Colin Cowherd has flipped his opinion of J.J. McCarthy faster than McCarthy led the Vikings to a comeback victory over the Bears in his NFL debut on Monday night. But it’s not because he suddenly believes McCarthy has all the traits to be a great player.
“I don’t know how good J.J. McCarthy is. I don’t know how good Bo Nix is. But I suspect they’re both going to win their division a lot, and over the course of 15 years they’re going to win a bunch of games,” Cowherd said Thursday.
Why, after spending the past year criticizing McCarthy and questioning his arm talent, does Cowherd think McCarthy is going to lead the Vikings to a bunch of division titles and wins?
“Because I think Kevin O’Connell is the best young offensive coach in football,” Cowherd explained.
Cowherd is allowed to change his opinion, which he obviously did after McCarthy wowed with three consecutive touchdown drives to take the Vikings from being down 17-6 in the fourth quarter to beating the Bears 27-24 at Soldier Field.
Alas, Cowherd believes McCarthy is destined for success only because he has a good coach. He literally compared McCarthy having O’Connell to a child growing up with good parents.
“J.J. McCarthy: Jim Harbaugh to Kevin O’Connell. I’m sorry, a part of his success is that,” Cowherd said.
“It’s not fair. Baker Mayfield got Cleveland and Hugh Jackson. (Patrick) Mahomes got Andy Reid and the Hunt family,” Cowherd continued. “Listen, man, we all know this the longer you live: Parenting is not fair. Some people get bad parents and bad bosses and bad coaches.”
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Cowherd is essentially saying that players with bad coaches, kids with bad parents, and employees with bad bosses are less likely to succeed. That’s true to some degree, but context matters and Cowherd is failing to mention that athletes, kids and employees are capable of overcoming adversity and finding success.
Cowherd is also failing to recognize that all of the great quarterbacks in NFL history were supported by outstanding infrastructure.
Would Tom Brady have seven rings without Bill Belichick as head coach and outstanding offensive lines protecting him?
Would Mahomes have multiple rings and MVPs without a great coaching staff, defense, and elite skill position players like Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill?
Would Aaron Rodgers have a Super Bowl and four MVPs without the infrastructure he had supporting him in Green Bay?
John Elway was a great quarterback for 14 consecutive seasons before Denver put it all together and won back-to-back Super Bowls in 1998 and 1999.
Dan Marino never won a Super Bowl (he lost in three AFC championship games), but he’s one of the all-time greats. Did he win a bunch of games and post Hall of Fame numbers because he had a good coach? It certainly helped playing for Don Shula, but Marino likley would’ve been great no matter what.
McCarthy might be great no matter he plays for, too. Cowherd just doesn’t think so.
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