On Sunday afternoon, the Minnesota Vikings moved to 2-1 on the young 2025 NFL season with a home demolition of the Cincinnati Bengals. This game featured both teams playing without their starting quarterbacks, as Carson Wentz started in place of the injured JJ McCarthy, and Jake Browning took over for Joe Burrow.
Needless to say, Wentz was the better quarterback on the field on Sunday, throwing for 173 yards and two touchdowns.
After the game, Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell spoke on how long he expects Wentz to remain in the lineup as McCarthy recovers from his injury.
“Carson Wentz will get ‘another opportunity' to start for the #Vikings against the Steelers, Kevin O’Connell said, as J.J. McCarthy recovers from his high ankle sprain. ‘He's responded well to the early part of the treatment, but for a young player, you know, I want to make sure that he's healthy,'” O’Connell said, reported Ben Goessling of the Minneapolis Star Tribune on X, formerly Twitter.
NFL insider Ian Rapoport confirmed that it will be “another start for Carson Wentz, who earned it,” on X.
A big day for the Vikings
Coming off of last week's home loss to the Atlanta Falcons, in which the Vikings mustered just six points on the evening, there was reasonable skepticism about whether or not the Minnesota offense from a season ago was a thing of the past.
However, that was not the case on Sunday, as Carson Wentz looked like the Philadelphia Eagles version of himself, slicing up the Bengals defense and handing them their first loss of the season in the process.
If Wentz continues to play well, it's possible that there could be some speculation from the fanbase about what the future holds for McCarthy, who has struggled in seven out of the eight quarters he's played so far (although the one good quarter was very, very good).
The Vikings' defense also looked more like its usual self in the win on Sunday against Cincinnati.
In any case, the Vikings will next take the field against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday in Ireland.
