Schrager: J.J. McCarthy under more pressure than Caleb Williams in '25

The Vikings and Bears have been interesting franchises to compare in recent history.

They both hired new general manager and head coach duos in 2022, with rather different results. The Vikings' Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Kevin O'Connell have gone 34-17 in the regular season since then, and they both earned contract extensions this offseason. The Bears hired Ryan Poles (who also interviewed with Minnesota) and Matt Eberflus and have gone 15-36 since then. Eberflus was fired last year and Poles is still awaiting a possible extension.

With that said, the Vikings haven't won any more playoff games than the Bears during that span (0). And heading into 2025, both teams have Vegas win totals of 8.5 as they pin their hopes on a quarterback they drafted with a top-ten pick last year. Having hired Ben Johnson as head coach and having rebuilt their offensive line, Chicago is hoping for a big second-year leap from Caleb Williams, the No. 1 overall pick in 2024. The Vikings have high expectations for McCarthy, the tenth overall pick who is set to make his NFL debut after a knee injury wiped out his rookie year.

Both quarterbacks appear to have quality infrastructures around them. McCarthy has a more proven roster and coaching staff to work with, but Williams was the higher pick who already has a year of starting experience under his belt. An interesting question that came up on ESPN's Get Up on Monday is this: Which of the two is under more pressure in 2025?

Peter Schrager went with McCarthy.

"We're focusing so much on Caleb this offseason and we're just assuming that everything is fine in Minnesota, and because O'Connell and Kwesi decided to put their faith in J.J. McCarthy, that we know that this team is gonna be just as good as they were a year ago," Schrager said. "Minnesota has everything you could want there already, it's just plug and play. Caleb Williams, you're asking him to learn a new coach, a new offensive coordinator, an entirely new skill set of players."

Dan Orlovsky pushed back on that take.

"It's really hard as a quarterback to do all that and not have the people than to do it with the people," he said. "They (Chicago) got the people. I'll go back to, when Sean McVay went to LA, it was like 'oh, Jared Goff doesn't stink.' When Mike McDaniel went to (Miami) it was like 'oh man, Tua can play.' And so now, there's not gonna be any grace (for Caleb Williams)... You have one of the hottest offensive minds in football. You're gonna have a top-ten offensive line. You've got first-round pick, second-round pick, first-round pick, first-round pick at perimeter player. This is a place where a quarterback who is as talented as Caleb..."

"Sam Darnold won 14 games last year and they're like we're good, we got another guy," Schrager interjected.

"But here's the thing," Orlovsky responded. "They will be! I love J.J. McCarthy. It's the easiest place to go play quarterback. You should go play well there. If you're worth a salt, you should go play well in Minnesota."

.@PSchrags believes J.J. McCarthy is under more pressure than Caleb Williams this NFL season 👀 pic.twitter.com/gOyZkuJQjc
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) June 9, 2025

It's an interesting debate. Both players will be facing pressure this year because the team and coaching staff around them are ready to win. One obvious difference is that the Vikings have already won at a high level, at least in the regular season.

Ultimately, McCarthy will get some grace for inconsistency because it's his first year as an NFL starter. Williams might get a little less in his second season, although it is a transition to a new coaching staff. But even if massive success doesn't come right away this year, both teams will at least want to see promising signs from their young QB to head into 2026 on an upwards trajectory.

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