J.J. McCarthy encore act sluggish as Vikings lose to Falcons - ESPN

MINNEAPOLIS — There were no fourth-quarter heroics Sunday night for J.J. McCarthy. Instead, the Minnesota Vikings quarterback and the rest of his team's offense slogged through 60 mostly rough minutes in a 22-6 loss to the Atlanta Falcons.

McCarthy's performance clarified a few facts about the Vikings, who entered the season with hopes of a deep playoff run. Most notably, players and coaches said afterward, the play around McCarthy needs to be much better.

«This is going to be a process for our team,» coach Kevin O'Connell said. «Our young quarterback is going to make some plays. He's going to make some unbelievable throws.… And then, other times, he's going to have an attempt and just miss something a little long, and we will go back and try to fix it. Sometimes, the fundamentals are going to be right, the technique is going to be right, but he's learning on the fly right now. The way you overcome that is by the full group's execution level being to a certain standard that we can go try to compete and win with.»

The Vikings scored 21 points in the fourth quarter of their Week 1 victory over the Chicago Bears, but they have just 12 points over the other seven quarters. McCarthy has taken nine sacks, including six Sunday night. The Falcons intercepted two of his passes, and he fumbled three times, including twice when he dropped the ball without being hit, and he lost one. His off-target rate was 28.6%, tied for the second-highest rate among qualified quarterbacks in Week 2.

Over his first two NFL starts, McCarthy has completed 24 of 41 passes for 301 yards with 2 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. He has also rushed seven times for 50 yards and a touchdown, but his QBR of 20.4 ranks No. 32 of 33 qualified quarterbacks in