EAGAN, Minn. — The NFL doubles as a reality show. And the Minnesota Vikings just reintroduced a polarizing character. Just as fans and experts alike began to wonder aloud whether the team was equipped to weather the bumpy start of new quarterback J.J. McCarthy’s career, the ailing NFC North squad made a surprise revelation Monday: It’s Carson Wentz time.
No, McCarthy isn’t being benched. The 2024 first-round draft pick has an ankle sprain, an unsurprising result of an ugly Sunday night in which he was sacked six times and generally bullied about the U.S. Bank Stadium turf. But you might also consider his sudden return to the sidelines, where he spent all of his rookie campaign, as a sort of soft retreat. The Vikings won’t dare say that. And that’s not to downplay the injury. But the facts also say McCarthy has been one of the NFL’s most unproductive passers for seven of his eight quarters of professional action, leaving Minnesota all but lifeless with the ball in its hands in Week 2.
In other words, the sudden pivot to Wentz doesn’t feel all that worrisome. How much worse can Kevin O’Connell’s attack look, after all, if the Vikings couldn’t even bother to be competitive with an Atlanta Falcons team that settled for five (!) field goals? The big picture may well be affected. The 2025 season was as much about nurturing McCarthy’s development as “the guy” as it was winning football games, and any absence by the Michigan product is another ding on his young resume.
For Wentz, however, this is the door of opportunity. The big-name backup may have arrived in Minnesota last-minute, only signing with the team on Aug. 24 after fellow journeyman Sam Howell proved shaky in the preseason. Now he has what amounts to his best (and likely final) chance to write his own redemption story: anywhere from two to four weeks, as ESPN reported, and perhaps more, to run the show. It’s like nothing anyone could’ve scripted.
Wentz, remember, is originally from the Midwest, where he grew up rooting for the Vikings and modeling his NDSU gunslinging after one-time Minnesota star Brett Favre. He only got his start with the Philadelphia Eagles after the Vikings, of all teams, desperately pried veteran Sam Bradford from the City of Brotherly Love back in 2016. And his Eagles won their first-ever Super Bowl to close the 2017 season, when he was a legitimate MVP candidate, in U.S. Bank Stadium.
Wentz’s journey has been rockier than most since a torn ACL robbed him of that magical playoff run, which was instead handled with improbable poise by backup Nick Foles (who dominated the NFC title game against — you guessed it — the Vikings). He lasted only one season apiece with his next four teams over four years, bouncing between clubs both middling (i.e. Colts) and collapsing (i.e. Commanders) before accepting No. 2 gigs with contenders in the Los Angeles Rams and Kansas City Chiefs. He became an unintentional cross-country touring artist, defined primarily by what could have been.Â
Until now. Finally at peace with any role, as he told CBS Sports prior to Super Bowl LIX with the Chiefs, Wentz suddenly has his first real extended starting opportunity in three years. He made a couple of spot starts in K.C. and Los Angeles, but those were alongside fellow reserves. This time, he’ll be throwing to Justin Jefferson and T.J. Hockenson. He’ll be relaying plays called by O’Connell. And he’ll have the defensive support of a unit orchestrated by Brian Flores. Perhaps most importantly, he enters wearing his trademark No. 11 — once glorified in Philadelphia — at precisely the moment the Vikings need a spark under center.
Minnesota fully anticipated in both actions and words that McCarthy would be polished and/or composed enough to shepherd their lineup, which won 14 games and flirted with a No. 1 playoff seed a year ago, right back to the postseason. How else are we to interpret them refusing to bid for Sam Darnold, Daniel Jones, Aaron Rodgers, and any number of other more proven alternatives in the lead-up to 2025? And no one internally or around Vikings Nation is quite ready to write off McCarthy as the long-term face of the franchise, nor should they. But his first two games showed more signs of strain than expected, at least for a perceived contender. The ankle injury and subsequent Wentz promotion simply permits Minnesota to test a Plan B.
Should Wentz fare no differently, there will be no controversy, though the Vikings’ straits will arguably be even more dire as they look for answers across the board. Should he instead seize the moment, capitalizing on an iffy Cincinnati Bengals defense to easily outduel another backup in Jake Browning this Sunday, and maybe take down the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns to follow, you have to wonder if O’Connell and Co. might entertain letting McCarthy get yet another week or three of rest.
This might be waltzing down the rabbit hole too far, but is it that crazy of a scenario? We saw in 2024 Sam Darnold that even the most maligned quarterback outcasts can become reclamation projects in the oft-cozy confines of an O’Connell offense, and Wentz shares the first-round pedigree, albeit at an older age (32).
What if he feeds Jefferson for a slew of scores? Opens up the downfield passing attack? Protects the ball, which has admittedly been an issue over his career? What if he, as McCarthy was set up to do, simply acts as an extension of O’Connell and embraces the role of point guard for a team outfitted with plenty of talent on both sides of the ball? Becoming the next version of Foles for his childhood team might be dreaming a bit fancifully. But this is the NFL. Anything can happen.
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