After losing his debut season with a season-ending injury during preseason, J.J. McCarthy finally made his NFL debut with the Minnesota Vikings this Monday Night Football. He led the NFC North franchise to a 27-14 victory over Caleb Williams’ Chicago Bears.
Someone who’s incredibly proud of this first step taken by the former Michigan quarterback is her fiancée, Katya Kuropas. On Tuesday, she reposted to her Instagram story a post by the Vikings that celebrated McCarthy’s first NFL career win.
She added the following caption to the story:
“What a night!! So proud of you 🙏 Keep showin em’ 🙌” Wrote Kuropas
The stats by McCarthy weren’t spectacular, however, with him throwing for 143 yards, two touchdown passes, and one interception. He had a completion percentage of 65%. For comparison, Caleb Williams had 210 passing yards, with one touchdown and a completion percentage of 60%.
Nonetheless, McCarthy has to be praised for keeping his composure late in the game. Entering the fourth quarter, the Bears led 17-6. The Vikings put together an impressive fourth-quarter performance, scoring 21 points to Chicago’s seven.
J.J. McCarthy Praises Minnesota Vikings Coach Kevin O’Connell for the Victory
As his girlfriend and the fans praise J.J. McCarthy for the Week 1 victory over the Chicago Bears, the quarterback knew there was someone else who should be praised: Kevin O’Connell. Shortly after the game ended, McCarthy spoke with the press and said:
“That guy is one of the best, if not the best coaches, in my opinion, in the National Football League,” he said. “Any kind of compliments or belief like that, it means the world. That just gave me the confidence to go out there and just execute the ball plays and have a fast arm and make quick, decisive decisions. And it worked out.”
It seems that the rapport between coach and player is very high, with O’Connell also taking the post-game opportunity to praise his signal-caller:
“We don’t win this game unless J.J. plays the way he did in the second half,” O’Connell said. “Most importantly, he kept the belief of this football team behind him, and now, we know it’s possible. You hope to not be in these circumstances very often. But this team’s made of the right stuff.”
In Week 2, the Minnesota Vikings will play the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday. They come in as slight favorites according to the bookies, with the spread being set at -4.5 in their favor.
Read more:
Top 10 Caleb Williams Jokes Cracking Up The Internet After Massive Collapse vs Minnesota
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