While there were a few concerns surrounding J.J. McCarthy before the Minnesota Vikings made him the 10th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, his ability to accurately throw the football certainly wasn't one of them.
After all, in his final season at the University of Michigan, the Illinois native completed 72.3 percent of his passes in leading the Wolverines to a national championship, good for the highest mark in the Big Ten and the sixth-highest mark in the entire country.
But that accuracy hasn't quite made its way to Minnesota just yet. After completing 65 percent of his passes in his regular-season debut back in Week 1 in leading the Vikings to a comeback victory over the Bears, McCarthy hasn't even come close to hitting that number since.
He only completed 52.4 percent of his passes in a Week 2 loss to the Falcons, 56.0 percent in his first game back from an ankle injury in a Week 9 win over the Lions, a career-worst 47.6 percent in a loss to the Ravens in Week 10, and 50.0 percent in the Vikes' Week 11 rematch with Chicago, which resulted in a 19-17 defeat.
Now, to his credit, McCarthy looked fantastic on the Vikings' final offensive drive against the Bears this past Sunday, completing six of eight passes for 76 yards during Minnesota's, including his final five, with the last going for a 15-yard touchdown to Jordan Addison that ultimately gave the Vikings a 17-16 lead.
Up to that point, however, the 22-year-old had only connected on 10 of his first 24 throws for 74 yards, missing on more than a few passes that could have and should have been completed. And let's certainly not forget that he tossed another two interceptions, upping his season total to eight, which is just three shy of the number he threw during his entire three-year run in Ann Arbor.
Kevin O'Connell shares what's standing in the way of Minnesota Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy
Something is clearly a little off, and earlier this week, head coach Kevin O'Connell did his best to break down what he thinks could be going on after watching Sunday's game film.
"There are some plays where he is making it hard on himself. I think that's probably the most frustrating part for him. It's talked about and repped and practiced at length.
And then in those moments, you know, in his fifth start, it's just a variance to it that is causing his job to be more difficult than it needs to be. And he's wildly capable of making the throws that present themselves.
There were some good throws in there, as well, some throws there late that even after what had been a frustrating day for him, his ability to still respond like he has a couple times now and move the team late to get a lead – he's made [up] of the right stuff.
We're going to go back to work and continue to find every avenue, every way to try to help build the consistency to his mechanics.
And then I just, I firmly believe the accuracy will come from that. It's been tried and true and tested with other players and guys that have been on their journey before, and that's what we're going to keep working toward."
On Tuesday, during an interview with KFAN's Paul Allen, O'Connell elaborated a bit on McCarthy's mechanics and specifically gave one example of something Vikings fans should be looking for.
"When he gets to the top of his drop, we're really trying to see if we can get him to be a little bit more in a repeatable body position. And what I mean by that, the posture of a firm but athletic kind of lower half.
We don't really like when his feet get too far outside the framework of his body, and that happened a couple times the other day that contributed to maybe some of the accuracy."
Well, that's something at least.
Look, after just five starts, nobody can genuinely expect McCarthy to be perfect.
But as O'Connell mentioned in a part of the KFAN interview that we didn't include here, McCarthy does need to at least show signs of improvement in the coming weeks, starting this Sunday when the Vikings face what's basically a must-win situation against the rival Green Bay Packers.