Vikings will pay the price for not protecting Carson Wentz from himself

Minnesota Vikings quarterback Carson Wentz is out for the season after needing surgery to repair his injured left shoulder. At this point, it's fair to wonder whether the 32-year-old's career could be in jeopardy, given his injury history and just how long it's been since he was a quality NFL quarterback. So it shouldn't really come as a surprise that, despite all evidence to the contrary, he apparently told head coach Kevin O'Connell he wanted to stay in the team's Week 8 matchup with the Los Angeles Chargers on Thursday Night Football.

Wentz told reporters Wednesday that he holds no grudge towards the franchise for how things ended this season, owning up to his own play and also the risk he took by playing through the injury.

"This isn't my first rodeo," he said. "I'm not an idiot. I know what I was signing up for going out there. Nobody was forcing me, pressuring me, any of those things."

That's all well and good, but the team still bears a significant amount of responsibility for letting a reckless player continue to play under such circumstances. It was clear to everyone for a while that Wentz wasn't physically capable of leading the Vikings' offense, and only Minnesota's own desperation allowed this fiasco to continue for as long as it did.

Vikings will face consequences for letting Carson Wentz push his limits too far

O'Connell had to know how bad things were for Wentz against Los Angeles. He was visibly grimacing throughout the 37-10 loss and rendered the offense virtually useless with his hampered play.

Now, the team has to turn to pseudo-rookie J.J. McCarthy, who is returning from his second serious injury in as many seasons. The Michigan product missed his entire rookie season due to a torn meniscus and has sat out the last five games with an ankle issue.

The Vikings staff better hope they're not rushing McCarthy back to the field because Wentz didn't last as long as they'd hoped. What was stopping O'Connell from deploying Max Brosmer, the third-stringer, when things got out of hand on Thursday night?

Granted, Wentz's chances of being a starter again after this year are extremely slim and Minnesota's season, which had high expectations entering the year, is quickly slipping away. However, the responsible decision would've been to prioritize a player's health over pursuing a game that was already well out of reach.

If McCarthy winds up re-aggravating his injury or playing at a subpar level because he's not at 100 percent, the Vikings should start thinking about hitting the eject button on the season and start healing up for 2026.