Thefirst time J.J. McCarthy played the Chicago Bears, he had a great fourth quarter to lead a win and was named NFC Offensive Player of the Week. That seems quite humorous now.
In that same game, McCarthy was awful for three quarters before that fourth-quarter rally. As it turns out, that seems to be the more accurate snapshot of where McCarthy is at this early stage of his NFL career.
The Vikings made a bold choice in the offseason, essentially moving on from Sam Darnold to give McCarthy a shot. It made sense. McCarthy was the 10th pick in the 2024 NFL Draft and getting paid much less than Darnold would end up getting from the Seattle Seahawks. But it hinged on McCarthy playing at a passable level.
Other than that magical fourth quarter against the Bears in Week 1, there's little evidence that McCarthy will be a good NFL starting quarterback. McCarthy was mostly awful Sunday in the rematch against the Bears. He had one good drive, leading the Vikings to a go-ahead touchdown in the final two minutes, but the Bears came right back with a game-winning field goal as time expired. McCarthy's poor play for all of the drives before that final one was the main reason the Vikings lost 19-17. He's also a reason the Vikings are 4-6 without much hope for turning things around this season.
Before the Vikings' final drive, McCarthy had less than 100 yards passing and his completion percentage was under 50%. He finished 16-of-32 passing for 150 yards, and a lot of the stats were from the final drive. That's something for the Vikings to be positive about, but before that it was an absolute mess.
McCarthy's final numbers weren't horrendous, but they don't indicate how poorly he played. He repeatedly missed open receivers, and on a few of them he was off by a mile. His most accurate throws in the first half might have been to Kevin Byard and Nahshon Wright, both of whom happen to play defensive back for the Bears. In the first half, the Vikings had three points and McCarthy had two interceptions. McCarthy's passer rating was 22.6.
Fantastic high point by Nahshon Wright for the INT on JJ McCarthy!CHIvsMIN on FOX/FOX One+https://t.co/HkKw7uXnxVpic.twitter.com/K8427grMZE
— NFL (@NFL)November 16, 2025
Fans started booing in Minnesota at every inaccurate pass. It probably wasn't just for the absolutely miserable performance Sunday. It was probably the thought that the Vikings went 14-3 last season with Darnold, then might have overreacted to two bad games at the end of the season and let him walk in free agency.Darnold entered Sunday on a short list of MVP candidatesas he led the Seahawks to a 7-2 start. He looks light years better than McCarthy. One drive in the fourth quarter doesn't change that.
As it turns out, it might not be the best idea to tout your"alter ego"before you show you can play in the NFL.
It's early to call McCarthy a bust. Five starts is way too small of a sample size. It took Darnold more than five seasons to emerge. But it doesn't look good through those five games. McCarthy has looked like one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL. He can't even get Justin Jefferson the ball regularly, which says a lot.
The 2024 quarterback draft class looks very good. Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye, Michael Penix Jr. and Bo Nix all have had some exceptional moments. It was unlikely that the class would go 6-for-6 on quarterback hits out of the first round. McCarthy has a long way to go to not be the one clear miss in that group.
Here are the winners and losers from Week 11 of the NFL season:
WINNERS
Brock Purdy:Purdy's toe injury wasn't the reason the San Francisco 49ers were just 6-4 heading into Sunday's game at the Arizona Cardinals. Mac Jones played pretty well in his place.
But the 49ers are undeniably better with Purdy back in the lineup.
Purdy threw three touchdown passes in his return to the lineup and the49ers got an easy 41-22 win over the Cardinals. It was just third game of the season for Purdy, and he looked healthy.
The 49ers are in a tough NFC West so it will take a big rally to win the division. But the 49ers have some winnable games coming up. More importantly, they have their quarterback back.
Rams' defense:After Sunday's game, the focus will be on Sam Darnold throwing four interceptions, acallback to his strugglesin the final two games of last season.
But let's remember that the Los Angeles Rams caused those interceptions.
