The Minnesota Vikings and the Cincinnati Bengals will provide a backup vs. backup game in Week 3 of the 2025 NFL season. Carson Wentz will be under center for the purple and gold, but why? What happened to JJ McCarthy?
During Week 2, JJ McCarthy suffered an injury that was later confirmed to be an ankle sprain, which will sideline him for at least a couple of weeks. He avoided IR, but Tracy Wolfson of CBS Sports reports that he is likely to come back in Week 7. For now, it’s Wentz’s chance to command the Vikings offense.
McCarthy struggled to move the chains in his first two games of the season, with only one quarter of very good football in Week 1 against the Bears. However, the rest of his output has been below par.
Wentz is a very different quarterback
Usually, teams like to have a similar style of quarterbacks on their depth chart. Therefore, if there is an injury or something happens, the playbook doesn’t need to change much. However, that’s not always possible and the Vikings know that. McCarthy is a much more reserved, safe quarterback. Sometimes he lacks aggressiveness to throw it downfield or to seek big plays.
Wentz is the opposite. Sometimes it’d be better if he tone it down a bit, instead of making some wild plays trying to create magic out of nowhere. They are two polar opposites. Now, it’s time for their head coach Kevin O’Connell to try and make Wentz a more careful quarterback with the upside of trying to get big yardage every now and then.
The Vikings are also facing a backup QB
Fortunately for the Vikings, they face the Bengals but they don’t face Joe Burrow, who is not playing today after suffering a turf toe injury, which will require surgery. For the next three months, it’s Jake Browning under center for the team.
This means it’s a battle of backup quarterbacks, but between the two, Wentz should be regarded as the better one of both given his career compared to Browning’s. Wentz was a franchise quarterback at one point in his career, Browning has always been a backup.