Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy managed just 150 passing yards, with 1 TD and 2 INTs in Sunday's loss to Chicago. He completed 16 of 32 attempts against a Bears D that entered the week ranked 26th in pass DVOA and still missing top CB Jaylon Johnson. It was McCarthy's fourth game with less than 160 passing yards among five outings this season. He now has 6 TD passes vs. 8 INTs.
McCarthy registered no carries Sunday for the first time this season. He had averaged 27.5 rushing yards per game across his first four appearances and scored a pair of rushing TDs, including one in the only previous game that found him running for less than 25 yards.
McCarthy totaled four designed runs through his first four games, according to Pro Football Focus. Three of those came in Week 9, his return from a Week 2 high ankle sprain and a win at Detroit.
Why does that matter? Because McCarthy entered Sunday with three top-15 fantasy finishes, and he did so with 32.6% of his fantasy points coming via the run. That ranked fifth among the top 50 fantasy scorers at QB, behind:
It's nice that McCarthy can offer upside via the run. But he's none of those guys on the rushing front.
Dart might be the closest, but the Giants have been drawing up running plays for him (rather than relying on his scrambling).
McCarthy will need to significantly improve his passing for both real and fantasy purposes.
He'll be a bad fantasy bet the next two weeks at Green Bay and at Seattle.
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