adept at such things, the national sports media bloviators, and, sadly, yours truly, didn’t think the Vikings could pull it off.
I was thrilled to be wrong.
In short, it was precisely the type of game I envisioned for the first half of the season: McCarthy showing flashes and making high-leverage plays in clutch situations, amid inconsistency and expected developmental hiccups, aided by a lights-out, elite defense to secure close victories. It was this formula that initially led me to predict a close victory in this contest back in May. Better late than never, I guess.
Given the circumstances, this was the biggest win of the KOC era. And while I’m not ready to dust off my playoff prediction just yet, it could signal good things over the final nine games. I’m still in the wait-and-see camp given the inconsistent performances shown in all phases of the team so far, but my goodness, was that satisfying.
While the folks at the DN have done their usual excellent job recapping everything, here are some other quick thoughts:
J.J. McCarthy and the “It Factor”: All the guy does is win. Everywhere. In high school, he was 36-2. At Michigan, he was 27-1 and led the Wolverines to a national championship. Now, he’s 2-1 with the Vikings, with two road division wins. The loss to the Falcons was filled with caveats. The statistics so far are modest, but the clutch plays made in high-pressure situations with the game on the line are anything but. You know, the hardest part and the only thing that truly matters in the end. The three games have included long stretches of inconsistent execution in the passing game. McCarthy missed throws and made mistakes. That’s to be expected, and it’s surely something that will be a focus moving forward. A complete game approaching the high points so far is something we should all be excited about. The 300-yard passing games will come soon enough. I’ll take the victories first, thank you very much.
With that in mind…
Time to Put the Conspiracy Theories to Rest: Toss the tinfoil hats in the trash, folks. I never bought into the “soft benching” theory about McCarthy, and no one else should now, either. It made no sense, considering how the offseason unfolded. Red flags would have been caught, and an insurance policy would’ve been taken out. That insurance policy would have been Aaron Rodgers. Heck, maybe even Joe Flacco, who’s got the Bengals’ offense humming to the tune of 37.6 points per game over the last three weeks. Of course, defense is a thing, too. The Vikings are built to win now, with expectations for McCarthy resting comfortably in the 2024 Daniels to Nix range. I have no reason to think this has changed. Those other QBs started slow last year, too! Many people don’t realize that; they only remember the end result.
Ditto the “Max Brosmer is secretly Patrick Mahomes but KOC can’t play him because it would make McCarthy and (by extension) KAM look bad” stuff. I like Max Brosmer and hope he can have a nice NFL career. But we’ve been down this path before. For every Tom Brady, there are a thousand Kyle Sloters. For every Kurt Warner, there are a thousand Jaren Halls. Could Brosmer be the new Brock Purdy? Sure. Is it likely? Absolutely not. If I’m not mistaken, winning games is the only thing that matters. If Brosmer were Dan Marino, no one would care – from the Wilfs to the guy in the Bob Uecker seats at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Hear me out: Maybe, just maybe, McCarthy really did suffer a severe ankle injury, and the return timetable was six to seven weeks. And that KOC wasn’t lying when he said that McCarthy would return only when fully recovered.
KOC Improvements: To secure his first win against the Lions at Ford Field, it was going to take ingenuity and solid game planning. Both were evident on Sunday. The run game looked the best since the Bengals game, but they don’t have a functional NFL defense, so there’s that, too. It effectively mixed concepts with solid blocking all around to keep the Lions’ defense guessing. Listen, 258 total yards isn’t going to remind anyone of 1998, but given the circumstances, it was sufficient. It’s still mid-September in terms of McCarthy’s game reps. Greater efficiency and production will be needed in the passing game on an incredibly truncated timeline. I believe that KOC can achieve this accelerated progress. That being said, old habits die hard, and the terrible goal-line play-calling and clock management late in the game would have caused KOC to be criticized nationwide if the Lions had gotten the ball back with a chance to kick the tying field goal. And if we’d have lost in OT or something? Oh boy. Thank you, McCarthy and Nailor. This must improve.
Flores Dominates: That’s more like it. This was the defense I expected all offseason. One that not only puts Jake Browning and Dillon Gabriel in their place, but also the mighty Lions. I love Andrew Van Ginkel, but unless he’s the most dominant defensive player since Lawrence Taylor, how do you go from what we saw 10 days ago against the Chargers to the dominant performance on Sunday? I understand the short week and parity and all that stuff, but it’s genuinely baffling. Still, we needed this. After falling behind 7-0 in a blink of an eye, the defense kept the Lions’ offense in check, holding them to 305 yards, sacking Goff five times, along with 11 quarterback hits, 24 total pressures, and 10 tackles for a loss. Considering Jameson Williams got away with a push-off on the 37-yard touchdown pass to make it 27-24, the stats could’ve been even more impressive. There’s no resting with Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry on the horizon, so let’s hope this is the version we see moving forward.
Special Teams… Good, But: Myles Price has been a revelation. The Baby-Faced Assassin, Will Reichard (h/t oofda), has been the hero we always expected. The field-goal block may have won the game for us on Sunday. But the penalties, man. The freakin’ penalties. I don’t know what the team record is for special team penalties in a season, but it wouldn’t shock me if we’re on pace to shatter the damn thing. The Vikings are third in the NFL in that category (14) and number one in yards penalized (141). It’s absolutely going to come back to bite us at the worst time, because that’s what happens to us. Matt Daniels needs to get this fixed. I’m confident he can.
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