The Rams gave up some yards, including at the end of the game to allow the Seahawks a shot at a 61-yard field goal for the win, but L.A. did well in the red zone and its pressure led to four Darnold interceptions in a huge 21-19 win. That gives the Rams sole possession of first place in the NFC West.
The Rams still have a long way to go, including a Week 16 rematch at Seattle. But the defense and its big plays Sunday deserves credit for a big victory.
Josh Allen:The Buffalo Bills have had an odd season, but they always have Allen to fall back on.
Allen saved the Bills on Sunday,as he has done many times. Buffalo got a big challenge from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but Allen came to the rescue. Allen had three rushing touchdowns and three passing touchdowns as the Bills outlasted Tampa Bay with a 44-32 win. Allen had some big mistakes early, including an inexplicable interception deep in his own territory as he tried a two-handed chest pass from his end zone, but he more than made up for that.
The Bills still have work to do to catch the New England Patriots in the AFC East. Their defense hasn't been great, as was evident Sunday. Buffalo gave up a lot of yards and points, including three touchdowns to Tampa running back Sean Tucker. But Allen still gives the Bills a chance to be a special team.
Matt LaFleur:Beating the New York Giants with Jameis Winston making his first start of the season isn't taking all the heat off LaFleur and the Green Bay Packers. But imagine if the Packers had lost.
Green Bay was in trouble most of the day, but a touchdown from Jordan Love to Christian Watson in the fourth quarter gave the Packers the lead and then theor defense intercepted Winston to hold on to a27-20 win.
There are still plenty of things for the Packers to fix, on offense and as a whole team. They have made it a habit this season of barely sneaking by bad teams, or losing to them outright. On Sunday they beat a bad Giants team, which saves a lot of angst over the next week.
Cam Ward:He hasn't had a great rookie season, though he gets praise for some of his highlight throws. Everyone knows he's in a bad situation with the Tennessee Titans, who have already fired their head coach.
On Sunday, Ward had his best moment as a pro. Ward led an 11-play, 95-yard drive against a very good Houston Texans defense. He had a fantastic throw to Chig Okonkwo to set up a game-tying touchdown to Van Jefferson. It was as good as Ward has looked all season.
The game ended in a loss for the Titans, but that's nothing new. Houston drove down for a game-winning field goal after Ward's long drive, andbeat the Titans 16-13 as time expired. The Titans fell to 1-9 with the loss. That's certainly disappointing. But in a lost season, the main thing for Tennessee to track is the progress of the No. 1 overall pick from this year's draft. His big drive late in the game Sunday is something to feel good about.
Mike McDaniel:Somehow, theMiami Dolphins have won three of four games.Sunday's 16-13 win over the Washington Commanders across the pond in Madrid wasn't pretty. It was a sloppy game between two flawed teams.
McDaniel got let off the hook for a decision to not take a field goal in the final two minutes of regulation when the game was tied, which looked bad when a fourth-down run from the Commanders' 1-yard line was stopped. His defense came up with a key play to start overtime when Jack Jones intercepted Marcus Mariota. That set up the game-winning field goal.
It's possible McDaniel can't save his job, but there's more hope now than there was a few weeks ago. Miami has gone from 1-6 to 4-7. That includes blowout wins over the Falcons and Bills. In addition, the Dolphins' next two games are both winnable against the Saints and Jets. At the very least, the thought of McDaniel being fired during the season has probably subsided.
LOSERS
Chiefs' shot at another AFC West title:And just like that, theChiefs are three-and-a-half games behind in the AFC West race.
In a tense back-and-forth game, the Broncos' offense emerged as the group that made the game-winning plays. Bo Nix's 32-yard completion to Troy Franklin, shortly after a great effort by Courtland Sutton to barely pick up a first down on a third-and-5 catch, set up a game-winning field-goal attempt. Unlike last season, when the Broncos had a potential game-winning kick blocked at Arrowhead Stadium, Wil Lutz's field goal was good. The Broncos won 22-19 in their biggest win perhaps since Super Bowl 50.
