EAGAN, Minn. — Veteran Carson Wentz will make his fifth consecutive start for the Vikings (and 99th in a regular-season game) when Minnesota (3-3) visits the Los Angeles Chargers (4-3) to open Week 8 on Thursday Night Football.
Vikings Head Coach Kevin O'Connell announced the decision Tuesday during his lone media session of an extremely shortened week.
Vikings Head Coach Kevin O'Connell announced the decision Tuesday during his lone media session of an extremely shortened week, explaining the Vikings will have undrafted rookie Max Brosmer as the backup and designate J.J. McCarthy as the emergency QB.
"Earlier this morning, we did put J.J. McCarthy through an on-field workout just to see if he had a chance to make it this week," O'Connell said. "J.J., the medical staff, myself, we're all encouraged about where he's at and the progress he's making, but he's just not there. And if this was a Sunday game, maybe it would be a little bit of a different story, and we could push it throughout the week and smee where he's at toward the end of the week.
"But really, I look at today almost as the combination of a Wednesday-Thursday, but really it is a Friday on the timeline of coming up on being 48 hours out from the game," O'Connell added. "So we wanted to have a plan at the quarterback position, and it'll be very similar to last week. Carson will start, Max will be the backup, and J.J. will be available in the case of emergency as the third. Like I said, encouraged about where [McCarthy is] at and very much looking forward to continuing his progression, hopefully having a chance to go next week. And we'll keep you guys posted on that."