McCarthy's struggles for the Vikings have had a ripple effect on their formula for success

EAGAN, Minn. (AP) — The development process in the NFL for a quarterback learning the most demanding and difficult job in organized sports can test the patience of any coach or player, let alone the fans.

The challenge of breaking in J.J. McCarthy that the Minnesota Vikings are in the thick of this season has been creating all kinds of cracks in their foundation for success, and the evidence was all over their latest loss.

Despite beginning the game in Green Bay on Sunday with a ground-driven strategy that netted 69 yards on their first 10 handoffs, either to Aaron Jones or Jordan Mason, the Vikings trailed by two scores early in the third quarter and needed McCarthy in drop-back mode to have a realistic chance to rally.

The Packers' defense, which has consistently been one of the league's best all season, predictably took advantage of a struggling young passer and sent the Vikings to a 23-6 defeat behind five sacks, two interceptions — and one impotent second-half performance.

“The formula cannot be to end up being down double digits in the second half,” coach Kevin O’Connell said. “It takes you out of the game that you want to play.”

Start with the scheme directed by defensive coordinator Brian Flores.

The Vikings last season ranked second in the NFL in fewest rushing yards allowed per game and fourth in third down conversion rate against. They had five more interceptions (24) than the next-closest team. The Vikings offense was productive enough at more than 25 points per game, the ninth-best mark in the league, that they held two-or-more-score leads in the fourth quarter in 11 of 17 games on the way to finishing 14-3.

The Vikings (4-7) have enjoyed that scenario this season only twice in 11 games. They've already faced two-possession fourth-quarter deficits eight times this season after only three such instances last season. Guess what? The defense ranks 24th in the NFL in rushing yards allowed per game and has just three interceptions, tied for the second fewest in the league.

The quarterback trouble has also thrown O'Connell off his play-calling game.

The Vikings covered 59 yards in eight plays early in the second quarter while trailing 7-3 to set up a third-and-1 at the 17, when tight end T.J. Hockenson took a direct snap for the first time in his Vikings career and was stonewalled at the line of scrimmage. Mason followed fullback C.J. Ham up the middle on fourth-and-1 and was stuffed for a loss. That was as costly of a turnover, albeit on downs, as the other three that followed.

The Packers went the other way for a field goal, after O'Connell frantically called timeout to prevent what he feared would be a 12-men-on-the-field penalty and give the home team a first-and-goal situation. Except Ivan Pace Jr. was hustling off the field for no reason, because it turned out the Vikings actually had the legal amount of players before that special teams snap.

“The margin of error is clearly pretty razor thin right now,” O’Connell said. “But what we can’t do is lose the turnover battle three to nothing, significantly lose the field-position battle, and then have negative plays on offense that gives you really no chance against better defenses in the league. We’ve got to have some things corrected that are proving to be somewhat fatal in certain areas of our team right now, well beyond just having a young quarterback.”

Though the Packers were content to run the ball all afternoon, the Vikings limited Jordan Love to 6.6 yards per pass attempt, his third-lowest mark this season. They're seventh in the league in passing yards allowed (186.1) per game.

McCarthy, who was put in the concussion protocol after reporting symptoms on the team flight home, is in the deep end and barely treading water. The inaccuracy is one problem, but he's also repeatedly played himself into sacks by holding onto the ball too long despite strong protection in front of him.

Will Reichard has been one of the few players to perform at or above expectations. He's the first player in NFL history with four field goals of 59 yards or longer in a season.

On a smaller scale, the Vikings have also been on a roller coaster ride with rookie returner Myles Price, who has had several long runbacks but made more than his share of costly mistakes. He let himself get blocked into a bouncing punt after the Vikings defense started the second half with a stop, and that fumble gave the Packers a fresh set of downs at the 5-yard line.

McCarthy's status will again be closely watched this week, with no guarantee he'll be cleared to play. OLB Jonathan Greenard (shoulder) missed his second straight game after being listed as questionable last week. LT Christian Darrisaw and LG Donovan Jackson both left the game with foot injuries.

11.2% — McCarthy's sack rate is the third-highest season rate in the league over the past three years, per Sportradar data.

