Amazon NFL announcer Kirk Herbstreit went Neanderthal Thursday night with his offensive “alpha” comments after Minnesota Vikings quarterback Carson Wentz was tearfully shown wincing in pain and anger during the Vikings’ 37-10 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.
It was late in the fourth quarter when cameras caught Wentz going to the sidelines after throwing an incomplete pass on fourth down and being drilled to the turf on his left shoulder for good measure. As he got to the sidelines, Wentz tossed his helmet and went to the bench where he covered his face with a towel and then leaned back in obvious distress.
Kirk Herbstreit on Carson Wentz: "When you're the captain of the ship, you're the quarterback, you gotta try to hold some of that emotion in. And I know he's frustrated, and he's hurt, but it's Week 7. There's a long way to go…" #NFL #TNF pic.twitter.com/rPr0GshjJm
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 24, 2025
Wentz was playing with a badly injured left shoulder, wearing a bulky shoulder brace and was in great pain after the play. As the camera zoomed in on Wentz in agony, play-by-play announcer Al Michaels paraphrased the famous “a picture is worth a thousand words,” saying, “This can be like 3,000 words.”
This prompted Herbstreit to weigh in.
“It’s been obviously a rough night, and he hasn’t had a lot of help,” he said. “But, to me, when you’re the captain of the ship, you’re the quarterback, you gotta try to hold some of that emotion in. And I know he’s frustrated.”
“And he’s hurt,” Michaels responded.
“And he’s hurt,” Herbstreit said. “But it’s Week 7. There’s a long way to go.
“I think some of that is just raw emotion. If [Vikings wide receiver] Justin Jefferson does that, it’s probably on ‘SportsCenter,’ it’s everywhere on social media. ‘What’s wrong with this guy?’ A quarterback does that- to me, it’s worse. Because, like I said, you’re the guy. You’re the leader. You’re the alpha.”
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How 1955 of Herbstreit. I am shocked he didn’t go all the way and call him soft and even gay. His comments reflects a macho attitude that still lingers in sports that needs to disappear. I felt for Wentz in the moment. He was in great physical pain, which was compounded by the fact the Vikings were getting embarrassed on national TV.
His emotions were understandable and not uncommon in the NFL (Tom Brady was called a fiery competitor any time he had a fit on the sideline). And Wentz even apologized to the equipment staff for throwing his helmet, showing way more emotional awareness than Herbstreit.
“Yeah I’m not proud of that,” Wentz said of the helmet toss. “Apologize to the equipment guys for that. But yeah, I was in a good amount of pain there.”
So much is being written about the crisis in American men and how we need to allow men to show emotion and vulnerability and redefine what masculinity means. Yet Herbstreit seemed stuck in a time warp with his “alpha” comments, when maybe what we need is a new way to show what alpha means. Wentz’s emotions at the time were completely understandable and my question while watching was why head coach Kevin O’Connell still let him play when he was hurt and ineffective.
Herbstreit’s comments belie the fact that he has shown vulnerability on national TV, whether showing emotion over racial injustice or crying over the loss of his emotional support dog. I would have expected Herbstreit to show more grace to Wentz, who had a bad day at the office and was venting, something we’ve all been guilty of.
Update: Wentz is having season-ending shoulder surgery. Herbstreit explained what he meant by his comments:
“I talked the entire game about how impressive it was that he was playing through a lot of pain and mentioned several times how mentally and physically tough he was. All I said was he can’t throw his helmet and it was a bad look. That’s it,” said Herbstreit. “Doesn’t take anything away from all the great things we said about him all night. Just was surprised to see that from him. That’s it.”
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