If things had gone the way they were probably supposed to, Monday night’s game at Soldier Field between the Minnesota Vikings and the Chicago Bears would not be quarterback J.J. McCarthy’s first career start in purple. However, that’s the scenario we’re looking at, which means that McCarthy’s NFL journey will begin where his initial football journey began 18 years ago.
Minnesota Star-Tribune writer Chip Scoggins unearthed this picture of a young J.J. McCarthy ahead of his first ever NFL game at age 4. McCarthy grew up as a Bears fan. . .I mean, nobody’s perfect. . .and his first NFL game was at Soldier Field in 2007 when the Bears hosted the Vikings.
Now, the historians among you probably recall that game without a lot of prompting. That was the first “Adrian Peterson game,” as the rookie ran for 224 yards and three touchdowns, exchanging absurd feats with Devin Hester, in a game that the Vikings won on a last-second field goal from Ryan Longwell. That was McCarthy’s first experience with the NFL, and now his first regular season experience as a professional will come on that same field on Monday night.
While McCarthy will certainly have a lot of friends and family in attendance on Monday night in Chicago, hopefully his career path will have converted many of them to the purple and rescued them from the path of navy blue and orange. More importantly, hopefully they’ll see him lead the Vikings to a 1-0 start to the 2025 NFL season.
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