Imagine, if you will:
The days leading up to the Minnesota Vikings’ matchup with the Detroit Lions were tense ones at TCO Performance Center. After missing the past six weeks with a high ankle sprain, J.J. McCarthy went through his final evaluation from the team’s medical staff.
Kevin O’Connell, fresh off watching McCarthy complete his version of the Most Xtreme Challenge, waited nervously for the doctor’s final approval but gasped audibly when they put McCarthy’s X-ray up for everyone to see.
“What the hell is that?” O’Connell said.
“Oh, that right there?” the doctor said. “That’s that dawg in him.”
A few days later, McCarthy was busy letting “the dawg” out of the Vikings. His stats didn’t win many fantasy football matchups: He threw for 143 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another. Those who didn’t watch the game may have thought the hype was just as overblown when McCarthy led a fourth-quarter comeback in Chicago during the season opener.
However, despite the hindsight and second-guessing that had occurred over the past few months, McCarthy went a long way toward showing that the Vikings had made the right decision.
The proof was there 11 days earlier, as the Vikings played out the final moments of their loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. Carson Wentz got most of the attention as he fought back tears with his shoulder hanging out of its socket, but the rest of the team’s body language went overlooked.
This was a team with Super Bowl aspirations at the beginning of the year that was limping to a 3-4 record. They had suffered the kind of high-profile injuries they were able to avoid a year ago and entered Sunday with a 5% chance to make the playoffs, according to ESPN and The Athletic’s simulations.
Worst of all, the Vikings looked like a dog licking its wounds rather than one about to attack. Vegas oddsmakers saw this and established the Lions as 9.5-point favorites going into Sunday’s game. It wouldn’t have been surprising if Dan Campbell rolled into Ford Field with a vehicle straight out of the Mad Max series, and 65,000 people rattled McCarthy after the soothing sounds of Kid Rock riled them up.
But the night before, Kevin O’Connell asked the captains of his team to speak. According to Alec Lewis of The Athletic, the 22-year-old McCarthy was one of those captains. While most quarterbacks aren’t ready for that sort of responsibility at a young age, McCarthy delivered an absolute bar to get his teammates going, explaining he had trouble sleeping because he was “catching this glare from a silver platter of this juicy opportunity right on top of it.”
With that, McCarthy walked into the Vikings locker room dressed in a shirt that looked like Eminem would wear when checking into the New Detroit Stamping plant on 8 Mile. While the Vikings immediately gave up a long touchdown to Sam LaPorta to open the game, McCarthy responded with a pair of quick touchdowns through the air to give the Vikings a 14-7 lead.
You know how the rest of the game went. Minnesota’s defense flustered Jared Goff enough that it kept the Lions at arm’s distance. The special teams even came through with a blocked field goal that proved to be the difference in the game. McCarthy wasn’t perfect, throwing an interception and a handful of passes that missed the mark. But he was ready for the challenge when the Vikings needed him.
The final drive was that opportunity. A miscommunication with running back Jordan Mason seemed to be destined for a first-down loss, but McCarthy scampered forward for a four-yard gain. After the Lions stuffed Mason on second down, O’Connell called a pass play that everyone in Minnesota knew was coming. With the game potentially on the line, McCarthy threw a perfect pass to a leaping Jalen Nailor, who came down with the football and immediately shifted the vibes of anyone wearing purple.
Justin Jefferson did a kip-up to celebrate as McCarthy took the final knee. When McCarthy walked into the locker room, his teammates mobbed him almost as if to thank him for reminding them of the team that they could be. O’Connell gave him one of his signature game balls during a postgame speech, and McCarthy broke the team down before getting ready for the flight back to Minneapolis.
This is not the first time a team has gotten its swagger back at Ford Field. But it was a throwback to when the Vikings made teams play on their terms. While the Vikings felt like a house pet during a thunderstorm against the Chargers, McCarthy described them “like a dog in the streets” moments after Sunday’s win.
It’s the mentality the Vikings need to turn this season around, and they may have the quarterback to bring it out of them in the second half.
