How J.J. McCarthy inspired teammates before rallying Vikings to win over Bears

Shortly after the Minnesota Vikings secured a come-from-behind 27-24 victory at the rival Chicago Bears on Monday night, Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell revealed that he told quarterback J.J. McCarthy at halftime of the contest that McCarthy was "going to bring us back to win this game." 

McCarthy then tossed a pick-six early in the third quarter that increased Chicago's lead at the time to 17-6. It appears the way he responded to that miscue lit a fire under his teammates heading into the game's fourth quarter. 

J.J. McCarthy had a six-word question for teammates after his pick-six

"At the end of the day, you know, we’re so blessed to be able to play this game, so every snap we get is a complete blessing," McCarthy explained while speaking with reporters after the win, per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. "That’s something that I was mentioning to the guys in the huddle when we were down. Like, 'Where else would you rather be?'"

According to Craig Peters of the Vikings' website, McCarthy completed just 5-of-8 passes for 48 yards in the first half of Monday's game. That was before Chicago cornerback Nahshon Wright returned an interception for a touchdown roughly two minutes into the third quarter. 

However, McCarthy then tallied two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter of play before he completed a 14-yard run for a score with 2:53 remaining in regulation. Kevin Seifert of ESPN noted that McCarthy became the first quarterback in NFL history to account for three touchdowns in the fourth quarter of an NFL debut. McCarthy spent his entire rookie season recovering from a full meniscus repair after the Vikings made him the 10th overall pick of the 2024 NFL Draft. 

How Minnesota Vikings players responded to J.J. McCarthy's question

"I’ve never actually said that before," McCarthy added about the question he asked his teammates when the Vikings were trailing the Bears by 11 points. "But, I feel like it was at the perfect time. Guys were kind of, you know, just in their head a little bit, and I feel like if you could, a smile goes a long way. So there was a lot of smiles after I said that, and just a little bit of a perspective shift. Yeah, things weren’t going our way, but we’re here doing this together, and the boys, they responded perfectly." 

When the Vikings needed him the most at Soldier Field, McCarthy was everything O'Connell and Co. hoped he'd be when the club passed on signing Aaron Rodgers this past spring. McCarthy will now look to build upon his Week 1 performance when the Vikings host the 0-1 Atlanta Falcons this coming Sunday night.