The Minnesota Vikings have made some bizarre choices with the quarterback position over the last few years. After just 10 starts, the Vikings moved on from J.J. McCarthy, naming Kyler Murray their starter before eventually trading McCarthy to the New York Giants.

So far this year, he has been far from stellar. To make matters worse for the offensive-minded head coach, his former first-round selection had a second consecutive excellent outing for the Giants, and now he’s becoming the butt of jokes for not bringing the best out of McCarthy.

Kevin O’Connell Criticized for Failing to Maximize J.J. McCarthy

The Vikings have cycled through several quarterbacks in recent years, moving on from Kirk Cousins before drafting McCarthy and later allowing Sam Darnold to leave after a productive season. At the time, the rationale seemed simple, as O’Connell wanted a more dynamic quarterback presence.

That’s what made choosing to move on from the former national champion after just 10 starts all the more puzzling. Unfortunately, his success with the Giants is raising even more doubts about O’Connell.

Against the Houston Texans, McCarthy tallied 252 passing yards on 28 attempts to help lead his team to a 27-21 overtime victory. This came after a game against the New Orleans Saints, where he threw for 243 yards in less than one full quarter.

“Watching JJ McCarthy the last 3 quarters in New York makes you wonder what in the actual hell was Kevin O’Connell doing with this guy?”One fan outright questioned.

In his time with the Vikings, McCarthy threw more interceptions than touchdowns and ranked at number 34 on PFN’s Quarterback Impact Metric. So the production wasn’t anywhere near excellent.

But with his success with the Giants, some people are questioning whether the slow start as a rookie was on the Michigan product or if the fault lies with his head coach and play-caller as well.

“Dude, JJ McCarthy is actually good,” even a Chicago Bears fan was ready to admit. “Kevin O’Connell is lowkey a QB terrorist.”

His commentsparked another fan to jokingly add, “Turns out the QB Whisperer was just whispering slurs or something to Nine.”

Jack Borman couldn’t make sense of the Vikings’ decisions, as he wondered, “I am still in disbelief the Vikings thought Kyler Murray was *that* much better than JJ McCarthy.”

For another fan, though, evaluating a quarterback was a consistent issue for the Vikings, as he argued, “Same team rather let Sam Darnold walk out the door. They are the worst QB evaluator. They should fire some people.”

Another fan questioned how good O’Connell had been for the young quarterback, as he wrote, “Think we probably need a referendum on ‘QB guru’ Kevin O’Connell if JJ McCarthy keeps playing like this.”

One fan, who had long believed that McCarthy was better than Bo Nix, was ready to take a victory lap for his prediction, claiming, “Sean Peyton drafted Bo Nix over JJ McCarthy. P. S. Kevin O’Connell is a fraud.”

It remains to be seen if this becomes a continuing trend for McCarthy in the coming weeks, or if it was a furious opening salvo from the young quarterback for the Giants. But the way he’s performed over the past two weeks for his new team has raised some serious doubts about the Vikings.

Their team sits at 6-0. But their success has largely come from a defensive unit that is currently at the top of PFN’s Defense Impact Metric, rather than Murray proving to be the right choice by O’Connell.

If another quarterback turns out to be a better player than the choices the Vikings are making, at some point the scrutiny will get too loud for the franchise to ignore.