The Minnesota Vikings had an impressive win on "Sunday Night Football," defeating the Dallas Cowboys by a final score of 34-26.
The best thing about the win was that J.J. McCarthy had one of the best performances of his young career, completing 15-of-24 passes for 250 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception, while also adding a rushing touchdown. The rushing touchdown showed just how good McCarthy was feeling, because he griddy’d his way into the end zone.
Turns out, his celebratory dance may have irritated his coach a little bit. Following the game, Minnesota head coach Kevin O’Connell joked about not being a fan of McCarthy‘s dance into the end zone.
The young quarterback explained during his postgame press conference that he was told not to do it in a game after he pulled the move out in practice. McCarthy joked how that only made him want to do it more. He did make clear, though, that he’s going to do what his coach says moving forward.
J.J. McCarthy just had to do the Griddy 😂 pic.twitter.com/RgmsCfEfCW
— ESPN (@espn) December 15, 2025
Minnesota Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy dances into end zone against Kevin O’Connell’s wishes
It's important to note that both O’Connell and McCarthy talked about the situation with somewhat of a lighthearted tone, so the situation shouldn’t be misconstrued as a rebellious young quarterback defying his head coach.
In reality, it shows how comfortable McCarthy is with the Vikings and how comfortable he’s getting on the field.
The quarterback is in his first year starting, after being sidelined with an injury as a rookie, and he’s experiencing the ups and downs that most young quarterbacks do.
On the season, McCarthy has completed 56.8 percent of his passes for 1,342 yards, 11 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions. He also has 154 rushing yards and three additional touchdowns on the ground. The Vikings are 4-4 in the young quarterback’s eight starts.
It's no secret that things have gotten loud for McCarthy. Between injuries and underwhelming play, he has faced a ton of criticism, and so have the Vikings. However, McCarthy has kept his head down, working, and he saw some positive results Sunday night.
After throwing an interception on his first pass of the game, he bounced back to put together one of his best performances, and he had fun while doing it.