Alaskan wrote: ↑Fri Oct 10, 2025 12:21 am
The kid has 2 games as a starting QB in the NFL. No excuses. That’s just a fact. It’s gonna take some time. Every indication is that the coaches believe in him and his teammates believe in him. It’s time for fans to have some realistic expectations! Give the kid a chance!
What are your expectations for him? How much time should he be given to meet them? Let's say the Vikings regress to the offensive performance we saw in those first two games. The offense can't stay on the field or score. McCarthy is holding the ball too long, taking bad sacks, misfiring passes, turning the ball over. How many games should he get before a change is made? The team is 3-2 as of right now. They've climbed out of the cellar of the offensive rankings. Wentz and the retooled offensive line have shown they can adjust and remain effective even if it hasn't been pretty.
I'm not saying McCarthy shouldn't get a chance. He should and he will. But the early returns have not been encouraging. Should that continue, where would you draw the line? Are you OK with KOC sacrificing the entire season in the pursuit of proving McCarthy can be a franchise QB?
CharVike wrote: ↑Fri Oct 10, 2025 8:46 am
I never thought the Giants would destroy the Eagles like that. Expect the unexpected fits that beat down. I guess stop their ground game and you have a good chance to win.
Which is terrible news for the Vikings that can't seem to stop any run game. Gonna get a pissed off Eagles team next week.
I watched them when they played the Bucs and they literally got away with blatant holding on multiple pass attempts. It was so obvious that I believe the NFL ended up suspending one or more of the refs that worked that game. The Bucs were complaining about it too.
And now the Giants just ran over them. Not sure the Vikings can duplicate that but the Eagles defense is a shell of what it was last year, at least so far.
It might actually be good that McCarthy will start. Opposing QBs in particular have posed a real challenge for the Eagles defense when those QBs get out of the pocket and use their legs. McCarthy is a lot more likely to do that than Wentz.
Alaskan wrote: ↑Fri Oct 10, 2025 12:21 am
The kid has 2 games as a starting QB in the NFL. No excuses. That’s just a fact. It’s gonna take some time. Every indication is that the coaches believe in him and his teammates believe in him. It’s time for fans to have some realistic expectations! Give the kid a chance!
What are your expectations for him? How much time should he be given to meet them? Let's say the Vikings regress to the offensive performance we saw in those first two games. The offense can't stay on the field or score. McCarthy is holding the ball too long, taking bad sacks, misfiring passes, turning the ball over. How many games should he get before a change is made? The team is 3-2 as of right now. They've climbed out of the cellar of the offensive rankings. Wentz and the retooled offensive line have shown they can adjust and remain effective even if it hasn't been pretty.
I'm not saying McCarthy shouldn't get a chance. He should and he will. But the early returns have not been encouraging. Should that continue, where would you draw the line? Are you OK with KOC sacrificing the entire season in the pursuit of proving McCarthy can be a franchise QB?
The first two games were up and down and given it's his first year starting I would expect that to happen more. Certainly in week 1 the offense had problems and JJM did too, but by the time the game was over he had 3 TDs and was the NFL offensive player of the week. Ideally he wouldn't wait until the 4th quarter every week to do that, but week 1 isn't a great example of an argument against him.
When it comes to holding the ball too long, I've seen Wentz do it quite a bit too but it comes down to the offensive line. If they can hold up like they did for Wentz but JJM still has problems then I wouldn't wait very long to bench him. If the offensive line is as terrible as it was for his first two games then it's difficult to judge.
At the end of the day, Wentz is a 32 year old QB on a 1 year contract. If they weren't willing to hang onto Darnold after the season he had they certainly won't be hanging onto Wentz. JJM at least has the chance to become the QB of the future. He needs to be given plenty of opportunity to succeed. He's a 23 year QB in his first year starting, there will be growing pains. If he's just so terrible he's a complete detriment to the team every week then sure, bench him and let him learn more. Through his first two games though we really have no idea. He's shown glimpses of garbage and glimpses of greatness and glimpses of averageness. We need more data.
