It wasn't the only reason they lost to the Baltimore Ravens, with blame and disappointing performances anywhere you looked, but being penalized 13 times for 102 yards put the Minnesota Vikings behind the eight-ball way too often on Sunday.
Of those 13 penalties, eight were false starts by the offense. That volume of false starts is not supposed to happen when you're the home team, so it's no surprise the Vikings landed in historical territory for this century.
The Vikings' 8 false starts today are tied for the second-most in a game by the home team with the 2005 Rams (since 2000). The most by any home team since 2000 is 9, by the Bills in 2009. (h/t ESPN Research)
— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) November 9, 2025
As noted by ESPN's Kevin Seifert, right tackle Brian O'Neill led the way with three false starts. Left tackle Christian Darrisaw, center Blake Brandel, wide receiver Justin Jefferson, McCarthy, and tight end Ben Yurosek each committed one.
Per Seifert, running back Aaron Jones suggested the Ravens' defense played some role in all the premature movement by the Vikings' offense.
"Sometimes, it's hard to hear. They're making 'move calls' up front, so sometimes, it sounds like it could be J.J. [saying], 'Set hut,' but they're making move calls and you see them stem and so they're trying to get them to jump as well."
Asked if the Ravens were playing a game with snap counts, Jones went all the way to say he thought so.
"Yeah, they're playing a little game there, too. So, that's what they get paid to do. And we just got to lock in a little more."
Head coach Kevin O'Connell hit the obvious notes about "getting it fixed."
"The pre-snap, whatever was going on with the cadence or whatever it may be, it's just not acceptable in any way, and we've got to get it fixed, and we will."
J.J. McCarthy takes full blame for Minnesota Vikings false start issues in loss to Baltimore Ravens
Good or bad, what an offense does reflects back on the quarterback more than anyone else. After the game, McCarthy took full blame for the litany of false starts and other offensive isssues (like three turnovers) on Sunday.
"It was there; we just kept shooting ourselves in the foot. I take full responsibility for the pre-snap procedural penalties.”
“As a quarterback, you’re the orchestrator of the orchestra. I take full responsibility for anything that happens on that field, and at the end of the day, it’s just the little things that we gotta keep focusing on.
The focus, the competitive stamina, it’s all gotta be there, but I take full responsibility every single time something goes wrong.”
Hearing McCarthy pull no punches and take the blame for what went wrong on Sunday is a stark contrast to what Vikings fans grew accustomed to hearing from their quarterback from 2018-2023. Then again, albeit only now four starts into his career, McCarthy is clearly wired way differently than Kirk Cousins is.
Whatever analogy that's convenient to use for what he said on Sunday ("fell on the sword", etc.), McCarthy knows the success or failure of the Vikings' offensive operation starts with him. And when things go wrong, he has to take the lead in how fixing it is approached.