Carson Wentz’s 2025 NFL season is over, and now the Minnesota Vikings face a concerning reality with the veteran gone. Wentz is set to have surgery that will end his season after injuring his left shoulder on October 5 while filling in for injured starter J.J. McCarthy, per ESPN.
McCarthy will likely reclaim the starting quarterback job when the Vikings face the Detroit Lions on November 2. Moreover, with Wentz landing on injured reserve, undrafted rookie Max Brosmer is the lone backup currently available on the roster.
Nonetheless, even with the second-year quarterback returning, CBS Sports’ Ryan Wilson believes that Minnesota are in a worrying situation if they want to salvage their season and push for the playoffs.
“I will say this: Kevin O’Connell is incredibly patient,” Wilson said on the October 27 edition of “CBS Sports HQ.” “He’s spoken on the record about giving young quarterbacks time. But if J.J.’s not healthy, he’s not healthy.
“And I do know that they like Max Brosmer a lot, the undrafted free agent out of Minnesota who had played previously at the University of New Hampshire. So, they have options. They are young options with very little experience. It’s a completely different ballgame than, say, Sam Darnold a year ago, who obviously had a ton of experience but wasn’t able to put it together until he arrived in Minnesota.
“I don’t want to say the Vikings are in a bad way, but they have some answers they need to find at the quarterback position now that Carson Wentz, who had been average at best but was sort of holding things together until J.J. got back, is now on IR, and his season appears to be over.”
Carson Wentz Was In Pain Against the Chargers
Wentz used the bye week to rest his shoulder before returning for the Vikings’ 28-22 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 7.
However, with a short turnaround before the Week 8 matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers, he didn’t have enough time to recover fully. The lingering pain was clear as he battled through the 37-10 loss.
“The pain is pain,” Wentz said (h/t Kevin Seifert of ESPN). “I felt like I could still help this team and find a way to go down and score and all that stuff. So, we knew that coming into the game, that it was going to be part of it. And again, that’s the tough part of Thursday night games. [You] just don’t quite get the chance to recover, but that’s no excuse by any means.”
Can the Vikings Make the Playoffs?
With McCarthy likely back for the Lions game and at 3-4, the question is: Can the Vikings push for the playoffs after this Wentz injury? Wilson noted that he doesn’t like where they currently stand at the midway point of the season.
“This ain’t where you want to be at the midway point of the season,” Wilson added. “No doubt about it. And again, last year this time, we were having conversations about Sam Darnold as the MVP, which is sort of funny to say, but he played that well. That team played that well.
“The other thing to keep in mind is that the Brian Flores defense hasn’t looked quite like the Brian Flores defense we saw a year ago. They’ve been exposed at times, most recently on Thursday night, where we saw the offensive line, which has also struggled with injuries. We saw Carson Wentz take another beating that led to him landing on IR.
“But you compound the issues with the offensive line struggling to stay healthy and then the defense not playing at the level that it played at a year ago. And you take that all together with a young and/or rookie quarterback, should Max Brosmer have to play. And this is where you find yourself, and there’s very little room for error.”
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