The Minnesota Vikings have question marks surrounding the QB position after a rollercoaster season with J.J. McCarthy, who was in Year 1 as the starter. However, with the Vikings looking to win now, the question is whether Minnesota will be patient with their former Top 10 pick.
McCarthy had a passer rating of 72.6 with 1,632 yards, 11 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions in 10 games in 2025, per StatMuse. It’s because of this production that speculation linking the Vikings to different QBs continues to emerge.
Nonetheless, Aaron Jones Sr. is giving a promising outlook on McCarthy, as the Michigan Wolverines product looks to have an offseason that prepares him better for his third NFL season.
“When you’re young, you’ve got to learn how to win,” Jones said on the NFL Network. “That’s a process. We went through that process and got over that period. I would say the best part is we stuck together. We believed in each other and we got it going just a little too late. We still could have — had we won that Chicago game — we would have been in the playoffs, and it would have looked a lot different.
“But we all came together, and that was the most important part. We set the foundation leading into next year. We have all the pieces we need, and J.J. is going to continue to develop, and we’re just going to continue to get better. But we were one game short, and there’s a lot of ball out there left for us to play.”
Vikings wideout Justin Jefferson recently expressed his frustration with how the 2025 season played out for the team and didn’t hide that the QB play played a part in them missing the playoffs. While the comments could damage McCarthy’s confidence, former NFL player Aqib Talib believes they should have the opposite effect on the Vikings signal-caller.
“I don’t have any problem with it because you always want to take into consideration your teammates,” Talib said on the Feb. 2 edition of The Arena: Gridiron. “But sometimes you can professionally voice your frustration with the organization. No laughed and kind of professionally voiced his frustration with the organization like, ‘I ain’t really agree with that decision they made, but hey, I’m a live with it. I’m going to do what I do.’
“… It might make J.J. lock in more. Sometimes you call somebody out, they lock in more. J.J. might text him, ‘Hey, we are going to get this s — together. Don’t worry about it.'”
Moreover, the Jefferson remarks shouldn’t be the only motivator, considering sports media hosts like Jim Rome are putting most of the blame on McCarthy for getting the general manager fired.
“The truth is, [McCarthy] in and of himself did not get his GM fired, ” Rome said on the Jan. 30 edition of “The Jim Rome Show.” “He didn’t do it alone. Now, he had help, and he had something to do with it, but he had help. Sam Darnold helped. Daniel Jones’ amazing start to the season helped. Aaron Rodgers leading the Steelers to the playoffs helped.
“So it’s not all on J.J., but it’s mostly on J.J. because the biggest problem facing the Vikings right now is that they still have an uncertain future at quarterback.”
