No pressure, J.J. McCarthy. It’s just that, after your six-week absence due to a high ankle sprain, your third NFL start comes on the road, against a division rival that happens to be one of the very best teams in the league. Oh, and a loss would drop the playoff odds for your veteran-laden, supposedly win-now team from slim to minuscule.
The most important thing for the 3-4 Vikings over the remainder of this season is seeing growth, development, and upside in McCarthy. After so many missed games, they need proof that they have their guy at the most important position in the sport moving forward. But if they’re going to also remain in contention in 2025, it probably needs to start with a win on Sunday as 8.5-point underdogs in Detroit.
Can the Vikings snap a five-game losing streak against the Lions and pull off a significant upset this weekend? Our staff members have made their picks.
Until proven otherwise, I’m going to assume that Jared Goff, Jahmyr Gibbs, Amon-Ra St. Brown, and the rest of the Lions’ offense will put up at least 30 points on the Vikings, because that’s what’s happened in each of the last five meetings between these teams. Brian Flores, specifically, is 0 for 4 on figuring out how to slow down this Detroit attack (and to be fair, he’s not alone in that).
That’ll put a lot of pressure on McCarthy and the Vikings to keep pace on the scoreboard, and I think it’s fair to expect a bumpy outing from the 22-year-old in his return to action against a very good Detroit defense. McCarthy will show some flashes in this game, but the Vikings’ usual issues — turnovers and red zone execution — will continue to plague them in a sixth straight loss to the Lions.
I had a dream of Justin Jefferson scoring a 75-yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage. It had people wondering what else Kevin O’Connell has in his “bag,” and yes, J.J. McCarthy threw the ball in my dream. Can I see the future? If it happens, call me Joestradamus, because McCarthy has the mobility to extend plays and give Minnesota’s offense a lift. I can see him picking apart Detroit’s defense, especially if All-Pro safety Kerby Joseph is ruled out with an injury. It’s time for the Vikings to begin their rise, and it’ll come with a statement victory in Detroit.
J.J. McCarthy faces a huge test in his first game back on the road against the 5-2 Detroit Lions, and everyone seems to be counting him and this Vikings team out. McCarthy has the personality of a player who performs best when the pressure is on, and he will feel it early this week against Detroit. As much as I think Minnesota could surprise people in this matchup, the Lions have looked like one of the best teams in the NFL when they have things going. Detroit is a well-oiled machine, and I think they win a surprisingly high-scoring game.
It’s going to be a third straight loss, and their fourth in their last five games, for the Vikings this weekend. The last time we saw McCarthy, he wasn’t good. Yes, the Falcons have surprisingly made a lot of QBs look bad this season. However, I’m finding it difficult to put together reasons why McCarthy will come out of the gates, after a long layoff due to injury, and suddenly be competitive against a Lions defense that is top 10 in points and yards allowed. They’re also tied for the fifth-most sacks in the league this season. Minnesota’s offensive line is the walking wounded at this point and likely won’t be whole the rest of the season. Detroit runs away with this one and sends the Vikings into the trade deadline as firm sellers.
Here are last week’s predictions. Season records for our pickers:
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