EAGAN, Minn. — Minnesota's offense is starting to function at a high level thanks to J.J. McCarthy.

The 22-year-old signal caller has dialed up a touchdown drive in every one of the past eight quarters, which is the longest streak by the Vikings since a 10-frame spree in Weeks 10-12 of the 2021 calendar.

McCarthy made it happen through the air and with his athleticism in the 34-26 Sunday Night Football win at Dallas in Week 15. He passed for a career-best (so far) 250 yards and scooted for another 15. The QB struck gold with Jalen "Speedy" Nailor for a pair of TDs, and in between those, snuck into the end zone via a tremendous naked bootleg that okey-doked fans, Cowboys players and commentators on NBC alike.

With Sunday's film fresh in his mind, Vikings Head Coach Kevin O'Connell told Twin Cities media members Monday that McCarthy is locked into a one-play mentality that's taken his play to new heights.

"And even when we don't hit them all," the coach said after applying serious credit to McCarthy's past two performances, "he's making some really high-level throws, and I thought that was on full display."

The youngster navigated the waters of a talent-rich Cowboys front seven behind an offensive line that had to throw extra resources to the left side, with starting LT Christian Darrisaw inactive and Justin Skule substituting for him. O'Connell mentioned the importance of maximizing time for McCarthy to make a few clean hitches in the pocket and distribute the ball to Minnesota's skillsters. The OL definitely held up.

McCarthy was pressured a season-low six times, according to Next Gen Stats, and did not take a sack. He used one of his quicker average release times in a game (2.97 seconds) to deliver the football in a timely manner. And when he sensed danger, he worked up in the pocket, kept his eyes alert and tucked the rock only if it was necessary. O'Connell offered examples of McCarthy getting moved off his spot and not panicking — in one instance, he found T.J. Hockenson for a first down along the sideline, and on a separate occasion he scrambled (right before hitting The Griddy) and was close to plunging over the line.

The movement was essential to McCarthy's poise under the lights, his finest game as a pro, yet.

"I was really, really proud of the way he threw the football last night," O'Connell commented. "As a whole, he played at a winning, winning level, and he now has for the last eight quarters. And pair that with guys doing some good things around him, and we're starting to function a little bit on offense."

Only nine NFL players since at least 1970 have 10-plus TDs passing and 3-plus rushing through their initial eight career games, including McCarthy. Here's his company, with pass and rush TDs in parentheses: Daunte Culpepper (14, 4), Cam Newton (11, 7), Andrew Luck (10, 3), Jameis Winston (10, 3), Dak Prescott (12, 4), Joe Burrow (11, 3) Justin Herbert (19, 3) and Jaxson Dart (10, 5).

Some stats, obviously, can be manipulated. But there's no way to fake McCarthy's overarching impact.

Here are four more takeaways from O'Connell's day-after-game debriefing:

1. Pass game success

Minnesota had seven explosive passes versus the Cowboys that picked up 15 or more yards.

It was a major aspect of the winning effort, especially because of the tough sledding the Vikings faced in the run phase. It also was a sizable increase from the offense's average number of explosive passes in its first 13 games (4.2). Specific to McCarthy, he entered Sunday with 25 such throws in his first seven starts.

"I thought we ran it just well enough to kind of weather the snap-to-snap storm and not have to be totally off balance, one way or the other, run or pass, and then I thought there were some great, great examples of just decision making from J.J. trying to activate some play-passes down the field," O'Connell assessed. "That allowed us to continue to kind of use some of those completions as extensions of our run game in a lot of ways, and doing it out of different groupings.

"And then finding some space maybe on the edges at times, either on some design kind of throws or some unique run concepts that give us a chance to find some space because it was hard to come by against that front with those three guys in there (Cowboys DL Quinnen Williams, Kenny Clark and Osa Odighizuwa) … We knew it was going to be a different kind of game than maybe some of the others, where we've been able to lean on the run game a little bit, but we wanted to try to stay balanced enough to allow those explosives to come our way."

2. Getting 'Jets' open

The most elusive part of McCarthy's maturation is his chemistry with Justin Jefferson.

