J.J. McCarthy Did Something in His First NFL Start Not Seen in 75 Years

Liam McKeone | Sep 9, 2025

J.J. McCarthy's NFL debut was a big success. / Matt Marton-Imagn Images

J.J. McCarthy made his first NFL regular season start on Monday, and while it took a while to kick into gear, it ended as a night to remember.

McCarthy and the Vikings struggled mightily to move the ball against the Bears' defense on Monday Night Football, and things hit rock-bottom when McCarthy threw a brutal pick-six to go down 17-6 in the third quarter.

It turns out those struggles were merely setting the scene for an epic comeback. The young quarterback helped lead the Vikings to 21 points in the fourth quarter and a 27-24 victory over Chicago. McCarthy showed remarkable poise for a QB making his first-ever NFL start—and it turns out we haven't seen anything like it in 75 years.

Per NFL researcher Dante Koplowitz-Fleming, McCarthy became the first starting quarterback to record a comeback of 10 points or greater in his first NFL start since Steve Young did so in 1985. Further, he is the first since 1950 to do so on the road.

It's a pretty unbelievable stat. It's very hard to pull off a comeback with an inexperienced quarterback, and even more difficult on the road, but there have been a lot of all-time great quarterbacks to suit up in the last 75 years. Not a single one of them did what McCarthy just did in their first game.

McCarthy finished his first win with 143 yards passing, two touchdowns, and an interception to go with 25 yards and another TD on the ground. Not eye-popping stats, but the one that matters is the win. He earned it in historic fashion.

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