To the surprise of absolutely no one, the Minnesota Vikings are expected to stick with veteran Carson Wentz at quarterback for this week’s Thursday Night Football game against the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium.
This could be Wentz’s final bow, based on how the 32-year-old performed in Sunday’s 28-22 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
It’s never a good sign when the Vikings ask Wentz to throw the ball 46 times. In fact, Minnesota’s two losses this season with Wentz under center, to the Pittsburgh Steelers and Eagles, had one thing in common — over 40 pass attempts.
As he’s done throughout his four starts in relief of the injured J.J. McCarthy, Wentz gave the Vikings a chance to win Sunday's game. He also had a pair of brutal interceptions, including one that was caught by outside linebacker Jalyx Hunt and returned for a touchdown.
With McCarthy, still working his way back from a Week 2 high ankle sprain, technically active for the Eagles game as the emergency third-string quarterback, Vikings fans had to be watching Sunday’s game thinking, “How did we get here?”
As ESPN covered Monday in painfully obvious fashion, Minnesota’s ongoing QB conundrum could have been avoided this offseason.
Ex-NFL coach Rex Ryan says Minnesota Vikings "100 percent" made mistake by letting QB Sam Darnold go
ESPN analyst Rex Ryan is never afraid to speak his mind during his Monday morning spots on the Get Up show, and he let head coach Kevin O’Connell, GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, and the Vikings hear it during a discussion on Sam Darnold.
When asked if Minnesota made a mistake letting Darnold walk in free agency after his Pro Bowl 2024 season, Ryan delivered the take that every Vikings fan knew was coming.
“Believe it. Absolutely, they did. Look, Sam Darnold, all he did was win 14 regular-season games. No wonder you want to kick out of your building? And by the way, these guys [Wentz, McCarthy] aren’t close to him. Sam Darnold is absolutely dealing in Seattle, MVP, part of the conversation, just like he was in Minnesota. So absolutely, 100 percent, believe that.”
Darnold has done himself some favors since leaving a ready-made situation in Minnesota with O’Connell, Justin Jefferson, and Jordan Addison. He got the $100 million contract he was coveting from the Seattle Seahawks, and he’s continued to put up numbers and win ball games, with far less talent around him.
Ryan is definitely oversimplifying things, though. While it’s hard to argue that Darnold is the better QB right now over both McCarthy and Wentz, injuries to McCarthy — and just about every starter on the offensive line — cannot be ignored.
The team’s lack of urgency at the backup quarterback position is a valid second-guess, but it’s been impossible to fairly evaluate McCarthy; he’s still only eight quarters into his NFL career, and some of that time was spent playing through a bum ankle.
It’s also fair to question how Darnold would hold up behind the same patchwork offensive line that McCarthy and Wentz have tried to elevate. Darnold deserved all the recognition he received for his Pro Bowl season last year, but he was sacked 57 times, including nine times in Minnesota’s playoff loss to the L.A. Rams.
Keeping Darnold, and punting the expected third-round compensatory pick coming Minnesota’s way in 2026, remains a clear second guess. It’s also fair to wonder how many more wins the Vikings would have with Darnold right now, given the uncommon attrition the team has encountered through the first two months of 2025.
It's all just conjecture at this point. There's no way the Vikings planned on preparing Wentz for his fifth consecutive start in Week 8, but that's the reality this week.