"Jets," the All-Everything receiver, was targeted more by McCarthy than anyone else (8) but for the third straight game managed two catches (for 22 yards). Honestly, it should have been a lot more, though. At one point, with a defender barreling down on him, McCarthy missed Jefferson on a deep crossing route; and in the low red zone, late in the third quarter, prior to C.J. Ham's 1-yard TD, Jefferson failed to bring in a ball in the back-left corner that O'Connell said "had some sauce on it" but was placed in the right spot.

"I did think we had some good ops," O'Connell explained, before diving into the incomplete crosser. "Those have been kind of plays, that when we get that one chance, that sometimes can be the chance for Justin for a sequence of 20-25 plays where there's not a safety leaning into him, there's not a double team, there's not a cloud coverage rolling to him. So when those aren't — when you're second-and-10 after those plays, it does feel a little bit more significant than just standard get-back-on-track play.

"But like I said, Justin is still doing all the things required for us to win, and nobody wants to make those plays more than Justin, and nobody wants to make those throws more than J.J. And we just got to continue to try to find ways to allow Justin to impact the game," O'Connell continued. "We created 4x1 one time and got him a look in the red zone (his second of two slants, which netted 10 yards). … We're just going to always try to find ways where we're not going to mess it up.

"And I think he got an ample amount of targets for the kind of game that it was, considering the total number of pass attempts we had. But we absolutely are on the hunt to have our best players involved as much as we possibly can."

3. Game within the game

The Vikings are one of two NFL defenses since 2009 to not let a team score through the air in five games in a row. Yup, Minnesota has not given up a passing touchdown since Lamar Jackson took advantage of a coverage breakdown in Week 10. Since then, five opposing players have gone 79-for-142 (55.6 percent) with 160 yards per game and two interceptions (h/t Washington). Oh, and Minnesota has 11 total sacks.

What's been working for the Vikings in that area? The full gamut.

"I think there's been a really, really good combination of the marriage of our pressure packages, coverages, and then getting the quarterback off the spot — even on plays where we're maybe not in a full send-it mode," O'Connell detailed. "That's the interior guys. That's J.G. (Jonathan Greenard), Dallas [Turner], "Gink' " (Andrew Van Ginkel), whether it's one of the 'backers going on a simulated pressure where we're only bringing four, but we're bringing one of those guys and dropping somebody out.

"It's been a really good combination of all those things," O'Connell said. "And then, specifically, speaking to Harrison Smith last night, it felt like it during the game — just listening to the calls and then kind of how things played out — but the game within the game that Harrison was playing was as special as maybe any game since I've been here, as far as against a quarterback [of Dak Prescott's caliber], and an offense and what weapons that they have, and he's really in total control and command of what the final (defensive) call kind of is there based upon his assessment of what Dak is trying to get to. And there's some back and forth going on there. As a self-proclaimed football nerd, it was pretty fun to watch."

Smith posted six tackles, a QB hit and two passes defensed. The Hitman has four of those since Week 13.

FYI, the most recent streak without a pass TD allowed as solid as Minnesota's belongs to the 2018 Patriots (6). New England won Super Bowl LIII that year, and its defensive play caller was Brian Flores.

4. Respect for Paul Wiggin

The late, great former player, coach and scout was a football lifer and the ultimate representative of what it means to be a Minnesota Viking — talented but modest; cerebral, committed and passionate.

O'Connell began his press conference by reflecting on Wiggin and his appreciation for the College Football Hall of Famer and Pro Bowler who was involved in the careers of so many legendary players.

"I just remember when I was having my weekly lunches with Bud, with Coach Grant back in '22," O'Connell said with a smile. "There'd be times where Coach Grant would say some things to me and I didn't want to be the young, annoying, first-year head coach, and fire a question back at him, so I would log it away and make sure I went and found 'Wigs' and asked him, 'What exactly did [Bud] mean by that?'

"But just even being around him in draft meetings, when he would talk about pass rushers and how he saw it — and he had evaluated everybody — and you're listening to him and how his eye saw the game, and just the wealth of knowledge and experience. … He had an unbelievable way about him of kind of picking his spots, but at the same time, you found yourself wanting to hear more and more from him," O'Connell added. "It's been a really cool part of this job. Not only the time I got to spend with Coach Grant before he passed away, but just having Wigs in the building and being around him, I know, made us all better."

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