Cliff wrote: ↑Fri Oct 10, 2025 2:22 pm
Through his first two games though we really have no idea. He's shown glimpses of garbage and glimpses of greatness and glimpses of averageness. We need more data.
I think you're being pretty generous. Of those 8 quarters played he had one where he performed. We do have some idea.
We also need more data, but at what point would you call it? They're 3-2 right now. Let's say the defense continues to improve over the next several games but the offense goes back in the tank and they start losing, and McCarthy is objectively a big reason why. When does KOC have to decide he's seen enough? When the record is 3-6? Does it require more losses than that? More missed throws? More turnovers?
Unfortunately for everyone involved, there are a lot of people beyond McCarthy whose livelihoods depend in great part on how the QB performs week-in and week-out, and McCarthy is a pro QB now. If he isn't getting the job done there should come a point where KOC has to try to salvage the season even if it costs him the chance to develop his protege of choice. It would be beyond irresponsible for him not to do that. As much as everyone on the team wants to rally behind McCarthy, if the losses start to add up that will change, and KOC would risk losing the team's support which would be a disaster.
I personally hope McCarthy gets it figured out and starts to succeed. He's in an almost ideal situation to do so. I'm like every other Vikings fan who wants them to find that young QB who they can build around that will make them Superbowl contenders on a yearly basis for a long time. Other teams that drafted QBs the year McCarthy was drafted have been having a lot of success with their picks and its natural to want to believe the Vikings can get similar results with McCarthy, especially since it is the Vikings that have the QB Whisperer at head coach. But I'm just frankly underwhelmed by what I've seen thus far. McCarthy has looked unprepared, inaccurate and ineffective. Wentz is nothing to write home about either, but I do feel he gives the Vikings offense a chance when he's out there. When McCarthy was under center I was honestly more surprised to see them get a 1st down and amazed when they scored. I hope he can change that.
Cliff wrote: ↑Fri Oct 10, 2025 2:22 pm
Through his first two games though we really have no idea. He's shown glimpses of garbage and glimpses of greatness and glimpses of averageness. We need more data.
I think you're being pretty generous. Of those 8 quarters played he had one where he performed. We do have some idea.
We also need more data, but at what point would you call it? They're 3-2 right now. Let's say the defense continues to improve over the next several games but the offense goes back in the tank and they start losing, and McCarthy is objectively a big reason why. When does KOC have to decide he's seen enough? When the record is 3-6? Does it require more losses than that? More missed throws? More turnovers?
Unfortunately for everyone involved, there are a lot of people beyond McCarthy whose livelihoods depend in great part on how the QB performs week-in and week-out, and McCarthy is a pro QB now. If he isn't getting the job done there should come a point where KOC has to try to salvage the season even if it costs him the chance to develop his protege of choice. It would be beyond irresponsible for him not to do that. As much as everyone on the team wants to rally behind McCarthy, if the losses start to add up that will change, and KOC would risk losing the team's support which would be a disaster.
I personally hope McCarthy gets it figured out and starts to succeed. He's in an almost ideal situation to do so. I'm like every other Vikings fan who wants them to find that young QB who they can build around that will make them Superbowl contenders on a yearly basis for a long time. Other teams that drafted QBs the year McCarthy was drafted have been having a lot of success with their picks and its natural to want to believe the Vikings can get similar results with McCarthy, especially since it is the Vikings that have the QB Whisperer at head coach. But I'm just frankly underwhelmed by what I've seen thus far. McCarthy has looked unprepared, inaccurate and ineffective. Wentz is nothing to write home about either, but I do feel he gives the Vikings offense a chance when he's out there. When McCarthy was under center I was honestly more surprised to see them get a 1st down and amazed when they scored. I hope he can change that.
I feel like your expectations of a QB who essentially has very few game reps (41 attempts is his official stat line) is unreasonable. Do I think he should have been playing in the pre-season? You betcha! That IMHO is not his fault however.
