EAGAN, Minn. — J.J. McCarthy and the Vikings will try to make the near midpoint of the 2025 season a turning point for how many things have gone during the team's 3-4 start.
It won't be easy for the Vikings (3-4) as they visit the Detroit Lions (5-2) at noon (CT) Sunday, but McCarthy is looking forward to the opportunity in his first game action since suffering a high-ankle sprain on Sept. 14.
"Just finished up a great practice," McCarthy said Wednesday. "Felt like there was a lot that we did well and a lot that we've got to improve on this week. We've got a tremendous opportunity in front of us against a divisional opponent, a really tough opponent. They've done a lot of great things this year, and it'll be great to see where we stack up against them. We're just really focused on attacking every day and making sure we're prepared as possible going into this one on Sunday."
After a rehab process that included Minnesota starting Carson Wentz for five games, McCarthy said his ankle is "feeling amazing."
"Ready to go. I feel like myself again, feel like I have those mobility things that I was concerned about going into last week and the prior week," McCarthy said.
Wentz suffered a shoulder injury in the first half of Minnesota's Week 5 game against Cleveland in London. He was able to play the entire second half and lead a game-winning drive.
The Vikings went on their bye in Week 6 before opening a stretch against four teams that combined to win 52 games in 2024. So far, the return from the bye has involved a home loss to the Eagles and a road loss at the Chargers.
As fate, or the 2024 and 2025 NFL roller coasters, would have it, McCarthy's first road NFL start occurred at Soldier Field, a short distance from his home town of La Grange Park, Illinois.
Now his second will be about an hour from his alma mater, Michigan, which he led to a CFP National Championship.
Vikings Head Coach Kevin O'Connell said he and McCarthy recently went back and watched Minnesota's Week 1 win at Chicago and Week 2 home loss against Atlanta, "just looking at some of the principles of how he how he played."
"We generated 170 yards in the final 17 minutes of the [Bears] game, and he had a ton to do with that just by simply being efficient with his feet and being accurate … reading progressions and putting the ball in play and throwing completions, and then we were able to run the ball as well," O'Connell explained. "And it kind of married all together."
"The biggest thing I took away was just how, we keep saying 'When we do the simple things, right, what does the outcome look like?' So really just focusing on my processes, going through the reads, making sure I'm taking the right footwork and staying kind of calm- minded and [having] a duck mentality in terms of just how I go about each play in each situation," said McCarthy, with the last part being a reference to not letting one bad play affect the next play.
"It really just came down to the simple things, and making sure we master that," McCarthy said.
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