J.J. McCarthy gets emotional after huge win — and says he's not satisfied

In his postgame press conference, McCarthy was asked about that moment with his teammates. He couldn't hold back his emotions when talking about what it meant to him.

"It was awesome," he said after a lengthy pause. "When you're hurt, being on IR last year and being out for five weeks, it absolutely kills me not being out there with those guys, because I love every single one of them. I know they got my back, and I got theirs the rest of the way."

Since being drafted 10th overall in 2024, McCarthy has dealt with a couple significant injuries that have prevented him from being on the field and showing what he can do. First it was a torn meniscus that cost him his entire rookie season. Then came his ankle injury after just his second game this season. Sunday was the Vikings' 26th game since they drafted McCarthy, but it was just the third career outing for their young quarterback.

This one felt a lot like his NFL debut performance two months ago in Chicago. There were ups and downs and a lot of things to improve upon, but McCarthy made the plays he needed to make to help lead his team to victory. He completed 14 of 25 passes for 143 yards and two early touchdowns. He ran for a third score in the second half. And on the biggest play of his very young career, a third down with less than two minutes left, he delivered the dagger to Jalen Nailor to seal an upset few saw coming.

Afterwards, McCarthy said he was happy the Vikings won, but he made it clear that he wasn't satisfied with his play. He took five sacks and had several inaccurate throws, including a ball he put behind Nailor for an interception. There were also multiple instances of miscommunication within the Vikings' offense, which isn't shocking for a player in his third career game.

"I'm happy we got the win, but I'm not proud (of my performance), to be honest with you," he said. "There's a lot of meat on the bone. I feel like I could've played a lot better. But coming into this environment, controlling my emotions, controlling my temperament going into it, I was proud of that.

"The (interception) to Speedy (Nailor), I gotta put that ball out in front of him. There's a lot of opportunities where I was on the run, that I just need to get those reps back again and not be so amped and miss some of those guys high. There's a lot that I need to clean up, but I'm happy the boys had my back today and extremely grateful."

McCarthy was far from great in this game, earning a passer rating of 82.6. Three games into his NFL career, he has yet to throw for more than 158 yards. Accuracy, decision-making, and command of the offense all remain works in progress. But the most important stats are that he has now, on two different occasions, put up three total touchdowns in a gutsy road win over an NFC North foe.

"We haven't scratched the surface of our potential," he said. "It's gonna click and we're gonna peak at some point, but we're not there yet. We're just focusing on our process and trying to strive for perfection every single day."

Improvement figures to come over time as McCarthy gets more and more game reps under his belt. But for him to be 2-1 as a starter, despite the inconsistency, says a lot about the potential of what he and the Vikings can become when he does gain more experience.

"We saw a lot of the things that he's capable of doing, and we saw some things that, as he continues his ascension and his growth, he will only get better and better," O'Connell said. "This guy's a winner."