Wentz Upon a Time–Vikings Blow Out the Bengals
At noon on Sunday, the Minnesota Vikings arrived at U.S. Bank Stadium on a mission. They had played two lackluster games to start the year (scoring touchdowns in only one quarter of the eight they had played), but raced down the field behind new signal caller Carson Wentz in the first series of the game. Wentz threw a touchdown pass to Josh Oliver and the Purple was off to the races. But this game was about the defense, and when cornerback Isaiah Rodgers picked off Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Jake Browning (a former Vikings QB) and took it in for a 14-point lead, the Vikings never looked back on their way to a 48-10 shellacking of the visiting Bengals.
Rodgers, actually, nearly took care of the Bengals on his own, forcing two fumbles and scoring two defensive scores in a game (the first player to do so in league history)—accomplishing it in the first half to bury them. Still the offense put up points: Wentz had two touchdown passes, running back Jordan Mason had 116 yards rushing and two scores and kicker Will Reichard topped off another perfect game (of 12 points) with a 62-yard field goal—the longest in his career and in team history. Aside from 13 penalties for 105 yards, the Vikings played a near perfect game in dominating the Bengals, who were 2-0 coming into the matchup.
Now, before we anoint the veteran Wentz the Vikings QBOTF and start a full-fledged QB controversy, we must remind folks that the team around him played much better than they had when surrounding J.J. McCarthy the previous two weeks. And given the injuries the Vikings have suffered this season (the Vikings came into the game with 20 percent of their team on the injured list), we saw the return of left tackle Christian Darrisaw help the offense and the first game of the action of the season for safety Harrison Smith improve the defense, so, it is hard to definitely declare who is the better the QB for the immediate future.
But Wentz is enough for now.
Still, we at 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), will certainly offer our opinion on that question and all things from Sunday’s game. Tune in and check out our discussion of the 2-1 Vikings, who are in a tie for first place in the NFC North. Skol!
