Vikings’ Carson Wentz: Wanted to stay in TNF game despite pain

EAGAN, Minn. — Carson Wentz took a dramatic step Wednesday to defuse the controversy over his painful final appearance as the Minnesota Vikings‘ quarterback, saying he bears no ill will toward the franchise and making clear he did not want coach Kevin O’Connell to remove him from last Thursday’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers.

“This isn’t my first rodeo,” said Wentz, who was placed on injured reserve this week and soon will have season-ending surgery to repair his left shoulder. “I’m not an idiot. I know what I was signing up for going out there. Nobody was forcing me, pressuring me, any of those things.”

Wentz grimaced in pain throughout the Vikings’ 37-10 loss, the result of a torn labrum and fractured shoulder socket he suffered Oct. 5 when he dislocated the shoulder during a Week 5 game against the Cleveland Browns. He played with the injury in Week 7 against the Philadelphia Eagles after using the Vikings’ bye week to rest and recover, but a short week of preparation entering Thursday night’s game left the shoulder particularly tender.

The Vikings trailed 31-10 early in the fourth quarter, but rookie backup Max Brosmer did not replace him until 1:56 remained. After getting hit on his final pass, Wentz hurled his helmet to the sideline, covered his face with a towel and appeared to be holding back tears as he looked to the sky.

Wentz, the No. 2 pick of the 2016 draft, earlier this season set an NFL record by starting a game for a different team in six straight years. But he had not been a regular NFL starter since 2022, and Wentz said the prospect of playing in “meaningful” games drove him to stay in the Vikings’ lineup as long as possible.

“It’s fun,” he said. “I’m not going to lie. It’s fun. It’s what I grew up dreaming of doing. And when you lose it for a little bit, it’s hard to want to give it up. So even with pain, and all the things that I knew were going to come with it, [I wanted] to play. I want to be out there, and I want to be helping this team however I can.”

Though Wentz refused to ask out of the game, O’Connell has absorbed local and national criticism for not removing him before the final minutes. When asked if he thought O’Connell should have taken him out earlier, Wentz said: “Truthfully, no. I appreciate that everyone was checking on me and all this stuff — at the end of the day, coaches, trainers, no one really knows the level of pain or difficulty that I may be feeling. And I know TV copies can show stuff that people on sidelines don’t see, but I never once felt unsafe. I’ve said it a bunch, it’s just pain. It’s pain. It’s discomfort. I knew surgery was coming, I knew it needed to be fixed. So it was like, ‘I don’t want to come out of this game as uncomfortable as this is.'”

Speaking separately to reporters Wednesday, O’Connell said he made a “football decision” to keep Wentz in, supported by the team’s medical staff. Despite a 21-point deficit that grew to 24 points midway through the quarter, O’Connell said he believed the team still had a chance to win — and that he had an “obligation” to allow a veteran like Wentz to continue if he wanted.

According to Elias Sports Bureau research, only one NFL team since 1950 has come back from a 24-point deficit or greater in the fourth quarter. That happened for the 1987 St. Louis Cardinals, who overcame a 28-3 fourth-quarter deficit to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31-28.

“The way we operate, where we believe we’re out of reach might be a little different than how folks watching the game might believe it to be,” O’Connell said. “And we’ve had some games where, thank goodness, we had that mindset. We found a way to win some of those, and that’s just the belief that the guys have, and when you’ve got a guy like that that’s committed to play through something, as long as the medical staff doesn’t give me any new information to that, that’s kind of how that took place.”

The nationally televised game featured multiple instances of Wentz either writhing in pain or holding his left arm tight to his chest. O’Connell said he was not privy to those images on the sideline. Asked what level of pain a player would have to be in to remove him over his objections, O’Connell did not answer directly.

“Yeah, I think there’s an absolute level there,” he said, “and I think you have to make that decision. And ultimately, that’s not a decision you make solely on your own. It comes from a lot more people with expertise. Then, ultimately, when you ask a player, ‘Can you still go? Can you go out there and play?’ And they said, ‘Absolutely, nothing’s changed. I can still go.’ You then have to make the decision as the head coach and that’s my responsibility.”

Wentz returned to Minnesota with the team and decided Friday to undergo surgery, which will coincide with J.J. McCarthy‘s return as the Vikings’ starter after a five-game absence. Brosmer will serve as McCarthy’s backup, and newly signed John Wolford will provide additional depth.

As he spoke Wednesday, Wentz glanced at his watch several times to see if his wife, Madison, had messaged to say she was in labor. The couple is expecting their fourth child this week, and then afterward Wentz will schedule the surgery.

“The public backlash and different things that I’m being told are out there I think is personally kind of crazy,” he said. “Nobody’s in this building. Nobody’s in these conversations. Nobody knows what’s truly going on and transpiring behind these walls. And I can just honestly say this place has been super supportive and super helpful this whole time, and I’m grateful for that.”