The Vikings will be heavy underdogs this Sunday at Seattle, where they won last season for the first time since 2006.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell answers questions after an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Matt Ludtke)

Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy (9) is sacked by Green Bay Packers defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt (95) during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer)

Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy (9) is tackled by Green Bay Packers linebacker Isaiah McDuffie (58) and defensive tackle Warren Brinson (91) during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer)

Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy (9) looks to pass as Green Bay Packers defensive end Rashan Gary (52) tries to tackle during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer)

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are rushing higher worldwide, and oil prices are easing Wednesday as hopes build that the war with Iran could end soon. That's even though some of the signals investors saw as hopeful are already under dispute, and several prior bouts of optimism in financial markets quickly got undercut by continued, fierce fighting in the war.

The S&P 500 rallied 0.9% and added to its leap from the day before, which was its best since last spring. That followed even bigger gains for stock markets across Europe and Asia, including an 8.4% surge in South Korea, which were catching up to Wall Street’s rally from Tuesday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 294 points, or 0.6%, as of 2:08 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.3% higher.

Oil prices also fell back toward $100 per barrel after President Donald Trump said late Tuesday that the U.S. military could end its offensive in two to three weeks.

That added to optimism following a couple tenuous signals of hope from earlier Tuesday that Wall Street latched onto, including a news report quoting Iran’s president as saying that it has “the necessary will to end the war” as long as certain requirements are met, including “guarantees to prevent a recurrence of aggression.”

The worry on Wall Street has been that the war may last a long time and keep oil and natural gas from the Persian Gulf out of global markets, which could create a brutal blast of inflation.

But hope has been quick to reverse to doubt on Wall Street, triggering manic swings back and forth for financial markets since the war with Iran began. Trump has also made statements that lifted markets, only to see the gains quickly disappear after increasing his military threats.

Shortly before Wall Street began trading on Wednesday, Trump claimed in a post on his social media network that Iran “has just asked the United States of America for a CEASEFIRE!”

“We will consider when Hormuz Strait is open, free, and clear. Until then, we are blasting Iran into oblivion or, as they say, back to the Stone Ages!!!”

But Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, quickly called that claim “false and baseless,” according to a report on Iranian state television.

Oil prices also remain high, even if they’ve eased recently. The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, was sitting at $101.51 following its declines, which is still up from roughly $70 before the war began.

U.S. gasoline prices rose again overnight to a national average of $4.06 per gallon, according to the auto club AAA.

Iran, meanwhile, hit an oil tanker off the coast of Qatar and Kuwait’s airport on Wednesday while airstrikes battered Tehran as the fighting continued. Iran also continues to hold a grip on the Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world’s traded oil passes during peacetime.

“De-escalation hopes have given markets a lift, but we think the effects of the war would, in many cases, persist even if the war did end soon,” Thomas Mathews, head of markets, Asia Pacific at Capital Economics, said in a research note Wednesday.

“It’s worth thinking through how markets might fare if the war were to end ‘very soon,’” he wrote. “Do markets have further to recover if sentiment continues to improve? The answer is almost certainly yes.”

The White House said Trump will deliver a public address Wednesday evening on the Iran war.

On Wall Street, most stocks rose as Big Tech powered the move higher. Gains of 3.8% for Alphabet and 0.8% for Nvidia were two of the strongest forces lifting the S&P 500.

Eli Lilly climbed 5.1% after U.S. regulators approved its GLP-1 pill for weight loss.

Such gains have pulled the S&P 500, which sits at the heart of many 401(k) accounts, back to within 5.6% of its all-time high set early this year. Just on Monday, the index briefly neared a 10% drop from its record, a steep-enough fall that professional investors have a name for it: a “correction.”

Nike sank 14.5% even though it reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than expected. Analysts said it gave some lackluster financial forecasts.

Hasbro fell 4.8% after the toy company found someone had gained unauthorized access to its computer network and is working to assess the full impact.

Energy companies fell broadly as oil prices eased. Exxon Mobil slumped 5% and Chevron fell 4.9%.

In stock markets abroad, indexes leaped more than 2% in France and Germany. Asian markets had even bigger gains.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 jumped 5.2% after a survey showed business sentiment for major Japanese manufacturers improved despite worries about the Iran war.

In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady after a report said U.S. retailers made more money in February than economists expected. A separate report said U.S. manufacturing growth last month was slightly faster than economists expected.

The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 4.32% from 4.30% late Tuesday.

AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott contributed.

James Conti works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Philip Finale works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Currency traders watch monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders watch monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top center, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center left, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders work at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A currency trader reacts near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), right, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A screen displays financial information on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)