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Kevin SeifertDec 31, 2025, 06:04 PM ET<\/p>\n
Close<\/a>Kevin Seifert is a staff writer who covers the Minnesota Vikings and the NFL at ESPN. Kevin has covered the NFL for over 20 years, joining ESPN in 2008. He was previously a beat reporter for the Minneapolis Star Tribune and Washington Times. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia.<\/p>\n EAGAN, Minn. — Minnesota Vikings<\/a> quarterback J.J. McCarthy<\/a> practiced Wednesday for the first time since he was diagnosed with a hairline fracture in his right hand earlier this month.<\/p>\n The team listed him as a limited participant on its practice report and has made no final determination about his availability for Sunday’s season finale against the Green Bay Packers<\/a>.<\/p>\n McCarthy has missed seven games this season because of three separate injuries, most recently the Vikings’ 23-10 victory over the Detroit Lions<\/a> on Christmas Day. But coach Kevin O’Connell said he is eager to get him back on the field for one final outing before the end of the season, hoping to continue the momentum built during a four-game winning streak.<\/p>\n “A ton of stuff during this win streak has been about stacking plays,” O’Connell said, “stacking for our team, just positives of complementary football and finding a way to win by any means necessary every single game. And that’s credit to players. That’s what they’ve done. And J.J.’s been a huge part of that, really looking at starts seven, eight, nine, and would love to get him another one. But obviously, only if he’s medically cleared and can 100 percent do his job.”<\/p>\n Editor’s Picks<\/p>\n 2 Related<\/p>\n O’Connell said the decision on McCarthy’s availability will be based on whether he can reliably grip the ball. The Vikings removed him from their Week 16 game at the New York Giants<\/a> after the ball fell out of his throwing hand on an aborted screen pass, leading to a fumble that safety Tyler Nubin<\/a> returned for a 27-yard touchdown.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, McCarthy said he “felt like the ball was spinning” and added: “If it’s stable, let’s ride.” But asked when the pain from the injury subsided enough to resume throwing, McCarthy said that “was a difficult question to answer.”<\/p>\n McCarthy also wasn’t able to pinpoint when the injury occurred.<\/p>\n “It was just a multitude of things,” he said. “Things that happened over the year.”<\/p>\n McCarthy had previously suffered what the Vikings called a bruised hand in Week 10. The injury caused him to be a limited participant in one practice but did not force him from any games. A review of the game film showed that McCarthy hit his hand on the helmet of Giants defensive lineman Roy Robertson-Harris<\/a> after a throw with two minutes, 57 seconds remaining in the second quarter at MetLife Stadium. McCarthy managed to throw a short completion on the next play and then scrambled 12 yards for a touchdown. He opened the Vikings’ next possession by handing off to tailback Aaron Jones<\/a>, but on second down he dropped the ball as he tried to throw the screen pass.<\/p>\n McCarthy said Wednesday that “there was a lot of adrenaline” before the touchdown run but that he felt the hand “right away when I went to the sideline.”<\/p>\n “That was a great learning lesson for me to handle that situation a lot better in the future,” he said. “If I don’t feel like I can go or there’s any sort of gray, just take it into halftime and regroup from there.”<\/p>\n Earlier this season, McCarthy missed five games because of a high right ankle sprain and a sixth because of a concussion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kevin SeifertDec 31, 2025, 06:04 PM ET CloseKevin Seifert is a staff writer who covers the Minnesota Vikings…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323624,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[349,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-381179","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-nfl","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}