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Aug 9, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy (9) before the game against the Houston Texans at U.S. Bank Stadium. Brad Rempel-Imagn Images

J.J. McCarthy focused on being 'completely present' ahead of first start

Originally posted on Minnesota Vikings on SI
By Will Ragatz | Last updated Sep 4, 2025 1:12 PM ET

Monday night is going to be a big moment for J.J. McCarthy. There's no way around that. It'll be the long-awaited NFL debut for the Vikings' 22-year-old quarterback, 16 months after he was drafted and 13 months after he suffered a torn meniscus in his first preseason game as a rookie. He's the new QB of a stacked team with Super Bowl aspirations, and he'll be making his debut in primetime against the Chicago Bears team he grew up cheering for just 30 minutes west of Soldier Field.

The storyline is remarkable. The lights will be bright. But McCarthy, who saw his share of big stages during his Michigan career, is focused on staying present and accepting the pressure and the emotions that come with an opportunity like this.

"I just try to be completely present," he said on Wednesday. "There's gonna be anxiousness, excitement, and a whole lot of adrenaline. But at the end of the day, that's completely normal. Accepting those emotions, you're able to let go of them a lot quicker than trying to deflect them and avoid them.

"I know I'm gonna be amped up, but at the end of the day, I know that coach O'Connell's gonna put me in a great position and my teammates around me are gonna do everything they can to make sure we're successful each and every play. But yeah, it's just stay present, stay calm and centered."

McCarthy has been waiting for this moment for a long time — since he was a kid growing up in the Chicago suburb of La Grange Park. After being selected 10th overall in last year's draft, he probably figured he had a good chance to see the field at some point during his rookie season. Then came the knee injury that knocked him out before the campaign began. So McCarthy, with Week 1 of the 2025 season in mind, dove into learning everything he could behind the scenes last year.

This spring, a series of Vikings decisions cemented him as their starting quarterback. McCarthy has spent the entire offseason getting ready to step into that role and thrive.

"Extremely prepared," he said. "Most prepared I've felt in my life."

McCarthy is a meticulous studier who has watched all kinds of tape of teams coached by Dennis Allen, the Bears' new defensive coordinator. Working closely with Kevin O'Connell and Josh McCown and so many others, McCarthy is as prepared as one can be. But he also knows that when a new season begins, anything is on the table.

"First games, you never really know what you're gonna get," he said. "You could prepare as much as you want, but they could do a completely different thing. So the most important thing is staying locked into the simple things, locked into what my job is that play, and then reacting to what the defense is giving me."

That was the consistent message from McCarthy. He knows that with O'Connell on the headset and all kinds of talented teammates around him, on both sides of the ball, he doesn't need to be the hero on Monday night. He just needs to focus on doing his job, one play at a time.

"Everything about the way coach O'Connell talks about playing the quarterback position is success in the simple," McCarthy said. "Just following your reads, doing your job in that each individual play, and the rest will take care of itself. You could get (caught up) overthinking, is it a two-high shell, are they going down to one-high, but at the end of the day, if you stick to the reads and do your job, it'll be a good outcome for that play."

McCarthy said the best advice he's received ahead of this game is just to be himself. He believes in his abilities and his preparation. Now it's time to put it on display.

As for playing so close to his hometown, well, home is somewhere else now.

"I feel like home is in Minnesota," McCarthy said. "At the end of the day, it's just a business trip. We're gonna go down there, execute some football plays, and see what happens."

This article first appeared on Minnesota Vikings on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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