The Case for Carson Wentz to Start vs. the Eagles
In his Monday press conference, Kevin O’Connell did not commit to the question of whether Carson Wentz or J.J. McCarthy will start in Sunday’s matchup with the suddenly reeling Eagles (who have lost two straight after a 4-0 start).
Kevin O’Connell faces a tough choice at quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings, but Carson Wentz may be the right call against the Philadelphia Eagles.
While McCarthy clearly is projected to be the team’s long-term starter as long as he progresses well, I think the best move this week is for Wentz to start against the team that drafted him second overall in 2016.
That is as long as his left shoulder injury from the pre-bye Browns game is sufficiently healed (and Wentz is back at practice). And Wentz deserves the start on Sunday regardless of whether McCarthy’s sprained ankle is fine, which appears to be the case since he has returned to practice.
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If we are talking about an established all-pro QB, such as Patrick Mahomes, that player must return to the starting role as soon as he has recovered from an injury. McCarthy—with two career starts and the last one was a clunker against Atlanta—is clearly not yet in that category.
It just doesn’t make sense to pull Wentz after his final drive heroics in the Week 5 win over Cleveland in London. On the final drive with the Vikings down 17-14, Wentz completed all nine of his passes for 71 yards and the game-winning 12-yard TD pass to Jordan Addison with 25 seconds left and against the league’s top-ranked defense.
The 10-year veteran did an excellent job executing the quick passing game, which is clearly a work in progress for McCarthy as a second-year player who has started only two games. His 21-yard back-shoulder throw to Justin Jefferson was a tremendous pass that proved to be a key play on that drive.
Wentz is 2-1 in his three starts since stepping in for McCarthy. His 99.5 passer rating ranks 14th in the league, only one spot behind Eagles QB Jalen Hurts. McCarthy’s passer rating is 67.2 (second-worst in the league), but he should certainly improve on that when he returns to the lineup.
McCarthy brings a lot more running ability than Wentz, but in a matchup with the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles, I think Wentz is the better choice to quickly dissect the defensive calls of one of the league’s top defensive coordinators — Vic Fangio — who would throw an abundance of blitzes at McCarthy (more so than at Wentz).
The Philadelphia defense has started this season much less dominant than it was in its Super Bowl season (ranked 21st after finishing No. 1 in 2024). Part of the problem is that Saquon Barkley and the running game have struggled, with Barkley ranking 20th in rushing yards (325) through six games, despite gaining 2,005 yards in the 2024 regular season. He is averaging only 3.4 yards per carry compared to 5.8 last year. So the defense has been on the field a lot more.
With two straight losses (at home to the Broncos and surprisingly at the Giants with rookie RB Cam Skattebo running for 98 yards and three TDs and rookie QB Jaxson Dart passing for 195 yards and adding 58 yards on the ground including a 20-yard TD), the now 4-2 Eagles will come to U.S. Bank Stadium wanting to re-establish themselves as an elite Super Bowl contender.
That tells me Fangio will have his defenders geared up to contain the Vikings’ offense by trying to stop the run and get after the quarterback.
O’Connell should therefore go with the veteran Wentz, while making McCarthy the No. 2 QB this week and Max Brosmer the emergency No. 3.
O’Connell wasn’t tipping his hand in his Monday press conference. And why not make the Eagles prepare for both Wentz and McCarthy, who is a bigger run threat but needs to get the ball out much quicker than he did against Chicago and especially Atlanta, when he was sacked six times in that unsightly Week 2 loss.
“I don’t necessarily want to put a percentage on where J.J. is health-wise,” O’Connell said. “We’ve got to prepare to try and win a game on Sunday and get our team ready to go and make the best decision for our team. I’m not ready to say where J.J. will be. I want to see how this week plays out first.”
O’Connell then spoke of the importance to McCarthy of watching Wentz in the past three games and seeing “the value of completions” even if they were check-downs to T.J. Hockenson.
The Eagles are in a tight race with Washington for the NFC East lead. With Detroit’s loss at Kansas City on Sunday night, the 3-2 Vikings are only a half-game back of the Lions and the 3-1-1 Packers.
This is likely the most challenging three-game stretch of the season for the Vikings. A home victory over Philly is much needed with the next two games equally challenging—on the road at the current AFC West co-leading Chargers on a Thursday night (with traveling to the west coast in a short week) and then going to Detroit to take on the Lions, who have swept the Vikings the past two seasons.
I think O’Connell goes with the guy who just led a comeback win with a perfect final drive. McCarthy is 22 years old and will regain the starting role at some point, which could be against the Chargers if Wentz has a poor outing on Sunday or reinjures his shoulder.
It gets dicey for McCarthy and O’Connell if Wentz continues to play well and the team gets on a roll. That may force McCarthy to continue to sit, which doesn’t help his development. But that’s a good problem for a coach to have compared to starting McCarthy against the Super Bowl champs and not having him do well.
The media loves a quarterback controversy. Coaches hate it. But that’s where the Vikings could be headed. We’ll see how it all plays out starting this Sunday.
I’ll be back on Friday with my preview of Vikings-Eagles, perhaps more insight into the big QB decision, and my predictions for Vikings-Eagles and other key games around the NFL, including the 5-1 Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Detroit next Monday night.
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