Carson Wentz’s career as a starter was expedited by an injury to a Vikings quarterback. Teddy Bridgewater’s torn ACL forced Minnesota to scramble for help, prompting the Eagles to collect a first-round pick and a fourth-round pick for Sam Bradford — and pushing Wentz into the unquestioned QB1 role in Philly.
Nine years later, another injury to a Vikings quarterback has unlocked Wentz’s latest opportunity to play. And play he will, as Minnesota’s starter against the Bengals and former Vikings backup Jake Browning.
For Wentz, he’ll finally be taking the field for the team he rooted for as a child.
“I used to come to the Metrodome, and I was waving the towel,” Wentz told reporters on Wednesday. “And so running out of that tunnel this week will probably hit me a little bit different — in a really cool, kind of surreal way.”
Wentz will be the first player to start for six different teams in six consecutive seasons: Eagles (2020), Colts (2021), Commanders (2022), Rams (2023), Chiefs (2024), and Vikings (2025). Today’s game will be his 95th career regular-season start.
He has had some solid seasons. In 2017, he was on track for the league MVP award until suffering a torn ACL against the Rams in December. In 2019, he threw 27 touchdown passes against seven interceptions for the Eagles. (He exited the wild-card loss to the Seahawks with a concussion.) In 2021 with the Colts, Wentz again threw 27 touchdown passes against only seven interceptions during the lone 17-start season of his career.
It wasn’t enough to get him a second year in Indy. Injuries marred his sole season with the Commanders. After that, Wentz was relegated to backup status, waiting until November 2023 to get a shot with the Rams.
Last year, he was the wire-to-wire understudy to Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City, with Wentz’s lone start coming in a meaningless Week 18 game.
Wentz has shown high-level skills. (He also has thrown a left-handed pick six from his own end zone.) Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell has shown that he can get a quarterback up to speed quickly, as he did with Josh Dobbs after Kirk Cousins suffered a torn Achilles midway through the 2023 season.
However it goes, Wentz is getting his shot, with his boyhood favorite team. If it goes well, J.J. McCarthy’s ankle could take a little longer to heal. If it doesn’t, undrafted rookie Max Brosmer could be getting a chance to keep the ship from sinking.
