There was a time when Vikings fans could watch Kirk Cousins throw a touchdown and still spend the following days arguing about it.
Was the ball a fraction late? Did he stare down the receiver? Did he miss an earlier read? Should he have thrown to the other side of the field? Was the touchdown itself evidence that the play worked, or proof that the quarterback had made it harder than necessary?
The discourse could be exhausting. At times, Cousins was scrutinized to a ridiculous degree, even after wins and even after scoring plays.
Somewhere along the way, the standard flipped too far in the other direction.
J.J. McCarthy missed a wide-open Myles Price in the end zone on fourth-and-goal against Baltimore. It was not a difficult throw into a narrow window. It was not a receiver losing at the catch point. There was no defender within 20 feet. It was a layup, and it became another Vikings drive without points.
While the majority groaned at the miss, too many people responded by explaining it away: There was pressure. Price could have caught it. McCarthy had made the 50-yard throw to Tai Felton earlier in the drive. He will learn from it.
All of that may be technically true. None of it changes the central point: An NFL quarterback has to make that throw.
Potential does not complete passes
McCarthy’s throw to Felton was outstanding. He moved in the pocket, stayed alive under pressure and gave his receiver a chance to make a difficult play downfield that would flip the field. That is real ability. It is the sort of flash that explains why the Vikings used the No. 10 overall pick on him.
But the spectacular 50-yard completion did not give him a blank check for the following set of downs.
The NFL is full of quarterbacks who can produce a highlight. The ones who last make routine plays look routine. They hit the open out route. They put the quick throw on the receiver’s chest. They recognize the easy answer before the defense forces the hard one.
Cousins was a good example of that during his Vikings time. There were no scramble drills and off-balance side-arm dimes. But he generally identified the open guy and got him the ball. McCarthy has not done that consistently enough.
That was the problem in 2025, when late reads, inaccurate short throws and uneven timing repeatedly stalled the offense. It’s why he lost the quarterback competition to Kyler Murray, and it’s been the problem this preseason, too. His seven preseason drives have produced no points. There have been pressures, penalties and protection breakdowns around him, but those things do not excuse every miss.
A quarterback can be affected by bad surroundings without being absolved by them.
McCarthy is no longer a rookie. He is in his third NFL season. Some fans still see the long-term developmental plan, but they cannot keep treating basic quarterbacking requirements as unfair expectations.
Throwing accurately to an open player in the end zone is not an advanced trait. It is the job.
The comparison is not flattering
Carson Wentz is not flawless. He holds the ball too long at times. His pocket management can be uneven, and seemingly every pass is a checkdown. His own career is full of evidence that he is not a long-term answer for a franchise.
But Wentz has made the backup-quarterback discussion uncomfortable because he has looked more capable of operating an offense from snap to whistle.
That is not an argument that Wentz should automatically replace McCarthy as QB2. It is an argument that the competition should be real.
Wentz has not needed to be spectacular. The reality is that all he had to do was simply take the throws that are there, move the chains, and avoid the obvious misses that have become too familiar with McCarthy. When the bar has been set this low, competence becomes a meaningful differentiator.
The Vikings do not need their backup quarterback to be a star. They need a player who can enter a game, execute the play and, at worst, let the punting unit and the defense do their jobs.
Murray has missed time in three of the past four seasons and the Vikings had to rely on QB3 in 50% of Kevin O’Connell’s campaigns. This is not a theoretical concern. The Vikings may need their No. 2 quarterback to play meaningful snaps, and perhaps start meaningful games.
That is why “he has upside” cannot be the only answer.
Vikings fans should want more
The desire to protect McCarthy is understandable. He is 23, has dealt with injuries and is a former top-10 pick whose confidence matters. After years of employing other teams’ QBs, it was an attempt to have a home-grown talent.
No one should root for him to fail, and no one should pretend a young quarterback cannot improve. His detractors have not always given that possibility enough weight.
But protecting a player from honest evaluation does not help him improve.
Calling a bad throw bad is not disloyalty. Demanding that a third-year NFL quarterback complete a simple goal-line pass is not unfair. Noting that the same issues keep appearing is not giving up on him.
It is having standards.
The Cousins years proved that Vikings fans are capable of overanalyzing quarterback play. The solution was never to stop analyzing it altogether. The position is too important for that. Every missed layup has the potential to cost points, games, or even a season.
McCarthy has talent. The Felton throw showed it.
But the Price miss revealed something more important: talent is not enough if it’s not paired with reliability.
The Vikings and their fans need to find their quarterback standards again. They can still hope McCarthy reaches them. They just cannot keep lowering them while they wait.
About The Author
