EAGAN, Minn. — Vikings Head Coach Kevin O'Connell on Monday announced J.J. McCarthy suffered an ankle sprain against the Falcons in Week 2 and is not expected to be available for Minnesota's Week 3 game against Cincinnati.

O'Connell said McCarthy arrived at Twin Cities Orthopedics Performance Center "very, very sore today."

"I would anticipate we are not planning on having him for Sunday, and I don't likely see this being any kind of short-term IR (Injured Reserve) thing, but I do want to see, and [Vice President of Player Health and Performance] Tyler [Williams] and the [medical] group want to see how he responds to treatment this week.

"Give him a ton of credit, just the toughness to get that thing taped up and keep playing," O'Connell added.

O'Connell said McCarthy suffered the ankle sprain during a scramble on a second-and-20 play. He gained 16 yards during the rush on the play that was snapped with less than three minutes remaining in the third quarter to create a third-and-4. A false start penalty, however, turned the situation into a third-and-9. McCarthy directed a pass to Justin Jefferson on the ensuing play, but the throw was just short of the receiver, prompting a punt with the score still 12-6 Falcons.

The night was injury riddled for the Vikings — Ryan Kelly and Justin Skule entered concussion protocol; Aaron Jones, Sr., suffered a hamstring injury that was still being evaluated; Gabriel Murphy suffered a knee injury but is believed to be OK; Jonathan Greenard suffered an oblique injury but was able to play through it — to the point that the medical blue tent was already occupied when McCarthy suffered the ankle injury.

"He was kind of evaluated right there and just got it taped up," O'Connell said. "And I think it's one of those things, just kind of hearing from our medical staff, one of those things that tends to be much worse today than probably was in the moment to him with adrenaline and everything. But like I said, huge compliment to him for fighting through it and continuing to compete."

O'Connell said the Vikings anticipate Carson Wentz starting, and undrafted rookie Max Brosmer will back up Wentz.

Wentz joined the Vikings in late August after the preseason concluded. He took reps with the first team last Thursday when McCarthy was excused to be with his fiancée for the birth of their son.

"We'll get Carson Wentz ready to go. Had a really good practice last week when J.J. was out of the building, on a 'third Thursday,' a third down kind of day," O'Connell said. "Carson stepped in and did a great job. I know you guys will have a ton of confidence in him, as well as Max being a snap away."

Although it has only been a couple of weeks since Wentz joined the team he grew up cheering for from North Dakota, O'Connell said Wentz's veteran presence, smarts and experience have shown up.

Wentz has started 94 of the 98 regular-season games he's played. He got the Eagles off to an 11-2 start in 2017 before suffering a knee injury for the team that defeated the Vikings in the NFC Championship Game and won Super Bowl LII at U.S. Bank Stadium.

According to ESPN's Bill Barnwell, Wentz is positioned to become the first quarterback in NFL history to start at least one game for a different team in six consecutive seasons (Eagles in 2020, Colts in 2021, Commanders in 2022, Rams in 2023, Chiefs in 2024 and Vikings in 2025).

Asked if he believes the full offense will be available to be executed by the veteran, O'Connell said he believes so.

"There's always going to be a quarterback comfort level to what we take to the game, regardless of what we prepare throughout the week," O'Connell said. "By the time we get to Saturday, you want to be calling the things that the guy in the game is comfortable with, has a positive feeling toward, a great understanding of, and there's going to be some things, previous experiences that allow Carson to, and we've already seen that with kind of a seamless transition for him in certain areas, and then in other areas where things are kind of newer for him.

"My experience with him short term has been, he gets that rep, he gets that time, he gets that clarity, and then he's been good to go," O'Connell added. "Had he gone in the game, even yesterday, we were going to be working off the same menu, same collection of plays, and Carson felt good about it."

O'Connell also expressed a high comfort level with Brosmer based on what the former Golden Gopher was able to do in Minnesota's preseason games.

"He came out of some of those great games with pretty high marks and grades for his personal execution, some of the instinctive things he did, his physical skill set of being a really fundamentally sound, kind of twitchy, accurate passer, and being able to be a fast decision maker," O'Connell said. "All those things bode well, but now there's clearly — you'd love to have a little bit more experience there, but that's the nature of wanting to have a good, really good, young, developing player that you bring in during the undrafted process. He's on a roster and he's going to be a snap away. And I know Max will be prepared."

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