Vikings Starting Injured Carson Wentz Over J.J. McCarthy Is Not A Good Sign For Young QB

Minnesota Vikings quarterback Carson Wentz is set to undergo season-ending surgery following Thursday's loss to the Chargers. Wentz initially suffered the shoulder injury during the team's Week 5 win against the Browns in London. But the question remains: Why was Wentz starting over J.J. McCarthy while nursing an injury? 

The obvious answer is that McCarthy was also hurt. But that's not the full story. McCarthy suffered an ankle injury during the team's Week 2 loss against the Falcons. The Vikings made it sound like Wentz would start until McCarthy was healthy enough to play. 

The Minnesota Vikings elected to start an injured Carson Wentz, who is now out for the season, over second-year QB J.J. McCarthy. 

(Imagn Images)

However, McCarthy served as the team's emergency third quarterback for the past two games. While he wasn't officially on the active roster, he had to be medically cleared to be the third quarterback. If he was considered healthy enough to potentially enter the game, why wasn't he the starter? It's even more questionable knowing that Wentz was nursing his own injury. 

Some have speculated on social media that Minnesota used McCarthy's injury as an excuse not to play the second-year signal-caller. Even prior to the Wentz news, social media users noted that it was odd McCarthy remained out. 

So, what's going on here? Well, McCarthy played one incredible quarter of football. After struggling mightily in Week 1 against the Bears, he came alive to lead the team back from an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit with two passing touchdowns and a rushing touchdown. 

The magic didn't continue in Week 2, however. McCarthy threw for just 158 yards with two interceptions and took six sacks in an embarrassing 22-6 loss against Atlanta. That's the last time we saw McCarthy, as he was ruled out with a high-ankle sprain prior to Week 3, when Wentz took over. 

McCarthy has a 67.2 passer rating through two starts, which would look a lot worse if not for his heroic fourth-quarter performance against Chicago. So, it's certainly possible that Minnesota head coach Kevin O'Connell didn't believe that McCarthy gave the best chance to win the past two weeks. 

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This is a Vikings team that won 13 games last year. It expected to compete for another NFC North title and even had Super Bowl aspirations. It's understandable that the Vikings might want to be cautious with their 2024 first-round pick. 

But the idea that the Vikings would be willing to potentially punt this season to do that seems highly unlikely. Even if McCarthy wasn't 100% healthy, and was somewhere between 75 to 90% healthy, he should have been on the field. 

Since he was the emergency third quarterback, it's fair to assume he was healthy enough to play. And if the Vikings thought Wentz – who was probably only 75% healthy himself – was a better option to win games, then it shows an utter lack of confidence in McCarthy.

And that would be a terrible sign for both the Minnesota Vikings and J.J. McCarthy.