Momentum building towards J.J. McCarthy playing against the Packers

J.J. McCarthy practiced for the Vikings on Wednesday, which is a good sign for his chances of playing in Sunday's regular season finale against the Packers at U.S. Bank Stadium. It's far from a sure thing, since he'll need to prove that his right hand is healthy enough to grip the football without issue, but it's certainly a step in the right direction.

"He got out there with the trainers yesterday and had a really positive throwing session, so he's gonna take part in practice today," head coach Kevin O'Connell said. "(We'll) see how he feels coming out of it, see if there's any restrictions or any issues before working into another day tomorrow. We're at the point now, after his positive day yesterday, getting on the field today for practice, and we'll see how it goes."

We'll see if McCarthy is listed as a full participant or a limited one, but the plan is for him to handle plenty of reps in Wednesday's session. That should give the Vikings more information heading into Thursday and then Friday.

"I don't know if he'll take every single rep," O'Connell said, "but the plan as of right now is to give him as much as possible, just so we can determine where he's at today."

The Vikings are hopeful that everything will check out medically with McCarthy's throwing hand after he suffered a hairline fracture from hitting it on a helmet against the Giants in Week 16. He's started nine of 16 games this season, missing five to a high ankle sprain, one to a concussion, and one to this hand injury. It would be a good way to wrap up his first season as a starter if he can make a tenth start and finish on a high note.

McCarthy's season obviously hasn't gone to plan, both from a health perspective and in terms of the results when he's been on the field. Turnovers and accuracy have been massive problems, and he ranks dead last in EPA per play among 36 quarterbacks with at least 250 dropbacks. However, McCarthy is 5-4 as a starter and has shown real progress in the month of December.

"Getting to that tenth start, with some of the stuff he's been able to do, thinking back to the Dallas game, moving the team in the first half of the Giants game, Commanders game," O'Connell said. "A ton of stuff during this win streak has been about stacking plays for our team, stacking positives of complementary football and finding a way to win, by any means necessary. And J.J.'s been a huge part of that, looking at starts 7, 8, and 9. Would love to get him another one, but obviously only if he's medically cleared and can 100 percent do his job."