Sports
J.J. McCarthy, Vikings spoil Ben Johnson’s Bears debut
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Courtney Cronin
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Kevin Seifert
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Kevin Seifert
ESPN Staff Writer
- 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.
CHICAGO — Hello J.J. McCarthy. And welcome back to the Minnesota Vikings defense.
The team’s new era at quarterback began with a rousing comeback victory over its NFC North rival in a 27-24 win over the Chicago Bears.
And for as much attention as McCarthy’s debut will generate — it was the Vikings’ defense that kept the team in the game while the offense struggled.
Bears quarterback Caleb Williams completed his first 10 passes as Chicago took a 10-3 lead in the second quarter, but the Bears’ offense didn’t score again until 2:02 remained in the fourth quarter.
McCarthy accounted for three touchdowns in the fourth quarter, including passes of 13 yards to Justin Jefferson and 27 yards to Aaron Jones Sr., and his 14-yard scramble in the fourth quarter put the Vikings up by 10 and accounted for the final margin.
Here are the most important things to know from Monday night for both teams:
What to make of the QB performance: If you drew up a reasonable but optimistic projection of how McCarthy’s first NFL start would go, this would be it. He looked frenetic in the first half, changing plays frequently and looking unsettled in the pocket. An interception returned for a touchdown in the third quarter seemed to end the game. But McCarthy, who is now 64-3 in games he has started since his sophomore year in college, settled down in the second half. The takeaway after his first start? McCarthy is a winner.
Trend to watch: The Vikings built the idea of their running game to help McCarthy transition into his role, and it spurred the team during its second-half run. Newcomer Jordan Mason managed only 14 yards in the first half but his hard running broke the Bears after halftime, and he finished with 68 yards on 15 carries. Mason’s emergence coincided with the Vikings’ first two touchdown drives.
Stat to know: The Vikings’ offense needed help in the first half after accumulating only 80 yards and four first downs, and kicker Will Reichard came to the rescue. His 59-yard field goal just before halftime tied a Soldier Field record, a notable achievement given the historically bad weather and field conditions in Chicago, and was the second longest in Vikings history. Minnesota’s record is 61 yards by Greg Joseph, converted indoors at U.S. Bank Stadium in 2022. — Kevin Seifert
Next game: vs. Atlanta Falcons (8:20 p.m. ET, Sunday)
For nearly three full quarters, the Ben Johnson era looked as if it would begin by putting the “same old Bears” moniker to bed. Chicago began its season opener at Soldier Field with a touchdown and built a double-digit lead late in the third quarter behind a stout defensive performance.
But missed opportunities by the Bears to distance themselves from the Vikings proved costly. After rattling quarterback J.J. McCarthy in his NFL debut, the Bears’ defense struggled to contain a Vikings offense that scored 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to wrestle away the lead from the Bears.
Monday night was Chicago’s fourth loss in the past four seasons when entering the fourth quarter with a double-digit lead. That’s twice as many as any other team over that span.
For a team trying to leave the failures of last season in the past, the same issues continue to be a problem.
Turning point: The Bears saw a 17-6 lead they built after Nahshon Wright‘s pick-six waste away during a stretch that began late in the third quarter. Williams was flagged for intentional grounding with Chicago at Minnesota’s 34-yard line. Two plays later, Cairo Santos‘ 50-yard field goal attempt went wide right. The Vikings then scored on back-to-back possessions to take the lead.
Wasted momentum: Defensive coordinator Dennis Allen sent the house on third-and-8 early in the third quarter with the Vikings in field goal range. The seven rushers rattled McCarthy into throwing an interception, which resulted in the first defensive/special teams touchdown of the 2025 season. Wright jumped Justin Jefferson‘s route and ran back a 74-yard pick-six to give Chicago a 17-6 lead. It’s the second straight season opener in which the Bears broke open a game with a pick-six.
What to make of the QB performance: Caleb Williams’ 10 straight completions to start the game was the longest streak by a Bears quarterback to start a season opener since 1978 and the most consecutive completions in his NFL career. But things changed dramatically in the second half. He finished 20 of 34 for 191 yards and scored a rushing TD and passing TD. His passer rating was 84.3 and he was sacked twice.
Troubling trend: The Bears were flagged 12 times and racked up 127 penalty yards. Pre-snap penalties were an issue throughout training camp and a trend the Bears couldn’t buck after four false starts in the first half. Two defensive pass interference calls led to points for Minnesota — a 31-yard field goal and the Vikings go-ahead touchdown. — Courtney Cronin
Next game: at Detroit Lions (1 p.m. ET, Sunday)
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has revealed he warned striker Marc Guiu over his poor performances in training earlier this month.
The 19-year-old had a season-long loan move to Sunderland cancelled after just three appearances at the end of the summer transfer window as the Blues sought to reshuffle their squad in the wake of Liam Delap’s hamstring injury.
However, Guiu did not play for a month until a late cameo against Liverpool prior to this month’s international break.
The Spanish forward then scored his first goal of the season in Chelsea’s 5-1 Champions League thrashing of Ajax on Wednesday.
And ahead of Saturday’s visit of Sunderland to Stamford Bridge, Maresca said: “We had a chat with Marc two weeks ago. I told him the way he was training, I didn’t like and he needs to change.
“He changed and he gets a chance. It is like that. He was not training well, in all the ways.”
Asked why that was the case, Maresca continued: “I don’t know. That’s why young [players], they are sometimes, they are in one way, the other way, so you need to go slowly, slowly with them.
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“Since we chat, he is top, fantastic, working very good, absolutely yes, he is ready to start.
