Overview

• The 22-year-old will start for the Vikings on Monday night against the Bears in Chicago, marking his NFL debut.
• A Star Tribune feature and a Chip Scoggins tweet resurfaced a 2007 photo of 4-year-old McCarthy in Bears gear at his first NFL game.
• His family’s lifelong Chicago allegiance included a Bears-themed bedroom before they embraced Vikings purple after the 2024 draft.
• The 2007 game he attended featured Adrian Peterson’s franchise-record 224 rushing yards and a Ryan Longwell 55-yard game-winner.
• Coverage highlights that McCarthy missed all of 2024 with injury, so he takes over the offense viewed as effectively a first-year starter.