J.J. McCarthy to Get Trial by Fire

Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy meditates on the field before the start of the College Football Playoff national championship game against Washington at NRG Stadium in Houston on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024. © Melanie Maxwell / USA TODAY NETWORK. The NFL released the 2025 regular season schedule on Wednesday, and just like everybody already knew, the Minnesota Vikings’ menu is brutally difficult. Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy will get acclimated to Vikings football real quick in the 2025 season. No easy sections of the schedule really exist, thrusting second-year passer J.J. McCarthy into action against the league’s best. And right away in Week 1, McCarthy will experience a trial by fire, taking on the upstart Chicago Bears at Soldier Field, a spot not necessarily dripping with good Vikings memories. Week 1 at Soldier Field NFL schedule makers decided to make Minnesota’s first game of the season a division showdown at Soldier Field. Both teams are expected to win 8.5 games in 2025, so the matchup should be fairly even. Oct 9, 2017; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago fans hold up emoji signs for “Bear Down” during a game against the Minnesota Vikings at Soldier Field. Mandatory Credit: Patrick Gorski-USA TODAY Sports. The annoying part? Virtually every Vikings game at Soldier Field has an element of “strange” to it, involving sloppy play, weird events, or a nasty field. Put it this way: Bears-Vikings at Soldier Field is never clean. There’s always something goofy about it. Therefore, when McCarthy, basically a rookie, plays his first game, he’ll get a taste of the rivalry out of the gate, and it might be tricky for fans to determine if his performance was reflective of him — or merely Soldier Field oddities. For example, if Minnesota wins 13-9, well, the Vikings would probably win at Soldier Field with that score if Patrick Mahomes were the quarterback. McCarthy will see the Soldier Field slopfest in his maiden voyage. Before the Current Soldier Field Win Streak … From 2000 to 2019, Minnesota had a 4-16 record in Chicago. It was easier to play at Lambeau Field. Chicago, before Williams, never employed the same QB1 for long, aside from Jay Cutler, so it’s not like Minnesota faced quarterback immortality from 200o to 2019. Versus some of the flimiest NFL passers, the Vikings would only win four times out of 20 at Soldier Field for 20 years. Five in a Row Now, However Now, though, the Vikings are enjoying a win spurt at Soldier, taking Chicago down five times consecutively. Michigan quarterback J. McCarthy (9) signs autographs during the national championship celebration at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor on Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024. © Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK. It’s worth noting that Minnesota never really looks good during the process, but it has found a way to win games at Soldier Field from 2020 to 2024. Perhaps McCarthy will author the first Vikings romp there before too long. Schedule Also Doesn’t Get Easier After the trial by fire with Soldier’s wackiness, it doesn’t get any easier. The entire Vikings schedule is a murderer’s row, only letting up once in a while with games against the Cleveland Browns in London and the New York Giants in Week 16. In fact, following the Week 6 bye, McCarthy will see more fire trials against the Philadelphia Eagles, Los Angeles Chargers, Detroit Lions, and Baltimore Ravens. Michigan quarterback J. McCarthy speaks during the national championship celebration at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor on Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024. © Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK. Star Tribune‘s Ben Goessling tweeted Wednesday night, “We knew the degree of difficulty would go up with the AFC North and NFC East on the schedule, and things will change through the year, but at first blush, this is one of the toughest schedules I can remember on my 14 years on the beat. Four post-bye opponents combined for 52 wins last year.” Other Schedule Feedback NFL.com’s Jeffri Chadiha reacted to the Vikings’ schedule on Thursday. He wrote, “Safe travels: The Vikings will have plenty of time abroad, as they’ll play a Week 4 game against Pittsburgh in Dublin and a Week 5 contest against Cleveland in London. The upside is Minnesota will open the season against three teams that didn’t qualify for the postseason in 2024 (Chicago, Atlanta and Cincinnati), but that kind of road trip so early in the year will be a stiff test.” “Rough stretch: The toughest part of the Vikings’ season might come right after that overseas tour and their Week 6 break. They’ll face the Eagles, Chargers, Lions and Ravens in consecutive weeks with the games against Los Angeles and Detroit coming on the road. This will be the time when Minnesota really learns what it has in second-year quarterback J.J. McCarthy.” One metric has called Minnesota’s schedule the NFL’s fifth-hardest. Brutal. Aug 10, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota quarterback J.J. McCarthy (9) and head coach Kevin O’Connell react before the game against the Las Vegas Raiders at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports. Chadiha continued, “See you in Seattle. Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold enjoyed a magical year in Minnesota in 2024, as he rebuilt his career and set himself up to be one of the league’s top free agents this offseason. He now has the chance to face the team that decided it was better to move on from him. There’s surely still a lot of love between the Vikings and Darnold because of how he performed in leading Minnesota to a 14-win season.” “It’s also fair to assume the Vikings will know just how to attack him in that Week 13 tilt after all the time with him in their building.” McCarthy and the Vikings are already 1.5-point underdogs for Week 1 at Soldier Field.