After six weeks of rehabbing a high-ankle sprain sustained in the second half of Minnesota's Sept. 14 home game against the Falcons, J.J. McCarthy is slated to be back under center for his third career start.
Kevin Seifert of ESPN on Monday assessed the team’s situation at quarterback – i.e. what can be expected when McCarthy resumes his career and tries to rectify seven challenging quarters in eight he's played, and the toughness displayed by Carson Wentz before he was placed on Injured Reserve Monday.
A solid fourth quarter at Chicago erased the first three tough ones against the Bears and resulted in McCarthy being named NFC Player of the Week, but then the Vikings struggled in a 22-6 loss to Atlanta.
Seifert wrote: "The Vikings will need to render at least some judgment on his future over the next 2.5 months."
As for the veteran arm, here's how Seifert summarized Wentz's final escapade for the Purple this season:
The entire night was a throwback to previous eras of gladiator football, when players were glorified for pushing through injuries that would cripple mere mortals. As it turns out, Wentz was playing with a torn labrum and fractured socket caused by a dislocation he suffered on Oct. 5 against the Browns. He said Thursday night that he could still function well enough to help the team, and O'Connell said that Wentz told him repeatedly he could continue playing. The scene was all in service of a larger goal that would've been sneered at in previous decades: protecting a pair of young quarterbacks (2024 No. 10 pick J.J. McCarthy; 2025 UDFA Max Brosmer) who offer more long-term value to the Vikings than Wentz.
Wentz's indomitable spirit shouldn't be forgotten in re-transitioning to the original starter, McCarthy.
In five starts within two months of signing with the club he grew up admiring, Wentz completed 65.1 percent of his throws and averaged 243.2 passing yards with six touchdowns and five interceptions. He was sharply involved in the Vikings 48-10 trouncing of the Bengals, posting a 70-percent completion rate in his first U.S. Bank Stadium home start. Also, Wentz led a brilliant comeback versus Cleveland in Week 5, after suffering the initial left shoulder injury, to maintain Minnesota's perfect record in London games. And he rebounded from two early picks against Philadelphia in Week 7 to keep the chances of a Vikings upset of the reigning Super Bowl Champion Eagles and Wentz's first NFL team alive until their final drive.
Here's a sampling of the appreciation for Wentz shown by fans and media alike on the social platform X.
7 things after 7 games
Some of Minnesota's struggles so far in 2025 are plainly seen.
Quarterbacks (McCarthy and Wentz) under duress. Not enough push in the run game, and too much given up on defense trying to stop it. The most obvious issue, though: a lack of complementary football.
Except for the Week 3 drubbing of Cincinnati, the Vikings haven't pieced together 60 minutes of good execution in all three phases. Their identity's been bungled by penalties, failed possessions and sloppy performance in areas that were foundational to the club ripping off 14 wins in 18 games one season ago.
They've already matched their 2024 loss total, and now the Vikings are looking at a daunting schedule.
How can they improve? What must look different in the final 10 games to salvage enormous potential?
Alec Lewis of The Athletic on Tuesday examined seven facets of Minnesota's first seven games with the aim of injecting a bit of perspective into what viewers have observed casually through the 3-4 beginning.
Here are the subsets Lewis outlined (with details):
- Too many sacks (permitted/taken by Minnesota)
- Jumbo personnel defense (is being targeted by opponents)
- Short-yardage trouble (for the offense has persisted)
- Inconsistent run game (is debilitating, again)
- Minimal interior pressure (by the defense is concerning)
- Offensive linemen unavailability (is a theme)
- Quarterback inaccuracy (is spoiling play designs)
The former and latter are particularly interesting because they incorporate measures of both of Minnesota's starting quarterbacks. In other words, the issues aren't exclusive to McCarthy or Wentz.
On the poor protection that's upended drives and diminished momentum, Lewis wrote the following:
One of the primary problems? The rate at which the Vikings are being sacked. It's astronomical. Justin Fields has struggled to see the field in New York, and Cam Ward hasn't effectively acclimated to NFL speed in Tennessee. Yet the Vikings have a higher sack rate than both of those teams.
If you need a historical benchmark on how troubling this is, only three NFL teams have posted higher sack rates than the Vikings since 2016. Blocking is a factor.
You can check out Lewis' full article, packed with context and stats, here.
View the 2025 Vikings Schedule.
See the Vikings 2026 Opponents.
Check out the Vikings 2026 Draft Picks.
View future opponents for the Vikings.
Buy single game tickets.
Download the official Vikings App.
