J.J. McCarthy's message when things weren't going well: "Where else would you rather be?"
One of the biggest challenges for all NFL scouts is that there's no way to measure a guy's heart.
If there were, Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy's would have busted the frame, a la the Grinch post-transformation.
McCarthy showed heart, toughness, resilience. More importantly, he conveyed some of that to his teammates.
"At the end of the day, you know, we're so blessed to be able to play this game, so every snap we get is a complete blessing," McCarthy told reporters after the 27-24 come-from-behind win. "That's something that I was mentioning to the guys in the huddle when we were down. Like, 'Where else would you rather be?'"
McCarthy made the comment in the third quarter, when the Vikings were down by 11 - fueled by a McCarthy pick-six.
"I've never actually said that before," McCarthy said, "but I feel like it was at the perfect time. Guys were kind of, you know, just in their head a little bit, and I feel like if you could, a smile goes a long way. So there was a lot of smiles after I said that, and just a little bit of a perspective shift. Yeah, things weren't going our way, but we're here doing this together, and the boys, they responded perfectly."
Indeed they did. The Vikings scored 21 points in the fourth quarter, turning a 17-6 deficit into a 27-17 lead.
The attitude from McCarthy transcends Xs and Os and analytics. When things aren't going well, some quarterbacks exhibit a demeanor that tells the world, "It's just not my night." McCarthy refused to accept that, no matter how hopeless it seemed.
That's the most encouraging aspect of the win, the most stunning component of the unlikely turnaround. Moving forward, the Vikings have a quarterback who will never throw in the towel on a game. He'll keep his head and heart in the fight, and he'll inspire the other players to do the same thing.
Every NFL team needs a quarterback with that mindset. The Vikings, who have gone nearly five decades with a bunch of talented (at times) placeholders since Fran Tarkenton, might just have their next franchise quarterback.
It's fitting. Tarkenton started his career with a win over the Bears in the first game in franchise history. McCarthy started his career by finding a way to beat the Bears in what could be the first game on a new history for the Vikings.
One that, when the right supporting cast is assembled around him, maybe gets them back to where Tarkenton took them. And maybe even one step beyond.