Despite the fact that a victory over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday would result in them finishing the 2025 campaign with a winning record, this season has been packed full of difficulty and disappointment for the Minnesota Vikings, especially for second-year quarterback J.J. McCarthy.
On Wednesday, McCarthy opened up about what have been some of the hardest things to deal with during his first season as Minnesota's starting quarterback.
"At times, I feel like I let my teammates down and my coaches down, and that's the hardest thing for me. But the most encouraging thing is seeing them pick me up and understand the culture, the type of guys that we have in that room, in that locker room is something special.
So, yeah, it's been a tough year, but we learned a lot about each other and a lot about ourselves, and me personally for sure."
Minnesota Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy gives advice to his younger self
In addition to talking about the struggles that he's experienced this season, McCarthy also shared what advice he would give to himself before the start of the 2025 campaign if he were given the chance.
"Give yourself some grace. Understand this is one of the hardest positions in the world and you're 22 years old.
It's going to take some time and really just keep taking those punches and keep getting up. At the end of the day, it's just about showing up day in, day out."
Expectations were very high for the young quarterback at the beginning of the 2025 season when he was handed the reins to a Vikings team that had just won 14 games in 2024. Anything short of the playoffs for Minnesota this season was going to be deemed a failure.
Looking back, the Vikings definitely put too much pressure on their young quarterback to come in and perform at a high level immediately. But to be fair, what McCarthy did in OTAs and training camp earlier this year led them to believe that he could take over Sam Darnold's old job and there wouldn't be much of a drop-off.
Well, everyone was wrong, and despite Minnesota potentially finishing the season with a 9-8 record, they won't be taking part in the playoffs, and they have a ton of major questions to answer in the upcoming offseason.
Figuring out if they want to continue forward with McCarthy as their starting quarterback for the 2026 campaign or not will certainly be one of the biggest priorities for the Vikings during the next few months.