It was only six weeks ago that J.J. McCarthy led the Vikings to a stirring Monday Night Football comeback victory over the Bears, seemingly building on a legend in the making with three fourth-quarter touchdowns and by asking his teammates before the rally, “Is there anywhere else you’d rather be?”
McCarthy subsequently earned NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors, then witnessed the birth of his first child later in the week, and then ... he was confused against Atlanta, then hobbled, then ruled out for Week 3.
We haven’t seen him take a snap since then, and my sense is that Vikings fans are getting antsy.
There was hope that McCarthy would return faster, particularly when the Vikings didn’t put him on injured reserve.
But Carson Wentz has started four games. There was a bye week in there, too. Now it’s a short week, and we’ll see what happens when the Vikings return to practice Tuesday in preparation for a West Coast trip to play the Chargers.
Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell, of course, should not (and will not) pay attention to the moods and whims of fans. He will remain determined not to fail his young quarterback before his young quarterback fails him.
Nonetheless, you can feel the angst. I talked about that on Tuesday’s Daily Delivery podcast.
Let’s talk about it more at the start of today’s 10 things to know:
