Minnesota Vikings Head Coach Growing Frustrated with JJ McCarthy?

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JJ McCarthy - Kevin O'Connell - Minnesota Vikings
Credit: Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images

What are the Minnesota Vikings going to do to fix their offensive woes, short of benching JJ McCarthy? That is the most pressing question hanging over the local sports world on Monday.

There’s no hiding it anymore, not after his week 11 performance against the Chicago Bears. On Sunday, McCarthy went 16-of-32 for 150 yards, 1 TD and 2 INT. The redshirt rookie’s QB rating was an abysmal 47.7, his QBR a somehow more depressing 22.0.

The kid QB was missing left, right, high and low… if he saw the open receiver at all. Some (me) are blaming Kevin O’Connell for putting JJ McCarthy in a position where he clearly wasn’t ready to succeed, especially given how many other (better) options the MN Vikings turned away last offseason.

We all know Kevin can scheme receivers open. But as of Sunday afternoon, his starting quarterback is not capable of seeing and/or hitting those often wide-open targets. Others around the league, however, see it a different way.

Rival NFL coach: Kevin O’Connell growing frustrated with JJ McCarthy

Watching from afar, one opposing NFL coach tells league insider Mike Sando (The Athletic) that they can’t help but see an offensive-minded head coach and play-caller who’s growing frustrated by a former first round QB who is handcuffing his offense. Worse yet, it looks to JJ McCarthy can feel that frustration too.

“The receivers are visually frustrated, and they are open all over the tape,” another opposing coach said heading into Sunday. “All of them — (Jalen) Nailor, (Jordan) Addison, (Justin) Jefferson, the tight end (T.J. Hockenson). That should be a Cincinnati offense, but all you hear from Minnesota is about how rosy and great it is there. What I see is a quarterback who feels like he is really frustrating the play caller.”

The Athletic

Think about this. Had JJ McCarthy not gone 6-of-8 for 76 yards and a touchdown on the Vikings’ final drive, which nearly stole a win from the jaws of defeat over the Bears — McCarthy would have finished his day 10-of-24 for 74 yards, 2 interceptions and 0 touchdowns.

If you think the kid QB is taking heat, as it is, imagine how much worse it would be, had he not marched the MN Vikings offense down the field late in yesterday’s fourth quarter.

Can’t blame Minnesota Vikings head coach for being frustrated

We saw after Sunday’s game, and we will likely get more of the same on Monday — Kevin O’Connell is not the kind of coach who is going to throw his quarterback under the bus publicly.

When asked by The Athletic’s Alec Lewis during his postgame presser what it’s like managing a young quarterback with a team trying to win now, O’Connell admitted it’s a crucial part of his job, and that he is not doing it very well right now.

Lewis: “What is the balance for you right now, trying to manage [JJ McCarthy’s development] with the final result?”

O’Connell: “Yeah, what’s best for the young quarterback, what’s best for our offense, what’s best for the team. That’s my job to manage all those things and I have to do a better job of that.”

Kevin O’Connell’s exchange with Alec Lewis after Vikings loss vs Bears (video below)

Lewis’ question was followed by an even better one, via veteran NFL reporter, Kevin Seifert. After his latest failures against Chicago, the Vikings-assigned ESPN beat writer asked O’Connell the question on minds of Minnesota Vikings fans everywhere.

How bad does JJ McCarthy have to be in order for his head coach to seriously consider replacing the 2024 No. 10 overall draft pick with former Gopher and UDFA backup, Max Brosmer?

MN Vikings HC refuses question on right time to bench JJ McCarthy

Immediately, KOC took an out from Seifert’s question — which lead him down a tangent on play-calling (worth an article of its own) and how the entire team missed on opportunities to help the Minnesota Vikings beat Chicago, both beyond and including the quarterback.

But ultimately, O’Connell danced around the purpose of the original inquiry. So, Seifert re-ask it in a much more direct way, at which time O’Connell declined to answer.

Seifert: “To the finer point, is there a level of performance that [McCarthy] would need to get to for you to consider if he needs to be replaced in a game?”

O’Connell: “Yeah, I’m not going to get into any of that right now.”

Snippet of Kevin O’Connell’s exchange with Kevin Seifert after Vikings loss vs Bears (video above)

KOC’s silence is his right. Unfortunately for him and JJ McCarthy, it’s also telling. That’s especially true if you buy into the theory of anonymous rival coach guy, in Sando’s article from earlier. On Sunday, the Minnesota Vikings coach pared down the offense’s pre-snap cadence and schemed open all sorts of open receivers.

And yet, JJ McCarthy still looked like a quarterback vs Chicago yesterday who was not ready for the moment. If that doesn’t leave a guy like KOC frustrated, then nothing will.

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