Kevin O’Connell may have just killed J.J. McCarthy’s 'Nine' persona

When KFAN’s Paul Allen blasted the "Nine" act, O’Connell didn’t disagree, stressing that McCarthy just needs to be authentic.

Dec 7, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy (9) reacts with Washington Commanders cornerback Mike Sainristil (0) after the game at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-Imagn Images | Brad Rempel-Imagn Images

"Nine" was amazing in Minnesota's win over Detroit back in November, but J.J. McCarthy's struggles in the games that followed turned his alter ego, "Nine," into a meme and the laughing stock of the National Football League. Everybody noticed, including McCarthy's head coach, Kevin O'Connell.

O'Connell did his weekly chat with KFAN-FM 100.3's Paul Allen on Tuesday, and he made it pretty clear that he's not a big fan of McCarthy's alter ego when Allen said "the Nine bit sucks" and it's not who McCarthy truly is.

"You better have confidence and you better have a comfort in who you are to be in certain roles. I think being the starting quarterback of an NFL team is one of those things. All I've asked J.J. to do is just be authentically himself," O'Connell said of McCarthy's on-field persona.

"I think at times, guys try to — and maybe it is the moment, and if it's authentic in the moment, fire away, have at it — but we don't need to exhaust any energy. Our jobs are hard enough already. Trying to be somebody else, or trying to play to some sort of persona, whatever it may be, let's just go back to work, man. Let's just go back to work and try to get better every single day. When we do have moments like Sunday and we can take a step back like J.J. and I were able to do —and I told him, I was proud of him. I was proud of the way from the moment (he) showed up on Wednesday all the way through to flipping (him) that game ball afterwards — it just felt like the guy that he can be for us, and it felt like it's repeatable."

McCarthy threw for two touchdowns and ran for another in the Vikings' 27-24 win at Detroit on November 2. After telling the world that "Nine" comes out on game days, he proceeded to throw for six interceptions over the next three games, then taking a seat with a concussion to watch undrafted rookie Max Brosmer throw four interceptions in a shutout loss to the Seahawks.

Stop overthinking and take the easy completiions

O'Connell thinks the week off, coupled with a slightly dumbed-down game plan and ditching the focus on his fundamentals, allowed McCarthy to maximize his natural ability. Less thinking led to quicker decisions and fewer negative plays.

"What I've learned, and maybe it came from one week there for Max to play against the Seahawks when he was in the protocol, but taking a step back after having a pretty good amount of work over the last few weeks prior, 'Man, if I just throw that completion right there. If on that second down, instead of trying to take three hitches and work the ball down the field, I check the ball down, I put the ball in play and we end up with a 2nd-and-3 or a new set of downs or a 3rd-and-manageable where it doesn't feel like we've gotta move heaven and earth at the quarterback position to try to stay on the field and sustain drives. The whole game plan was about stacking positive plays," O'Connell said.

O'Connell reiterated that McCarthy played freely in Minnesota's shutout win over Washington after so much attention (which was a product of O'Connell's public critique of McCarthy) was put on his fundamentals and technique.

"There's a lot been made of fundamentals and technique. Our job as coaches are to try to help players improve. We've navigated through the season of watching him show improvement in areas of fundamentals and technique. But there's another layer to it with J.J.," O'Connell explained.

What's that layer? Overthinking things.

"In certain times of the season, you would get a response of, 'I thought this player was going to do that," speaking about a defensive player. Or, 'Hey, I played with Mike Sainristil at Michigan, he's real instinctive, he might try to do..." Stop. Just quiet your mind and let's not overthink anything other than what is my job on the play, and making good decisions, putting the ball in play," O'Connell said.

"It's amazing just what the calmness you're speaking of simply comes from stacking plays of doing your job and putting the ball in play to Minnesota Vikings players in space. Whether it's a two-yard gain or a 50-yard gain, they're all positive, and they all have a negative effect on the defense. It allows me to continue calling the game within the sequencing of how we practice on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, on into the game."

So, what have we learned about McCarthy?

• He needs to ditch the "Nine" persona
• He needs to stop thinking about fundamentals and technique
• He needs to stop overanalyzing everything
• He needs to take the throws when they present themselves

Or, maybe he just needs to play one of the NFL's worst defenses like he just did against the Commanders. He'll get another chance Sunday night against a Dallas defense that owns the league's worst pass defense and is 31st in points allowed per game (29.7).