O’Connell Playing Dumb on Vikings’ QB Future But Not Everyone Got Memo

By    |  
Updated:
Follow Us
Carson Wentz, JJ McCarthy - Philadelphia Eagles at Minnesota Vikings
Credit: Brad Rempel-Imagn Images

The Minnesota Vikings were nearly gifted a victory on Sunday afternoon against the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles. But there was one problem, they didn’t want to take it.

Despite the defense suffocating Saquon Barkley (18 CAR, 44 YDS) and keeping the Philly offense under wraps for much of the game, Brian Flores’ group was leaky in the worst possible place you can be in this era of defense — explosive plays.

That allowed Jalen Hurts to complete 3rd downs he’d normally have no business completing, eventually racking up 326 passing yards and 3 touchdowns, the scores of which were all delivered to his star wide receiver talents, AJ Brown (4 REC, 121 YDS, 2 TD) and DeVonta Smith (9 REC, 183 YDS, 1 TD).

Carson Wentz - Philadelphia Eagles at Minnesota Vikings
Credit: Brad Rempel-Imagn Images

And the Minnesota Vikings offense… well, it had its own problems, especially in the red zone. Carson Wentz & Co. posted more total yards (387) than the Eagles (361) and won the time of possession battle pretty handedly (34:02-25:58).

Carson Wentz struggles, calls for JJ McCarthy getting louder

But when you can’t put the ball in the end zone, football games become much more difficult to win. So while moving the ball wasn’t that big of an issue,it turns out stalling out and settling for FIVE Will Reichard field goals very much was.

The other big reason for week 7’s loss was Carson Wentz — who deserves plenty of blame for the red zone problems too. This dude’s obsession with making dumb decisions, that cost the MN Vikings more than he is worth, is getting increasingly frustrating.

Against the Eagles, the 32-year-old former NDSU superstar finished the game 26-of-42 for 313 yards passing, 0 touchdowns and 2 interceptions, both of which were extremely costly, stupid, and 100% avoidable. And even worse, you could argue they weren’t even his dumbest mistakes.

But guess what? There is no rest for the wicked and now, the Vikings are scheduled to play the Los Angeles Chargers out west just four days from now, on Thursday Night Football. Prior to today’s debacle, there were reports floating out there that Minnesota plans to roll with Wentz in LA, and possibly beyond.

Kevin O’Connell dances around MN Vikings QB question

But given the performance we just watched, it’s no surprise that fans across Vikings nation are calling for a change at quarterback now, especially being that JJ McCarthy was healthy enough to suit up as the team’s emergency QB3 today. When asked about that exact topic postgame, however, O’Connell danced around the question.

“I thought [Wentz] competed. We’ve got to see how he comes out, health wise, he had to use some legs there a couple times on that last drive. We’ll see how he turns over. I know Max [Brosmer] was ready to go today, and JJ [McCarthy] was the emergency [QB3]

JJ was able to get some work last week. We’ll see how he feels as well. On a short week, we’re gonna put together the best plan we can, and that also includes the players available to us.”

Kevin O’Connell on who will start at QB Thursday vs Chargers

That doesn’t sound like a coach who has picked a starter for next game yet, but I wouldn’t expect O’Connell to be completely forthcoming, either. On top of Wentz’ poor play and even poorer decision-making vs Philly, the guy took an absolute beating.

Beat up Carson Wentz expects to start for Minnesota Vikings in LA

Wentz was sacked twice, but hit 8 times, and you could tell he was feeling the pain early and often, something the head coach was happy to bring up, when discussing his decision at QB1 for Thursday. When he was asked about his readiness on a quick turnaround, though, Carson was much more up front and honest than his head coach.

In fact, we found out a few things about the thoughts rolling through Carson’s mind this afternoon. Most intriguing is that the veteran quarterback clearly expects to be the Minnesota Vikings’ starter again Thursday.

After taking such a beating today, the aging North Dakota kid may not seem all that excited about it, and he may not be a fan of Thursday Night Football in general, but there’s no hiding the fact that he expects to be under center for it.

Now, we’ll see how Kevin O’Connell really feels about Sunday’s performance. Because Carson Wentz’ presser gave away what the plans were. If JJ McCarthy starts on Thursday, it means KOC was disgusted enough watching the game today, that he felt compelled to change course.

Mentioned in this article:

More About:

0What do you think?Post a comment.