Carson Wentz on the sidelines.
Credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images
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Monday night’s matchup between the Buffalo Bills and Minnesota Vikings was supposed to be a good one. The Bills have one of the most fascinating offenses in the league, led by quarterback Josh Allen, while the Vikings defense may be the best unit in all of football at the halfway point of the season.
Unfortunately for football fans tuning in to ESPN, the matchup did not deliver, with Minnesota quarterback Carson Wentz largely responsible for the game turning into a trainwreck.
Wentz, who was stepping in for an injured Kyler Murray, was simply awful. By the end of the night, he had accrued a stat line of 8-for-25 passing for 81 yards and two interceptions, and those atrocious stats don’t even tell the whole story of just how painful the performance was. Wentz was missing open receivers all over the field, and could not get the offense moving at all. The Vikings ended the night with just nine first downs, and two of them came thanks to backup quarterback Max Brosmer, who mercifully took over for Minnesota’s final drive of the game.
Wentz and the Vikings offense was getting booed off the field all night, and it felt like a quarterback change at halftime was in play, but their defense was good enough to keep the game within striking distance for longer than it should have been. Wentz’s second interception of the game in the third quarter really pushed things over the edge.
The Bills’ defense hit the Viking row celly after their second INT of the night 😂 https://t.co/XuKV7dBKe7
— ESPN (@espn) November 10, 2026
This play sparked a collective bit of outrage and confusion from across sports media. No one understood why the viewing public was still being forced to watch this awful display of football.
I’m sure there are worse statistical performances. Hell, Baker just failed to complete a pass.
But this is the worst QB play I’ve ever seen. And I saw Tyler Palko. This is worse.
— Matt Verderame (@MattVerderame) November 10, 2026
That’s it. It’s done. It’s over. Vikings don’t have a functioning offense. And they don’t seem to be able to make it any better.
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) November 10, 2026
Whether is Max Brosmer, Max Goof or Max Afinogenov, it’s probably time for the Vikings to try a different option at quarterback this evening.
— Tyler Dunne (@TyDunne) November 10, 2026
There’s a better chance Bill Huber starts at QB for the Vikings at Lambeau than Wentz.
— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) November 10, 2026
the vikings gotta drive carson to a tarmac and leave him there
— Arif Hasan, but NFL 🏈 (@ArifHasanNFL) November 10, 2026
I’m not even sure what to say any more. They were running the football well there. Then Carson Wentz threw it directly to Bernard on the same type pass Kyler didn’t throw last week.
— Alec Lewis (@alec_lewis) November 10, 2026
This is unbelievable. At this point, the blame isn’t even on Carson Wentz. This is complete malpractice by Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell.
— Saad Yousuf (@SaadYousuf126) November 10, 2026
In the broadcast booth, Joe Buck and Troy Aikman were similarly confused, and struggling to find the words to properly describe what was happening on the field with Wentz.
Joe Buck and Troy Aikman on the disastrous quarterback play so far on MNF from the Vikings’ Carson Wentz. 🏈🎙️ https://t.co/sl3ePkfcMM
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 10, 2026
The Vikings had plenty of time and plenty of reasons to bench Wentz and see what they could get out of second-year QB Max Brosmer, but kept him on the sidelines until the final four minutes of the game. By that point, Minnesota was down 23–6, and the swap was meaningless to the outcome of the game.
When Brosmer completed his first two passes to get the Vikings offense moving better than it had all night, the crowd erupted in cheers that could only be read as them asking, “What took you so long?”
Joe Buck: “Good throw by (Max) Brosmer. And these fans are saying, ‘Why now?'”
Troy Aikman: “That’s as good a ball as I’ve seen tonight… I don’t want to overreact. The Bills are playing soft and giving up some things. But this looks like something.” 🏈🎙️ https://t.co/2HWULEWXsz
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 10, 2026
This felt like a night of coaching malpractice from Kevin O’Connell. It was extremely evident that Wentz could not keep the Vikings in the game, and putting Brosmer in at any point after halftime, and honestly in the second quarter, would have been at least taking a shot at grabbing the win. Even if the move didn’t work, it likely would have been hard for Brosmer to look worse than Wentz had already shown on the field. The fact that he came out and looked competent, but not until the game was out of reach, only made the entire scene more embarrassing.
The Vikings were the last remaining undefeated team in the NFL, but have now lost two straight games. The defense is good enough to win a Super Bowl, but the offense is going nowhere with what its gotten out of its quarterback play thus far. Maybe Murray can come back and improve, or heck, maybe Brosmer is the answer. But as things stand, it feels as though Minnesota will shopping around between now and Tuesday’s trade deadline at 4 p.m. ET looking for any potential piece that could keep them contending.