On Thursday, J.J. McCarthy had one final chance to put on a show for the Minnesota Vikings fans in attendance for training camp at the TCO Performance Center. McCarthy not only gave Vikings fans exactly what they were hoping for, but he also put together his best practice performance of the summer.
According to multiple reporters in attendance on Thursday, the Minnesota quarterback was incredibly impressive in the team's final training camp practice in front of fans.
24 hours after experiencing some ups and downs in the Vikings' first joint practice session with the New England Patriots on Wednesday, McCarthy came out firing on Thursday, making multiple throws like the one in the clip below.
Nice pass by J.J. McCarthy on the run to Lucky Jackson in the corner of the end zone today pic.twitter.com/km1rSYJLdW
— The Viking Age (@TheVikingAge) August 14, 2025
J.J. McCarthy proves why the Minnesota Vikings are all-in on him for the 2025 season
For the last few weeks, the majority of McCarthy's practice reps have come against a Vikings defense that has the potential to be even better than the unit that ranked fourth in the NFL in 2024 in points allowed per offensive drive.
So, one could easily argue that the Minnesota quarterback got a bit of a breather going against another team's defense in practice during the last two days.
On Thursday, it was easy to tell that McCarthy took what he learned about the Patriots' defense from the previous day and used it to his advantage.
According to The Athletic's Alec Lewis, the Vikings' top quarterback completed 13 passes in a row against New England's defense in the joint practice session on Thursday. Even Dianna Russini and Colin Cowherd would be impressed with a performance like that.
Now, it was only a practice, and things will be a lot different for McCarthy once the actual, meaningful games start in September. But if there was ever a last impression for him to leave with the fans in the final open practice of this year's training camp, the one he gave on Thursday couldn't have been more perfect.