The Broncos are 9-2 after the win and theChiefsare 5-5. There is a rematch in Kansas City later in the season, but the Chiefs might have to be just about perfect the rest of the season to win their 10th straight division title.
Seeing the Chiefs as a wild-card team — it's not out of the question they miss the playoffs altogether either — would be very odd. But that's the most likely outcome with the Broncos taking control of the division.
Shedeur Sanders:Finally, a lot of fans got what they were waiting for. Sanders got his first NFL snaps for the Cleveland Browns.
But in a tough situation, the results might not lead to some more snaps right away, unless Dillon Gabriel remains sidelined.
Gabriel left with a concussion and Sanders came in, and the rookie fifth-round draft pick struggled until a drive late in the game after Mark Andrews' fake tush push on fourth down resulted in a 35-yard touchdown run for Baltimore.
Trailing by a touchdown, Sanders finally warmed up. He got the Browns into Ravens territory with a chance to tie the game. But he had one big miss, overthrowing an open receiver in the end zone. Another pass to the end zone was broken up on the next play. On fourth down, Sanders' pass was batted down incomplete and the Ravens held on to a 23-16 win.
Sanders' final numbers were not pretty. He was 4-of-16 passing for 47 yards with an interception. That's a 13.5 passer rating. He took two sacks as well.
Perhaps Gabriel misses another game; many players who have been diagnosed with a concussion miss the next week's game. But if Gabriel is ready, there's no reason for the Browns to make a permanent switch anytime soon based on what they saw Sunday.
Joe Burrow:Burrow came back to practice this week after missing most of the season following turf toe surgery, and maybe he will return to games regardless of whether the Cincinnati Bengals are out of the playoff race by the time he's ready.
But with each Bengals loss, it makes less sense for Burrow to come back at all.
The Bengals are 3-7 after a34-12 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.The Steelers' defense has been up and down but played well Sunday and got a key pick 6 from safety Kyle Dugger in the third quarter to push the lead to two scores, which was a turning point in the win. The Steelers did what they didn't do in the first meeting and kept Ja'Marr Chase from beating them. He had just three catches for 30 yards, after 16 catches for 161 yards and a touchdown in Week 7. The Steelers lost Aaron Rodgers to a left hand injury Sunday, but the Bengals still couldn't come back for the win.
The Bengals' season isn't done, but it's tough to see them making a push for the playoffs with or without Burrow. The team might have to make some tough decisions when Burrow is ready to play.
Justin Herbert:Herbert started this season by playing at the highest level of his career. He looked like an MVP candidate.
On Sunday, you had to feel bad for him.
Herbert continues to take as much punishment as anyone in the NFL as he plays without his two elite offensive tackles, Joe Alt and Rashawn Slater. He's also without rookie first-round running back Omarion Hampton, who would have taken some pressure off of him. Herbert looked like he had to do it all Sunday, and he couldn't overcome that. TheChargers got blasted 35-6 by the Jacksonville Jaguars. Herbert had a miserable day, but it's not like it was all his fault. He was pulled with the score out of hand, likely for his own well-being.
The Chargers are 7-4 with a very good defense. It's not like the season is over because they didn't look good against the Jaguars. But a season that started with a lot of promise for the Chargers has a much lower ceiling now.
Kirk Cousins and the Falcons' defense:When Michael Penix Jr. got hurt, Atlanta led 21-16. The Falcons' defense and Cousins couldn't bring the win home.
Cousins got very little going off the bench, completing 6 of 14 passes for 48 yards. The Falcons' defense couldn't get any key stops, and some poor tackling on a short pass in overtime allowed Carolina tight end Tommy Tremble to break free for 54 yards. That put the Panthers in field-goal position — Cousins led a three-and-out to start overtime — and the Panthers won 30-27.Atlanta's defense was torched by Bryce Young,who had 448 yards and three touchdowns, including a game-tying score to Tetairoa McMillan with 1:08 left in regulation.
The Falcons are a very disappointing 3-7. They needed to win Sunday and had a huge letdown. The rest of the season will probably be used to determine who will be back in 2026, perhaps including head coach Raheem Morris.
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