Daddy's little QB

Growing up in suburban Chicago, J.J. was destined to become a diehard Bears fan, just like his dad and so many relatives. Jim painted his son’s bedroom in Bears colors before he was born so that when they brought him home from the hospital, he would be appropriately indoctrinated, a fan from birth.

J.J. wore his favorite player’s jersey to the game that day at Soldier Field. No. 54, the great Brian Urlacher. Young J.J. had a Bears baseball hat turned backward, and a foam Bears claw on his hand.

He was ready to Bear Down.

The opponent? The Minnesota Vikings.

“Surreal,” Jim said recently. “Everything about him being where he’s supposed to be, he’s always manifested a way. But my gosh, how the stars line up to do this.”

Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy, age 4, at his first NFL game at Soldier Field on Oct. 14, 2007. He's wearing the jersey of his favorite player Brian Urlacher. (Jim McCarthy)

On Monday night, J.J. will be back at Soldier Field, 22 years old now and starting his first NFL game against the team he grew up cheering.

This isn’t a story line. It’s a Hollywood script.

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The McCarthys did a double take when the NFL released the schedule in May. They’ve been counting down the days ever since.

“Being able to watch your son start in the NFL, let alone between the Colonnades of Soldier Field,” Jim said, “you can’t draw up a bigger dream in the world as a parent.”

The family’s history helps explain the context of this dream.

Jim grew up just outside Chicago. His dad had Bears season tickets and took his son to many games. Jim would get $5 to buy a hot dog, a soda and a program. He never left his seat once the game started.

“I didn’t care about anything else,” he said.

He loved all the Bears players, especially the Super Bowl Shuffling ‘85 crew, but Walter Payton was his guy.

“Walter, hands down,” he said. “Not even a question.”

His dad rode a train with Bears fans to New Orleans to witness the coronation of the ’85 Bears in a Super Bowl beatdown of the New England Patriots. Jim could recite stats of every player.

Fast-forward to 2003. Jim and his wife, Megan, are in the hospital a few hours before J.J.’s arrival into the world. Jim is recording their conversation on a camcorder as they discuss possible names for their son. They settle on J.J.

“He’s going to be daddy’s little quarterback,” Jim says to his wife in the video.

That statement made in a moment of euphoria hits differently 22 years later.

“That is literally how his life started,” Jim said. “It just came out of the blue that I said that. ‘He’s J.J. He’s going to be daddy’s little quarterback.’”

J.J. became a Bears fan before he became a quarterback, and that first game cemented it. “It was the greatest thing because it felt like my dad was taking me to the game,” Jim said.

Jim made sure to buy his son a program, just as his dad did for him.

Jim doesn’t remember too many details from the game, though Vikings fans likely do. Rookie Adrian Peterson set a team rushing record with 224 yards and three touchdowns and Ryan Longwell kicked a game-winning 55-yard field goal as time expired.

Jim says the clock on his Bears fandom rests at 51½ years. Family allegiances shifted once the Vikings drafted J.J. with the 10th overall pick in April 2024.
“Everything is purple in our house now,” Jim said.

They will be decked out in purple on Monday night. The McCarthys have been flooded by messages from family, friends and acquaintances from multiple states who are planning to be at the opener. Jim expects hundreds to gather in a tailgating lot.

“All I’m is south lot,” Jim said. “My phone will be off, but we will be in the south lot.”

But not for long. The family wants to get inside Soldier Field in time to watch warmups. Daddy’s little quarterback will be preparing for his first NFL start, 18 years after attending his first NFL game in that same historic venue. The Vikings were the enemy that day. Now he is their leader.

A surreal moment, indeed.