What Minnesota Vikings Fans Need to Know ahead of Week 3 vs. Cincinnati Bengals
The Minnesota Vikings are coming off a disastrous game against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 2.
The team looked fully outmatched at times against Atlanta’s defense, but now, Minnesota is hoping to flush that game down the drain and bounce back against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 3.
Heading into the weekend, here is what Vikings fans should know ahead of that matchup.
How to Watch the Minnesota Vikings This Week
For the first time this season, the Vikings are not playing in a standalone primetime slot. Instead, they will kick off this matchup against the Bengals at noon inside U.S. Bank Stadium. The game will be broadcast on CBS and can be streamed on Paramount+ as well as NFL+ in the NFL app and NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV.
Bengals vs. Vikings History
The Bengals and Vikings have met 15 times in the histories of the two franchises, and if Sunday’s matchup follows recent history, it will go down to the wire. The Bengals have won both of the past two matchups in the exact same fashion: a 27-24 win over the Vikings in overtime.
Those two wins have boosted the Bengals into the lead in the all-time series with an 8-7 record against Minnesota. The Vikings’ last win against Cincinnati came in 2017 when they defeated the Bengals 34-7. That also happened to be Minnesota’s last home game against Cincinnati, and they are 6-0 all-time when playing the Bengals at home.
Bengals Spotlight Player: RB Chase Brown
There’s an argument for Jake Browning to be the player here as he will be starting at QB for the foreseeable future in Cincinnati. However, if the Vikings are going to win this game, they will need to control the clock, and that means stopping Cincinnati’s running game.
So far, Brown has not been able to replicate the success he had down the stretch of the 2024 season, totaling just 118 yards from scrimmage at an abysmal 2.8 yards per touch. However, it feels like that will change sooner than later for a player who had 830 yards to his name over the final eight games of the regular season in 2024.
The Vikings are hoping that turnaround happens after Cincinnati’s stop in Minnesota. With the hopeful returns of Andrew Van Ginkel, Jeff Okudah, and Harrison Smith to the defense, that may be enough to contain the third-year back.
Vikings Spotlight Player: QB Carson Wentz
A lot of air was taken out of the Vikings fandom balloon when the news broke that J.J. McCarthy had suffered a high ankle sprain against the Falcons and likely will miss the next 2-4 weeks.
However, there is still certainly some intrigue to Carson Wentz stepping in as the new quarterback. It’s a block Wentz has been around a few times as Sunday will mark the sixth team he has started for in the past six seasons.
At one point in time, Wentz was considered an MVP candidate at the quarterback position, and Kevin O’Connell has proven time and again that he can pull any drops of remaining talent out of veteran quarterbacks over his time as the Vikings’ head coach whether it be Kirk Cousins, Josh Dobbs, Nick Mullens, or Sam Darnold. Maybe Wentz can be the latest player on that list.
Editor’s Note: Statistics for this article were found via Pro Football Reference.
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