MINNEAPOLIS — J.J. McCarthy was encouraged this week to play free, and he did just that Sunday afternoon.

A tweaked game plan allowed McCarthy to feel more comfortable, and an adjusted mindset helped him to limit the overthinking he's previously been a challenge. The Vikings QB smoothly led an offense that balanced the run and pass, stacked positive plays without facing a third down on its first scoring drive and followed with five straight third-down conversions on a 19-play TD drive.

McCarthy's command of the huddle helped Minnesota cruise to a 31-0 defeat of Washington, becoming the first team since 1992 (Broncos) to be shut out and then shut out their opponent in their next game.

"It was just playing. Just going out there and, the big message at last night's team meeting was, 'Play for that 16-year-old self,' " McCarthy said. "Understand what got you into this game, what made you fall in love with this game. Regardless of the record, regardless of where we are this season, just go out there and have fun. Go out there and play fast and play free, and I feel like we all did that today.

"It's extremely validating," he said. "Just to find a rhythm, find a flow, it was a lot of fun."

Aaron Jones, Sr. felt McCarthy was settled in "from snap one," made clear by Minnesota's offense setting the tone early. McCarthy told media members he found out "maybe 10 seconds" before the coin toss that, should the Vikings win the toss, they'd elect to receive rather than defer.

"Obviously the goal is to go in there and get seven points to the start the game and kind of lift the building in a lot of ways — where we avoid any sort of feeling of, when you're in the midst of struggle, it's very easy to let your mind … kind of wander to 'Here we go again,' " Vikings Head Coach Kevin O'Connell said. "And I just didn't want to allow it, and I trusted our guys to get off to the start they did, and then we were able to sustain for the rest of the day."

McCarthy noted O'Connell's trust spoke volumes.

"That was a key pillar to the game, start fast," McCarthy said. "And for Coach O'Connell to say, 'Offense, start it off for us,' it was a tremendous honor. And I was happy we were able to go and reassure him that we're able to do that."

The Vikings didn't even face a third down until 13-plus minutes into the first quarter. Their first drive featured (in this order) a 3-yard run by Jones, 9-yard completion to tight end Ben Sims, 7-yard run by Jones, 10-yard catch by T.J. Hockenson, 9-yard catch by Jalen Nailor, 5-yard Jones run, 18-yard touchdown pass to Josh Oliver.

"Very fun," Justin Jefferson said. "Coming out and pretty much swinging [from the get-go] and everything is happening right for us, J.J. going through his reads and making the right reads and just getting the ball in and out of his hands and just letting us go to work for him.

"It was a great team effort," he added. "Defense played very, very well. Offense played good, special teams played good. It was an all-around team win."

Jefferson had just two catches for 11 yards but opened things up for other targets. And while he'd always prefer higher production, "Jets" is most happy to get in the win column.

"I'd rather win and not get the ball than lose and get the ball a lot," he said.

McCarthy spread the ball around all afternoon, completing passes to eight different teammates and seeing six of them finish with double-digit receiving yards. Jordan Addison led the way with four catches for 62 yards, followed by Nailor with three catches for 30 yards.

Oliver had two catches and two touchdowns, the first instance of his career to notch more than one score in a game, and Hockenson added another TD.

"It was awesome," Oliver said with a grin. "And a huge team win. It was a great day."

Minnesota had ample success running the ball, as well, racking up 162 yards on the ground. Jones had 14 carries for 76 yards (5.4 average), while Jordan Mason added 52 yards and a touchdown on 11 attempts.

Jones said the run-pass marriage was "needed" for the team after struggling to get into a groove in previous weeks.

"Just kind of flips the momentum. Gets things going," he said. "I always tell them, 'Get one, and it'll snowball.' Momentum is something you can't measure, but I think it kind of keeps defenses guessing. You don't know whether we might get in big personnel like T.J., C.J. [Ham], Josh Oliver, and we get in that personnel and you probably think we're running the ball, but all those guys are weapons, as well.

"It's nice to have weapons where K.O. is able to say, 'All right, we're gonna do this. We're gonna do that,' " Jones added. "You can just kind of throw it around the yard in a game like that."

Hockenson similarly tipped his cap to O'Connell's game plan and package variety.

"We were in 22 [personnel], 13, 11, 21. We were in all these personnels and just keeping the defense guessing … and J.J. was able to play in the rhythm and timing," Hockenson said.

That rhythm showed up big-time late in the first quarter and into the second, when Minnesota put together a 19-play, 98-yard offensive drive that ate up 12:01 of play clock.

Jones called it a "statement drive" that showed the Commanders — and themselves — they're very much capable of going the length of the field.

"I feel like that opened up the rest of the game for us," Jones said. "It was, 'Hey, we're gonna play smash mouth, smash mouth, and then once we get [some breathing room] we're gonna dink and dunk a little bit and move the ball."

McCarthy didn't even realize the drive included 19 plays until a reporter told him so during his press conference. What he did recognize was its significance, having been one of the longest offensive drives in team history.

Sunday's game overall can be a tremendous confidence booster for McCarthy, who finished his day 16-of-23 for 163 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. His passer rating was a career-high 129.2.

"When J.J. is at his best, there's conviction," O'Connell said. "You can feel it in his fundamentals and techniques pairing together because he's got conviction on what he's going to do with the ball. And there's still going to be a thousand things we'll look at, you know, foot placement here and all that stuff, but part of the mentality of where I want him now, after having experience … you can hopefully take from it that success comes from the simplicity of making sure, 'The starting point is doing my job.'

"He's very much a guy that wants to play the mental game within the snap, and sometimes he can simplify it for himself," O'Connell added. "Setting his feet now is number one, and then progressing with great fundamentals from there and being accurate. I thought there were some really good examples of that today."

Regardless of what's transpired to this point in the season, Jefferson pointed out the significance of McCarthy's Week 14 performance.

Jefferson said the young QB "deserves this type of game."

"Just the hard work he's been putting in, the criticism, all the stuff that's been going on — he's a young quarterback. I don't think people really understand that," Jefferson said. "This is really his first year, really playing and being with his team, so there's going to be times where there's adversity and things might not look the greatest. But him keeping on that road and bouncing back today, it's definitely a great game for him."

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