Minus the miraculous fourth quarter the Minnesota Vikings put together in their wild Week 1 win over the Chicago Bears, the offensive output for Kevin O'Connell's crew has been absolutely dreadful through the first two weeks of this 2025 season.
In that fourth quarter at Soldier Field, the Vikes put up 183 total yards and scored 21 points. But when you take the other three quarters against the Bears and add in all four quarters of Sunday's embarrassing 22-6 loss to the Atlanta Falcons at U.S. Bank Stadium, the Minnesota offense has accounted for just 269 total yards and 12 points.
Much of this offensive ineptitude, of course, falls on the shoulders of young J.J. McCarthy, who's completed just 58.5 percent of his passes in his first two games as a professional after connecting on a Big Ten-best 72.3 percent of his throws in his final season with the Michigan Wolverines.
And that number will remain the same for at least a week, as McCarthy is expected to be out of Minnesota's Week 3 matchup with the Cincinnati Bengals with an ankle injury.
But McCarthy's inaccuracy certainly hasn't been the only problem, as O'Connell has certainly made some questionable play-calling decisions over these first couple of weeks. And one of those decisions has been not to heavily utilize one of the team's best offensive weapons, that being tight end T.J. Hockenson.
What's going on with Minnesota Vikings TE T.J. Hockenson?
As he should be, Justin Jefferson is always going to be the top target for Minnesota in the passing game. But with Jordan Addison suspended for the first three games, one would think Hockenson would get more looks than he has.
In the first six years of his career, the two-time Pro Bowler has averaged just under seven targets per game, catching roughly 4.6 of them for 50 yards per contest. But during the Vikings' first two games this year, Hockenson has seen just seven targets combined, catching four of them for just 27 yards.
Now, to be fair, his seven targets still rank third among all Vikings pass-catchers, trailing only Jefferson (13) and Jalen Nailor (eight). But that's just far too low a number for what he brings to the table.
Yes, we'll admit that Hockenson ran one really bad route over the middle against Atlanta on Sunday, one so bad that it went what we'll call semi-viral for now. But when your young quarterback is struggling, a tight end can often serve as somewhat of a safety blanket.
But No. 87 simply hasn't been that for McCarthy at all. And again, with Addison out, that's been a bit surprising. After making three catches in Week 1 against Chicago, Hockenson had one lone grab for 12 yards against Atlanta, and that was with just over three minutes to play in the fourth quarter when the game was already decided.
It'll be interesting to see how often Hockenson gets targeted this Sunday with Carson Wentz under center.