This is what the Minnesota Vikings should have expected when they turned to Carson Wentz as their backup quarterback. Surely they didn’t expect to play him this soon or even this long, but the fact of the matter is, he was dropped from the Kansas City Chiefs for a reason. Even when you need him to do just enough, he won’t always bail you out.
The Vikings offensive line, which Minnesota invested a lot of money in this past offseason, has severely underplayed their expectations, which isn’t helping either. I think as much blame as we want to put on Wentz for Sunday’s loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, some has to be put on the offensive line too. That said, Wentz didn’t help.
PFF isn’t high on Carson Wentz as Minnesota Vikings are at quarterback crossroads
The good thing is at least J.J. McCarthy won’t have to worry about Wentz taking his job when McCarthy is healthy again. If the Vikings care about PFF grades and advanced analytics, they’ll rethink their quarterback situation. Wentz was hit with one of the lowest PFF grades on the Vikings after Sunday’s game with a 56.4 grade. That’s just part of the story though.
According to On SI, Wentz received a 29.6 grade on throws under pressure and both of his interceptions came with a clean pocket. While the Vikings offensive line has been bad, Wentz hasn’t been helping himself out either. According to PFF and On SI, Wentz is responsible for nearly 30 percent of his pressures. That’s not an offensive line problem as much as it’s a Wentz problem.
He’s a backup quarterback for a reason and the Vikings are learning the hard way why he was a second option rather than a preferred one. Wentz isn’t as good as he was back in 2017. That first game was overinflated, thanks to his defense. The real Wentz came out in Dublin and while he did throw for 350, he was a large reason why the Vikings didn’t win.
Do the Minnesota Vikings have a quarterback crisis?
If Wentz has been the best quarterback to play in Minnesota this season, four games into the new season, does this put the Vikings in a terrible position? They clearly weren’t concerned about the quarterbacks entering the year. McCarthy had the red carpet rolled out for him and he’s since come back to earth. Now with him hurt and Wentz not looking great, the Vikings just might regret letting Darnold go after all.
They didn’t want to pay Darnold like a top quarterback and in a way, you can’t blame them with how things ended. But would paying Darnold have been better than dealing with this situation? At worst, if Darnold gets hurt then you have McCarthy as a much better backup option than Wentz.
The money the Vikings invested into their offensive line hasn’t had a good return yet, though it’s still early. They needed to repair the interior of their offensive line this offseason and while their guards looked fine, not having Ryan Kelly right now is killing them. Injuries are unavoidable, but they could have done better to improve their depth. At the end of the day, they’ve had some issues with their offensive line, but Wentz is struggling.
He’s not allowed to struggle at this point as a backup quarterback. His job is to make sure he’s not the reason the Vikings are losing. Right now, that’s not the case and it’s putting the Vikings in a terrible situation. Maybe they’re more desperate than they were a week ago to get McCarthy back.
He’s not playing great, but he’s their No. 1 option and maybe knowing that Wentz isn’t good enough to take his job, maybe that will light a fire under him to play more free. Wentz is playing free and the offense doesn’t look any worse. That could be the key to unlocking McCarthy post injury and turning things around before they get too out of hand.