JJ McCarthy’s NFL debut on Monday Night Football looked headed for disaster. For three quarters against the Chicago Bears, the rookie quarterback struggled with the speed of the game, capped off by a brutal mistake—a third-quarter pick-six that cornerback Nahshon Wright took 74 yards to the house. That play gave Chicago a 17-6 lead, and the Vikings looked finished.

But when the game appeared out of reach, McCarthy flipped the script. Entering the fourth quarter with just 85 total yards of offense, the rookie decides to take command. He delivered two touchdown passes—including a strike to Justin Jefferson—and capped the rally with a rushing touchdown of his own. He erased the 11-point deficit and turned it into a 27-24 win. So what was the exact turning point that reversed the entire gameplay?

Aaron Jones pulled back the curtain afterward, explaining the exchange that lit the spark. “I just thought I’d say you’re good, baby. We right here with you. We got your back. On to the next one. Let that one go,” Jones said in the postgame interview, recalling what he told McCarthy after his masterclass move. A moment of encouragement to the 22-year-old rookie. Because despite looking every bit the rookie for three quarters—fresh off missing his entire first season with a meniscus injury, trailing at halftime 172 yards to 80, and producing just two field goals through three quarters—McCarthy showed something different in the fourth.

He walked into the huddle, after a TV timeout, and dropped a line that floored his teammates. “There was a moment when we were still down, J.J. McCarthy runs in the huddle and looks at us and says, ‘is there anywhere else you’d rather be,’” Aaron Jones revealed. “Wow. Like this… I’ve been told people he’s different up here. But that to me showed gratitude and presence… you damn right there’s no other place I’d rather be. He’s very mature for his age.” That’s a 22-year-old guy taking ownership of the moment. Spitting out the leadership talk. And he showed that on the field. McCarthy’s first career touchdown pass—a 13-yard strike to Jefferson—broke the seal and shifted the energy.

On the next drive, he orchestrated a lightning-fast 50-yard march in just 51 seconds, with a 27-yard touchdown to Jones himself. Suddenly, Minnesota wasn’t chasing anymore—they were leading. And to finish it off, McCarthy kept it himself for a 14-yard rushing score that sealed a 27-24 comeback. In the process, he also became the first quarterback since Steve Young in 1985 to erase a double-digit deficit in his NFL debut and the first since 1950 to do it on the road. The Vikings had high hopes for McCarthy when they drafted him 10th overall in the 2024 NFL Draft, and McCarthy? He made sure to live up to that promise.

JJ McCarthy’s stunning rookie debut

For a rookie quarterback, the huddle can feel like quicksand. It’s like every stare from a veteran daring you to sink. JJ McCarthy felt that in real time. A pick-six on his stat line. Just two field goals keeping the Vikings afloat. Yet instead of folding, he chose the moment to drop a line. “I feel like it was at the perfect time,” he admitted. That wasn’t a kid fumbling for words—that was a leader grabbing his team by the facemask and saying, we’re not done yet. It was raw. Exactly what woke up a locker room.

Even Justin Jefferson, the superstar who’s seen his share of quarterbacks spin in and out of Minnesota, felt the jolt. “It juiced us up… He never gave up. That was the big thing about it.” Kevin O’Connell doubled down at halftime, telling McCarthy, “You are going to bring us back to win this game.” That belief—the coach’s voice, Jefferson’s trust, and the rookie’s fire—all collided. Suddenly, the wide-eyed first-rounder had the look of a battle-tested vet. Jefferson summed it up best: “The look in his eye was just fantastic.” The Vikings weren’t following a rookie anymore; they were following a quarterback.

Even Kirk Herbstreit couldn’t hide his amazement on X: “9 in white weathered the storm early when things weren’t going well and just won his team over right before all of our eyes!!!” That’s a statement. For a kid everyone was ready to write off after a rough start, McCarthy turned doubt into belief. And belief? That’s the most dangerous thing a young quarterback can hand a city.