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Oct 19, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy (9) throws a pass during warm ups before the game against the Philadelphia Eagles at U.S. Bank Stadium. Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images

The rest of this Vikings season is all about evaluating J.J. McCarthy

Originally posted on Minnesota Vikings on SI
By Will Ragatz | Last updated Oct 24, 2025 12:12 PM ET

Making his fifth straight start for the Vikings on Thursday, Carson Wentz played a horrific game — and took a beating while doing so — in Minnesota's nightmarish primetime loss to the Chargers. Wentz deserves credit for battling through all kinds of physical punishment in Los Angeles, but that should be the final time he starts a game for the franchise.

The Vikings are now 3-4 and staring down one of the most difficult remaining schedules in the NFL. The playoffs are going to be very difficult to reach in the ultra-competitive NFC. What matters more than anything else for Minnesota over the final 10 weeks of this season is seeing what they have in young quarterback J.J. McCarthy, who has missed 22 of 24 regular season games due to injury since he was drafted 10th overall two Aprils ago.

McCarthy wasn't quite ready to go on Thursday night. But it's now been a full six weeks since he suffered a high ankle sprain in Week 2. When the Vikings next take the field, it will have been seven weeks. He's on track to make his return against the Lions on Nov. 2, which will allow Minnesota to get back to the primary objective of this season: the growth, development, and evaluation of their 22-year-old signal caller.

"If J.J.'s healthy, J.J. will play," Kevin O'Connell said after Thursday's game. "That's been the case since the injury. That's always been my mindset. I believe we're right, hopefully, around the corner from seeing him be healthy, have a week of preparation, and go compete. That's what he wants and that's what he's been working towards. I know there was a lot of estimates on what the injury timeline and everything with a high ankle. It ended up being on the longer end, but about what we thought."

McCarthy is in for a challenge. His return coming at Ford Field, against an excellent Lions team, is about as tough as it gets. As a collective, the Vikings were an utter mess against the Chargers. Whether or not offensive tackles Christian Darrisaw and Brian O'Neill will be able to play in Detroit is very much up in the air. But the Vikings don't have any other option. They can't wait for easier circumstances to ease McCarthy back in. He needs to start getting game reps, learning, and showing what he can (or cannot) do.

The dream scenario for Vikings fans is that McCarthy hits the ground running, gives the offense a spark, and leads Minnesota back into the playoff hunt despite the difficult schedule. That's within the range of outcomes, even considering the rough two-game start to his career. But if the postseason falls out of reach, the rest of this year could still be a win if McCarthy shows enough to establish himself as the Vikings' franchise QB moving forward.

If one of the worst-case scenarios plays out — McCarthy happens to get hurt again or plays so poorly that O'Connell has to take him off the field — then it's time to give rookie Max Brosmer a chance to build on his strong preseason performance. There's no longer any reason or justification for playing Wentz, who is a known quantity and looked broken in more ways than one as Thursday night's game came to a merciful end.

Things feel bleak for the Vikings after their no-show in LA. But with McCarthy coming back, a source of potential hope for their future is right around the corner. The rest of this season, above all else, is about seeing what he's capable of doing.

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

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