“Marc is a typical number nine, physically strong, a box player. He can improve and do many things better and we are working with him every day trying to help him and as I said already many times, he is going to play games with us.”
Guiu has previously spoken about the difficulty in joining Sunderland only to suddenly return to London.
“It was all a bit chaotic, but in the end, I’m a person who faces everything with the utmost positivity, and that’s how I faced it, now enjoying every moment, because a footballer’s career is short,” he told Spanish outlet RTVE earlier this month.
Speculation persists that Guiu could return to the Stadium of Light in January, although Sunderland manager Regis Le Bris appeared to play down that prospect on Friday when telling reporters: “At the minute we have good strikers and we don’t need anything.”
Asked about the possibility of Guiu leaving in January, Maresca said: “We are in October. I don’t know, also because in football things can change very quick for everyone — for players, for managers, for everyone –so it is very difficult to say.”
Saturday’s game will come too soon for Delap but he returned to full training this week and Maresca suggested there is a possibility the £30million summer signing from Ipswich Town could feature in next Wednesday’s EFL Cup tie at Wolves.
The defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers opened the 2025 MLB season in Japan on March 18.
Now, 220 days later, they meet the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 1 of the Fall Classic.
Will the Dodgers be the first team to repeat as champs since the New York Yankees at the turn of the century? Or will the underdog Blue Jays win their first title since 1993?
It all starts Friday night. We’ll have the action covered right here, from pregame lineups to live analysis during the game to takeaways after the final pitch.
Key links: Mega-preview, predictions | Schedule
Live updates
Gamecast: Follow the action pitch-by-pitch here
Lineups
Starting pitchers: Blake Snell vs. Trey Yesavage
Dodgers
1. Shohei Ohtani (L) DH
2. Mookie Betts (R) SS
3. Freddie Freeman (L) 1B
4. Will Smith (R) C
5. Teoscar Hernandez (R) RF
6. Max Muncy (L) 3B
7. Enrique Hernandez (R) LF
8. Tommy Edman (S) 2B
9. Andy Pages (R) CF
Blue Jays
1. George Springer (R) DH
2. Davis Schneider (R) LF
3. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (R) 1B
4. Bo Bichette (R) 2B
5. Alejandro Kirk (R) C
6. Daulton Varsho (L) CF
7. Ernie Clement (R) 3B
8. Myles Straw (R) RF
9. Andres Gimenez (L) SS
Sports
Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell defends choice to keep Carson Wentz in blowout loss for prolonged period
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The Los Angeles Chargers dominated the Minnesota Vikings on Thursday night. The 37-10 defeat dropped the Vikings’ record to 3-4.
But much of the postgame chatter focused on coach Kevin O’Connell’s decision not to pull quarterback Carson Wentz from the blowout.
Wentz was dealing with some discomfort in his non-throwing shoulder. He was sacked five times on Thursday, which appeared to further aggravate the shoulder he was already nursing. The shoulder issue, coupled with the scoreboard, raised concerns about keeping the veteran quarterback on the field longer than many perceived as necessary.
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Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell interacts with Carson Wentz (11) on the sideline during the first half of a game against the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium on Oct. 23, 2025, in Inglewood, California. (Brooke Sutton/Getty Images)
Wentz was noticeably grimacing throughout the majority of the game.
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After the game, O’Connell explained his decision to stick with Wentz for most of the game.
“We kept on checking in [with Wentz],” the coach told reporters. “Maybe getting Max [Brosmer] ready to go. Tyler [vice president of player health and performance, Tyler Williams] was coming to me a lot tonight, but every time he seemed to update me on that. Carson was sore going into it. He took obviously quite a few hits—but he was able to—I asked him multiple times where he was at and he said he was good and wanted to keep going.”
Minnesota Vikings quarterback Carson Wentz (11) drops back to pass against the Los Angeles Chargers during the second half at SoFi Stadium on Oct. 23, 2025, in Inglewood, California. (Gary A. Vasquez/Imagn Images)
“It did seem like he was in pain there a couple times.”
J.J. McCarthy was inactive Thursday. The second-year quarterback started the first two games of the season but has been sidelined since then with an ankle injury.
Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell during the second half at SoFi Stadium on Oct. 23, 2025, in Inglewood, California. (Gary A. Vasquez/Imagn Images)
O’Connell did note that McCarthy would return to the starting lineup against the Detroit Lions in Week 9 if he is fully recovered, the NFL Network reported.
Game cameras showed Wentz slamming his helmet on the Vikings’ sideline out of apparent frustration. Wentz later made it clear that the injury ultimately did not hamper his throwing ability.
“I don’t think so,” Wentz said. “I don’t think throwing wise. That’s honestly why I felt confident to go. I felt I could do my job. I thought I could throw the ball. Thankfully, you don’t need your left shoulder all that much to throw the football. So mechanically, throwing wise, I felt like I could do everything I needed to do.”
Reserve quarterback Max Brosmer briefly entered Thursday’s contest, completing three of his four pass attempts in the fourth quarter.
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O’Connell acknowledged that he had considered inserting the rookie signal-caller earlier in the game.
“Yeah we did,” O’Connell said. “Carson’s a veteran player. He understands, kind of, some of our circumstances tonight. I think it’s very difficult to ask a rookie to go in there for his first performance and have to be kind of weathering it a little bit for the group.
“I did think about that at different times in the game but at the same time, the confidence we have in Max and the upside we see in Max is real. You also don’t want to send him out there and force a level of figure-it-outness that’s probably beyond a guy playing for the first time.”
The Vikings have now dropped back-to-back games.
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