Sunday will be a full-circle moment for Carson Wentz

The Vikings starting QB for Sunday's game talked about getting ready for his first start in purple

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By Matthew Coller

EAGAN — Life is crazy sometimes.

When Carson Wentz was a kid, he rooted for the Minnesota Vikings. He visited the Metrodome and cheered his guts out for the purple. He’s been thinking about that a lot over the last two weeks as he’s been walking through the halls of TCO Performance Center. It hit him when he ran out of the tunnel last week.

The North Dakota native’s family was already coming to see the game at US Bank Stadium this week between the Vikings and Cincinnati Bengals but now it carries more weight for those closest to Wentz as he is set to take over the starting role with JJ McCarthy on the shelf with an ankle injury.

“Now there's even more coming,” Wentz said laughing on Wednesday.

It’s been an interesting journey for the Vikings’ veteran quarterback. It doesn’t feel like that long ago that he was the next big thing in the NFL as he was heading the Philadelphia Eagles to the top of the NFC in 2017, only to suffer an injury and watch Nick Foles finish the job. His subsequent redemption story in 2019, when he took Philly to the postseason behind a 4,000-yard season, ended with current Vikings quarterbacks coach Josh McCown coming into a playoff game following another Wentz injury.

After the Eagles moved on to Jalen Hurts, Wentz came close again. With the Colts, he was 9-6 heading into Week 17 but Indy lost the final two games and missed the postseason. A short stint in Washington followed, then two years as a backup in Los Angeles and Kansas City.

But that journey has prepared him for this moment.

Just before the start of the season, the Vikings added Wentz following a trade that sent Sam Howell to the Eagles. Had he not been through the past few years of bouncing from team to team,

“Running the same playbook for five years [with the Eagles], I think had I jumped to this point at that juncture it would have been a little different,” Wentz said. “But having to find ways to learn quick the last couple of stops, I think that could help. There's a lot of similarity…so just understanding football as a whole and different systems has definitely helped in these last crash course these last couple weeks.”

Wentz didn’t just have any old routine stop offs as a backup. He played behind the best QB of the generation in Pat Mahomes last year and a possibly Hall of Famer Matthew Stafford while with the Rams. He said that despite being deep into his career already, he took notice of how those two QBs operated.

“Seeing how they go about play calls and understanding the defense and processing quickly,” Wentz said. “Matthew and Pat are as good as it gets at their position and couldn't play the game much differently and the offenses are very different, too. So I feel like I gleaned a lot from both in a very different way. Hopefully I can utilize that [knowledge] this Sunday and super appreciative of those guys and just how I was able to learn and get to know those guys both on and off the field. So hopefully that'll pay off.”

Wentz may be taking over for the first time but this week won’t be his first QB1 practice. Last week when McCarthy had to miss practice due to the birth of his child, the veteran took over the operation.

“You felt that poise and presence, even from the walk through to the practice,” head coach Kevin O’Connell said. “It felt like a normal day, and I think the execution and how I was pushing the group…his ability to absorb all that and then run the show was apparent to everybody… I was telling the team today. I mean, you've got a guy that's played at a really high level, played a lot of football.”

For Wentz, even though it is not the most familiar offense, the feeling of being back in the QB1 spot was like riding a bike.

“I fell right back into that same routine I've had for 10 years now,” Wentz said. “I feel great. Physically, I feel great. Mentally, I feel in a good spot. The coaches have done a great job just helping me try and grasp this as quick as I can. That was one of my probably favorite things just about getting the chance to sign here a couple weeks ago is just knowing from afar the type of game plans coach O'Connell puts together.”

The next steps are unclear after this week. It might depend on how Wentz performs. It might depend on how quickly McCarthy heals from his high ankle sprain. Whatever the case, the veteran QB tried to impart a message with the young player.

“I talked to him quite a bit when he found out, and shoot…I just told him, ‘hey, career's long, the career's long, and this might feel like so much going on right now, but I just told him, hey, stay the course,” Wentz said. “Just reminding him trust your faith. God's got a plan like he's writing that story and he's been great. He's in good spirits and hopefully he gets better soon.”

KOC on McCarthy