In a weird twist of fate, J.J. McCarthy and the Minnesota Vikings could help the Chicago Bears get into the playoffs.
In a weird twist of fate, Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy could end up holding the Chicago Bears’ playoff destiny in his hands.
Chicago currently sits atop the NFC North at 10–4, but the margin for error is thin. The Green Bay Packers are right behind them at 9–4–1, with the Detroit Lions lurking at 8–6. Even as the Bears hold the No. 2 seed in the NFC and have already secured their first 10-win season since 2018, nothing about the rest of the season is guaranteed.
The schedule is unforgiving. Chicago still has to face the Packers, 49ers, and Lions to close out the regular season, and there’s a very real world where even 11 wins isn’t enough to lock up a playoff spot without some outside help.
That’s where McCarthy and the Vikings come in.
Minnesota’s season got off to a rocky start, and McCarthy’s play was uneven—often bordering on uncompetitive. The Vikings’ passing game felt disconnected, turning Justin Jefferson from the most dominant wide receiver in football into a near non-factor. None of it made much sense.
Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell has built a reputation for maximizing quarterbacks that others had written off. When McCarthy went down with a season-ending injury last fall, O’Connell went 14–3 with Sam Darnold, who parlayed that season into a $100 million deal with the Seahawks. The year before that, he helped get Kirk Cousins paid by the Falcons.
But it just hadn’t clicked with McCarthy—until now.
The second-year quarterback is really more of a rookie, given the lost 2024 season and his limited college experience at Michigan. Growing pains were always expected. And recently, it looks like he may finally be turning a corner.
Over his last two games, McCarthy has completed more than 65 percent of his passes, thrown for over 400 yards, accounted for six total touchdowns, and added 34 yards on the ground. More importantly, the Vikings scored over 30 points in both games—blowing out Washington 31–0 and beating Dallas 34–26 in primetime.
If McCarthy has figured things out, that’s bad news for the Bears long term. It adds yet another dangerous offense with a young quarterback to an NFC North that’s already one of the toughest divisions in football.
But in the short term? It might be exactly what Chicago needs.
The Bears are done with Minnesota this season, but both the Packers and Lions still have one game left against the Vikings. If Minnesota’s offense continues to look like it has over the last two weeks, a team already eliminated from postseason contention could play spoiler—and the Bears could benefit.
If Chicago beats Green Bay on Saturday, they’d open up a 1.5-game lead in the division with two games to play. A Packers loss to Minnesota would make it mathematically impossible for Green Bay to catch the Bears.
Even in a worst-case scenario—where the Bears lose to Green Bay again and get swept in the season series—Chicago could still reclaim the NFC North by closing the season with two wins while the Vikings knock off the Packers.
A Vikings win over Detroit in Week 17 could also prove pivotal, potentially helping the Bears clinch a playoff spot early and sparing fans a win-or-go-home nightmare in Week 18. Because if the Bears go 1–1 over their next two games and the Lions finish 2–0, an 11-win Chicago team could still be playing for its postseason life in the finale.
A month ago, it felt safe to assume Minnesota would be an easy win for both Green Bay and Detroit down the stretch. But the Vikings already beat the Lions once this season, and McCarthy looks like a different quarterback since then. Stranger things have happened.
And then there’s the poetic part.
McCarthy was born in Evanston and attended Nazareth Academy in La Grange Park. His family is full of Bears fans.
Now, whether he meant to or not, J.J. McCarthy may be the key to punching Chicago’s playoff ticket.