(09-08-2025, 11:29 PM)RS_Express Wrote: JJ's first career start, Division rival, on the road, MNF, no Harry, no Addison, no Darrisaw... and they got out alive.  Perspective: From 2001-2014, the Vikings in 14 trips to Soldier Field won once...

...the game JJ attended as a 4-year-old Bears fan 

Chicago has been more of a house of horrors for the Vikings than Lambeau much of this century.  The Vikings win there, I'm not very particular about how.

(09-08-2025, 11:03 PM)StickierBuns Wrote: Oh I thought it was beautiful. 1st player in NFL history to score 3 TDs in the 4th quarter in his NFL debut. Its not how you start, its how you finish. No better finisher than JJ McCarthy. Vikings got themselves a WINNER with this boy.

(09-09-2025, 08:56 AM)Montana Tom Wrote: Reminds me of when I was in college, single and dating...
It's only the last dance at the end of the night that matters...

(09-09-2025, 04:26 AM)StickierBuns Wrote: JJ started out very rough, zero doubt about it. You can see he hadn't played in a real game in a long time. Rusty. He was under some pressure. The D was kind of getting eaten up by some good play from Williams. But lets give Will the Thrill a big shout out for that 59 yard FG, tied for longest in Soldier Field history. Just fucking nailed that kick. Momentum switched and then the pick 6. Brutal. But the kid didn't blink, man. His thought was then that the comeback was just going to be epic. And it was....on the road against a big rival on MNF. The kid has no 'Bright Lights Syndrome', its not in his DNA. The old Viking narratives and bugaboos won't apply with McCarthy.

(09-09-2025, 09:09 AM)badgervike Wrote: Yep.  Not sure what I watched last night but they pulled out a win.  Some observations:

1) KOC doesn't give the first team much work in the preseason.  I get it...it keeps players from getting injured in meaningless games.  Chicago had played their starters for a fair portion of the preseason and it showed.  Caleb tossing 10 straight completions...I would have bet against that.  JJ looked scared for the first half.  Our line hasn't quite come together as we expected so far.  Looks like they needed a little more time together....and Skule flat out sucked.  Never thought I'd miss Cam Robinson.  CD can't come back soon enough.
Yes, having CD back will be huge.  Much of the pressure came off Skule's side.

2) Did JJ only throw one pass over 20 yards last night?  He had the long pass interference call where the ball was off target.  We need to find a way to get the ball to the playmakers.
I think the TD to Jones was around 20+.  In fact both deep passes were to Jones, and the interference wasn't off target, it was a bit short, but that lead to the interference.  Unless you were talking the deep one to Nailor on the crosser.  That was supposed to be a screen to Jets but he slipped on the bad sod and JJ made something out of nothing there.

3) JJ goes down pretty easy.  There were a few times that a more stout QB would have stayed up.  What was with that whistle when he tripped himself on the scramble?  I didn't see any contact that would have made that a dead play.
I think that sod was terrible.  JJ almost escaped both times I remember him getting tripped, but I think he got leg whipped on the one up the middle.  And the other, he was trying to step over the guy.

4) Can we get a new punter please?  Speaking of punting, Myles Price played a hell of a game last night.  That was a bright spot.
Very happy with Price last night.  Chandler did his job on that last one as well.  Never saw a guy looking to the sidelines before, but great decision.

5) Is Will the Thrill back?

6) It seemed like our secondary was playing 10 yards off all night
I got that feeling as well.  Word was they watched film of Detroit to try and anticipate BJ's offense.  I think they spent the first few drives getting a bead on the offense.  Caleb was accurate and is an elite runner.  They had him several times but he escaped.

7) Not sure why Flores was so conservative in the first half with almost no blitzes?  Everybody knows that Caleb can be rattled....not sure why they didn't push the envelope early.

8)  JJ looked the part once he finally settled in.  Hopefully, that first half was just nerves, lack of real game experience.  I'm not sure he made it through his progressions even once last night.

9) The team needs to clean up its tackling.  Said the same thing in the preseason.

10) That block by Hockenson for JJ's TD was a thing of beauty.  So was the block by the Chicago WR on Caleb's TD...  That bootleg to the right was open for JJ earlier in the game as well.  Think they may need to do more of that (once you can get JJ to stop tripping over his feet)
That block was the play of the game for me.  He held it forever, allowing JJ to dive behind it for the TD.

11) The crowd was clearly loud.  You could tell Kelly and JJ struggled with the snap count.

12) The run game changed the game for the Vikings in the 4th quarter.  Opened up a lot of options.

Otherwise, a road win against a divisional opponent on Monday night for a 22 year old QB's first start.  Home games for the next few weeks.  Hopefully, the crowd brings the heat.