Quarterback Caleb Williams wants to make history with the bears
Mark Jeannott explains how the Chicago Bears quarterback hopes to be freed from his perception and make history in the NFL
- JJ McCarthy led the Minnesota Vikings to a comeback victory for the Chicago Bears after a poor performance in the first three quarters.
- McCarthy helped the Vikings overcome the 11-point deficit by scoring 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter.
- The rookie quarterback is the first since Steve Young in 1985 to win his debut after scoring 10 or more points in the fourth quarter.
Chicago – For three-quarters, JJ McCarthy was bad. It’s so bad it hurts. Likewise, it’s bad, “A man hasn’t played soccer in a year.”
But what about the fourth quarter? McCarthy is magic and reminds everyone why the Minnesota Vikings used 10th Choose his 2024 draft.
The Vikings scored 21 unanswered points for the Chicago Bears in the fourth quarter Monday night, with McCarthy taking charge of everyone except one. By digging the Viking out of an 11-point hole, he also dug himself out of a disruptive performance that could leave a big dent in the young quarterback’s confidence and development. (See Caleb Williams, 2024 season.)
“He stepped into the huddle. We were losing. I’d say the third, fourth early (quarter). It’s saying a lot about you right there,” Aaron Jones said after the game.
“This kid is special. He’s different here,” Jones added, pointing to his head. “I’ve been saying that for a long time.”
More people are saying that now.
According to ESPN, McCarthy overcomes a deficit of over 10 points in the fourth quarter and is the first quarterback to win his debut since 1985. Who did that at the time? A man named Steve Young.
“I told him halftime, ‘You’re going to bring us back to win this game.’ And the look of his eyes was fantastic,” the Vikings coach said.
McCarthy hasn’t played a “real” football game in almost two years since leading Michigan to the national title. He missed everything last year after torn Meniscus in his right knee during the preseason and played little in this preseason.
McCarthy appears to be troubled by the speed of the game, becoming Harley when the bear put under pressure. He was fired to each of Minnesota’s first two drives, and attempted one pass on each drive. The Vikings were in the red zone on their third drive, so the throw to Justin Jefferson was too low in the third and eight.
Minnesota blew hist twice in the first three quarters due to game delays.
And what looked like a Viking’s dagger, McCarthy threw a pick six on Minnesota’s first drive in the second half. Looking for Jefferson, McCarthy telegraphed his throw, and Narsion Wright stepped in front of it, taking 74 yards to give Chicago a 17-6 lead, leaving him with 13:03 in the third.
“You don’t want to acquire wisdom like that,” McCarthy said. “It’s awful. It’s one of the worst things you can do as a quarterback, but you can’t do anything about it. You need to focus on the next play.
“Just get out there, run, play, and move from there.”
The Williams and the Bears gave McCarthy some help and suddenly returned to a team that endured a 10-game skid towards a 5-12 finish last year. Much more settled in the first half, Williams began making bad decisions, capsizing the receiver and putting the ball in the wrong place.
The rest of the bears have also become sloppy and committed too many stupid penalties.
But part of being an elite quarterback is being able to take advantage of the other’s misfortunes.
McCarthy found his groove after Cairo Santos missed a 50-yard field goal attempt. He hit Jefferson for 17 yards and found him with a 13 yard touchdown on three plays. The Vikings attempted a two-point conversion, but Jonathan Owens pushed Josh Oliver out of the boundary just before the end zone.
After three disastrous departures by the Bears, Williams was fired and then nearly selected for Andrew Van Ginkel, McCarthy quickly returned to work and found Jones with a 27-yard score. Minnesota again made a two-point conversion, this time McCarthy connected with Adam Tierren to raise the Vikings 20-17.
And they hadn’t done it yet.
McCarthy’s 10-yard pass to Jefferson put the Vikings on the Bears 14, and McCarthy scored on the next play, taking advantage of the hole created by TJ Hockenson.
“It was certainly one of my favorites,” McCarthy said with a laugh.
McCarthy was the first to say he could play better. You will need to play better in the future.
However, the learning curve for a young quarterback is steep, bad losses and bad plays on bad losses can seem insurmountable. McCarthy and his team know that isn’t the case now. No matter how bad he plays, he can get out of it.
Because he did it.
“There’s no way to deny it. You won’t win this game unless you play the way JJ did in the second half, and most importantly, he kept his football team’s beliefs behind him,” O’Connell said. “Now we know that is possible.”
For McCarthy, it seems like it’s everything.
Follow USA Today sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrammour.
