Vikings At A Crossroads with its QB Question
Vikings Territory Breakdown
The Vikings are at a crossroads. With a tough loss to the Philadelphia Eagles last Sunday at home, they are in a difficult part of their schedule while toiling at the bottom of the NFC North Division. The question before them is whether or not to re-install their starter quarterback J.J. McCarthy or stay the course with veteran backup Carson Wentz. Wentz (who has at times looked better than McCarthy did in his first two game and, at other times, looked worse), had a rough game on Sunday, prompting even more calls for the return to the second-year signal caller.
Wentz and the Vikings had a chance to beat the Eagles, who have not looked like the defending Super Champions that they are. But scoring a touchdown in just 1 of 6 forays into the Red Zone (due to a number of different and infuriating reasons: bad snap, holding penalty, an intentional grounding penalty, one overruled by review and then a TD pass called back by a penalty), the Vikings have been mulling over a change throughout its short week to Thursday night against the San Diego Chargers.
McCarthy was the emergency third QB against the Eagles, so presumably he could play. And Wentz took another beating on Sunday, so presumably he could use the rest. Regardless, the decision is a big one and won’t come easy. It perhaps has more to do with where the team, at 3-3, finds themselves at this important juncture.
News surfaced on Tuesday that Wentz will start and McCarthy is not yet ready to come back before from his high ankle sprain. But that won’t stop the speculation, including from the cohosts of the Vikings Territory Breakdown podcast (Joe Oberle, senior writer at vikingsterritory.com and purplePTSD.com and Mark Craig, NFL and Vikings writer for the Star Tribune and startribune.com), who will weigh in with their opinions on the matter. Tune in and check it out. Skol!
