Over the past several weeks, veteran quarterback Carson Wentz has led the Minnesota Vikings offense, immediately providing a spark to an offense that had struggled to move the ball at times under first-year starter J.J. McCarthy. Now, it sounds like McCarthy will be back.
MacCarthy has been sidelined the past several weeks with an ankle injury he sustained during the team’s 22-6 loss to the Atlanta Falcons in Week 2. However, on Monday, NFL Network league insider Tom Pelissero reported that Wentz had suffered a shoulder injury himself and would be headed for season-ending surgery.
“Vikings QB Carson Wentz will undergo surgery on his left shoulder and miss the rest of the 2025 season, sources tell The Insiders. Wentz gutted it out as long as he could. But he was in severe pain Thursday night in L.A. and now will get the shoulder fixed,” Pelissero [reported on Monday](https://x.com/TomPelissero/status/1982913777747276161).
Obviously, this means that the Vikings will have a new starting quarterback when they take on the Detroit Lions on Sunday in a divisional showdown.
It seems likely that McCarthy will get the starting job back after Wentz’s injury, especially considering the Vikings only have one other quarterback, rookie quarterback Max Brosmer, on the roster, and he has never started a game.
While this injury is obviously unfortunate, it does solve a bit of a quarterback controversy for the Vikings as they will no longer have to choose if or when they should bench Wentz and re-insert McCarthy into the starting lineup.
We’ll have to see how McCarthy performs back in the starting role against the division-leading Lions.