{"id":306610,"date":"2025-11-25T00:09:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T00:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/306610\/"},"modified":"2025-11-25T00:09:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T00:09:10","slug":"nfl-analyst-says-the-sam-darnold-j-j-mccarthy-debate-is-officially-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/306610\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL analyst says the Sam Darnold-J.J. McCarthy debate is officially over"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Seattle Seahawks <\/a>own an 8-3 record and are in second place in the NFC West. The Minnesota Vikings are 4-7, have lost three games in a row, and are dead last in the NFC North.<\/p>\n

NFL.com Senior National Columnist Judy Battista <\/a>took a look at some storylines from earlier this year in regards to the 2025 season. One was the Minnesota Vikings\u2019 decision when it came to their future at quarterback. In 2024, they added veteran Sam Darnold <\/a>via a one-year contract and moved up in the first round of the draft that year to select University of Michigan national champion J.J. McCarthy.<\/p>\n

\"Sam<\/p>\n

Nov 23, 2025; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold (14) passes during the fourth quarter against the Tennessee Titans at Nissan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Simmons-USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images | Denny Simmons-USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images<\/p>\n

After a Pro Bowl year with the Purple Gang, Darnold signed with Seattle this offseason and has helped guide the team to that 8-3 mark.<\/a> Meanwhile, it has been a very different story for the former Wolverine, who has played and started in only six games this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe McCarthy will be much improved after another offseason of work,\u201d explained Battista, \u201cbut this season\u2014his first as starter after he lost his entire rookie season to a preseason torn meniscus\u2014has been extremely worrisome. Among other issues, his mechanics have required rebuilding, he has struggled with accompanying poor accuracy, he doesn\u2019t seem to see the field well and, finally, his elite receivers are frustrated, all of which was on display Sunday, in the Vikings\u2019 loss to the Packers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"J.J.<\/p>\n

Green Bay Packers defensive end Micah Parsons (1) sacks Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy (9) during their football game Sunday, November 23, 2025, at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
\nDan Powers\/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin. | Dan Powers\/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n

In the 23-6 setback,<\/a> McCarthy hit on just 12-of-19 passes for 87 yards, and O\u2019Connell\u2019s team was limited to a pair of field goals. The Vikings\u2019 quarterback was picked off twice, fumbled once (which he recovered), and was sacked five times. \u201cHe has thrown 10 interceptions (2 in three straight games),\u201d added Battista, \u201cand is completing just 54.1 percent of his passes,<\/a> and it certainly looks like even coaches don\u2019t fully trust him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere isn\u2019t much question at this point the Vikings would have been better off in 2025 if they had kept Sam Darnold or Daniel Jones as the starter. The bigger issue for the Vikings is how they go forward from this lost season\u2014do they have to be in the quarterback market again this offseason?\u201d<\/p>\n

As for this Sunday\u2019s clash between the Vikings\u2019 former and current quarterbacks, it was announced that McCarthy is currently in concussion protocol.<\/a> His status for this weekend is currently unknown.<\/p>\n

More Seahawks on SI stories<\/p>\n

Seahawks studs and duds from their comfortable win over the Titans<\/a><\/p>\n

Sam Darnold + JSN strike again for another beautiful deep touchdown<\/a><\/p>\n

Bad linebacker situation for Seahawks gets even worse against Titans<\/a><\/p>\n

What Seattle Seahawks’ latest moves mean for Week 12 and beyond<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Seattle Seahawks own an 8-3 record and are in second place in the NFC West. The Minnesota…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306611,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,593,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-306610","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306610\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}