J.J. McCarthy has a perfect quarterback to look up to after his season-ending injury

It is not a perfect comparison, but it will serve its purpose in this exercise. Like what happened to J.J. McCarthy, Joe Burrow's rookie season ended way before it should have. As the Minnesota Vikings try to figure out what is next after McCarthy hurt his knee during the preseason, the Cincinnati Bengals are hoping Burrow can bounce back from his second season-ending knee injury in only four seasons.

Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell tried to cheer up McCarthy by saying that Burrow's rookie year was lost to injury, per The Athletic's Alec Lewis, and then went on to lead the Bengals to the Super Bowl in year two. Cincinnati lost to O'Connell's team in the Los Angeles Rams to end the 2021 NFL season. While Burrow's injury was of the mid-season variety, you can kind of sort of tie the two together in some very lose capacities.

Although there are a few key differences between what happened to Burrow in 2020 and what happened to McCarthy last week, I think it is good for a player of McCarthy's promise to find some hope and inspiration after such an unfortunate career setback. Burrow's resilience might be his greatest trait. We do love his demeanor, deep ball and toughness, but that is a separating factor.

Vikings fans can only hope that McCarthy can take a page out of Burrow's playbook in recovery.

J.J. McCarthy can look to Joe Burrow as inspiration after his major injury

For as much as I think hope is a good thing, let me be perfectly clear that McCarthy has a long, long way to go to before he can be viewed as Burrow is in the NFL pantheon. There are a few distinct differences besides the timing of these knee injuries that need to be unpacked. The first is Burrow was always going to be the Bengals' starter, whereas McCarthy was going to safely ride some pine.

They may have suffered season-ending knee injuries as rookies, but it wasn't like McCarthy was going to play a ton anyway. Although he and Burrow left college football as undefeated national champions, Burrow had arguably the greatest single-season in the history of the sport at LSU. The only other skill-position players that rival it would be Barry Sanders and Cam Netwon. That is it!

Burrow was a redshirt senior when he set the college football world on fire. McCarthy was a true junior last season in a ground-centric offense at Michigan. Although McCarthy was the more sought-after prospect coming out of high school, Burrow got the Ohio State scholarship McCarthy never did. Burrow did have to transfer, but he became a legend at LSU after losing the starting job in Columbus.

The other big factor is even though the Bengals are always probably going to be somewhat dysfunctional for as long as the Brown-Blackburns own the team, Duke Tobin is one helluva general manager. He drafts phenomenally and locates the right free agents to help his team. That is what Rick Spielman did back in the day. Now, I am not so sure if Kwesi Adofo-Mensah will survive this season...

The good news for McCarthy is he has a former quarterback and a great teacher at head coach in O'Connell. Burrow was always going to be a rockstar in the NFL, but his partnership with Zac Taylor is often understated. Having had Brian Callahan as his former offensive coordinator was probably a huge boost, too. It remains to be seen if Wes Phillips can live up to his legendary coaching last name.

Ultimately, there are still enough similarities between Burrow and McCarthy where the injured rookie Vikings quarterback can look to the face of the Bengals franchise as inspiration. When healthy, Burrow is arguably the best quarterback in the game, outside of Patrick Mahomes. McCarthy is still more of a project than a prospect, but he does offer a similar cool, calm and collected demeanor.

All I know is McCarthy getting hurt completely reshapes the Vikings' plans for this season and next.