Carson Wentz didn’t fill up the stat sheet in his Vikings debut, but he didn’t need to. With Isaiah Rodgers scoring two defensive touchdowns and Jordan Mason ripping off chunk gains on the ground, all Wentz had to do was manage the game effectively in the Vikings’ 48-10 demolition of the Bengals on Sunday afternoon.
His first touchdown pass in a Vikings uniform put his new team up 7-0 after the first possession of the game. After quite a few other things had happened, his second touchdown pass put Minnesota up 48-3 at the end of the third quarter. That marked the end of the day for Wentz, who completed 14 of his 20 passes for 173 yards, the two TDs, and a 129.8 passer rating.
Insider reports on Sunday morning indicated that Wentz would get at least two starts for the Vikings while J.J. McCarthy recovers from a high ankle sprain. In his postgame press conference, head coach Kevin O’Connell essentially confirmed those reports, saying “he’ll get another opportunity” about Wentz. McCarthy will come on the team’s two-week trip to Europe, but he won’t play next Sunday against the Steelers in Dublin.
“He’s responded well to the early part of treatment, but for a young player, I want to make sure that he’s healthy, especially a guy with the movement skills he has,” O’Connell said of McCarthy. “We’re gonna do right by him.”
This was a day that meant a lot to Wentz, who grew up a Vikings fan in Bismarck, ND. There were loud cheers when he ran out of the tunnel for pregame warmups in his purple No. 11 jersey. He then went over to the sideline to greet his wife and three daughters.
“There were definitely a lot of emotions that I had to channel,” Wentz said. “Running out there, it’s been a while since getting a chance to do this. But then obviously being in the purple and gold means a little extra something to me, personally. It was a ton of fun. I had a blast out there.”
Wentz got off to a strong start. After a couple defensive penalties moved the Vikings quickly into field goal range, he hit Justin Jefferson for 16 yards over the middle and then found a wide-open Josh Oliver for a 12-yard touchdown that had to feel pretty good for the veteran QB.
O’Connell said Wentz “played point guard for us” on Sunday. “He made great decisions, he got through his progressions, and did a lot of things to help the Minnesota Vikings win today.”
It wasn’t always smooth sailing. Wentz, who was signed by the Vikings less than a month ago, had a shaky stretch of possessions after the initial touchdown. The next four series resulted in three three-and-outs and one field goal. Wentz was sacked three times in the first half and narrowly avoided a fourth with a one-yard scramble. He didn’t seem to fully be trusting what he was seeing.
But he didn’t lose confidence. To be sure, it helps when your defense scores two touchdowns among four total takeaways in the first half. It also helps when you can throw a quick pass to Jefferson and watch him bounce off tacklers for a 36-yard gain that was the offense’s longest play of the day.
“Did I play a perfect game? By no means,” Wentz said. “There’s definitely plays I want back. Took a couple sacks, I can’t be doing that. So there’s still a lot to learn. But anytime you come away with a win like that — it’s hard to win in this league, so it’s fun to get them when you can.”
“I think he’s learning, with the type of people in that huddle with him, if he just takes the right footwork, does his job, runs the show, there’s gonna be people to throw the ball to,” O’Connell said. “I thought he gained confidence and settled down as the game went on. Really proud of him.”
Already leading by 31 at halftime, Wentz and the Vikings kept adding on in the third quarter. Mason was a big part of Minnesota’s two long touchdown drives in that quarter, but Wentz was 6 for 6 for 68 yards and a TD pass to T.J. Hockenson on those two series.
Wentz made history on Sunday as the first quarterback to start a game for a different team in six consecutive seasons. He’s been a backup for the last few years, but he brings more to the table than the average backup. Wentz has made almost 100 NFL starts and reached MVP-level highs early in his career. He’s seen a lot in this league and still has plenty of physical ability at 32 years old.
O’Connell said there was a poise he brought to this game that impacted everyone around him.
“He’s so smart,” O’Connell said. “Has an understand of exactly who he is as a player at this point. When you go back over the timeline, when he’s been given really good opportunity, normally he’s played really good football. I’ve always been a fan of his. I told him when we took him out of the game, I was the least surprised person in the whole building today that he was able to go out there and effectively run our offense.”
All in all, it was a pretty solid outing from Wentz on a day where the Vikings collectively recorded the franchise’s largest margin of defeat since 1998. He’ll look to build on this performance and continue to play point guard next Sunday in Ireland by distributing the ball to a top-notch group of weapons — which will include wide receiver Jordan Addison now that his suspension has come to an end.
“That’s what I want to do when I go out there,” Wentz said. “I don’t wanna be the one making the plays, I just wanna get it to these playmakers. That’s always been my philosophy. And we’ve got some good ones here.”
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