Minnesota Vikings latest roster move raises major questions about playing Carson Wentz vs. Los Angeles Chargers

We knew this was coming after Thursday night’s game.

Tyler Forness — NFL & College Football News Writer
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Oct 23, 2025; Inglewood, California, USA; Minnesota Vikings quarterback Carson Wentz (11) avoids the tackle of Los Angeles Chargers safety Derwin James Jr. (3) during the first half at SoFi Stadium.
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The Minnesota Vikings will start quarterback J.J. McCarthy on Sunday afternoon against the Detroit Lions, ending the debate about whether he was the team’s choice for the rest of the season.

On Monday afternoon, the Vikings made a roster move that will quiet the quarterback debate, placing Carson Wentz on season-ending injured reserve. To replace him on the roster, the Vikings claimed tight end Ben Sims off waivers from the Green Bay Packers.

Vikings placing Carson Wentz on injured reserve raises multiple questions

The season didn’t go the way the Vikings wanted it to, but Wentz kept them in games as the backup quarterback, which is exactly what you want from that spot. However, his being placed on injured reserve after playing on Thursday night raises many questions about how injured he actually was.

You could see that Wentz was not just injured but in extreme pain.

The way that Wentz fought through the pain deserves a lot of praise. He shouldn’t have been playing at all, but gutted it out and tried to help the Vikings get a win. Unfortunately, it was a disaster, and the entire offense was in a bad spot.

Wentz being placed on injured reserve after that game raises another question: Should head coach Kevin O’Connell have continued to play Wentz as the game went along when the entire country could see that he was in extreme pain? He answered the question after the game.

“We kept on checking in, maybe getting [QB] Max [Brosmer] ready to go,” said O’Connell after Thursday’s game. “[Vice President of Player Health and Performance] Tyler [Williams] was coming to me a lot tonight but every time he seemed to update me on that, [QB] Carson [Wentz] was – he was sore going into it when he was in but took obviously quite a few hits but he was able to – I asked him multiple times where he was at. He said he was good and wanted to keep going. It did seem like he was in pain there a couple of times, a few times.”

Yes, he was deemed okay and wanted to keep going, but was it the right thing to do? That’s a completely different story, as the Vikings should have taken him out, not just to try and win the game, but also to protect Wentz.

To fill his roster spot, the Vikings have claimed Sims, who impressed when he was with Minnesota during 2023 training camp. With Ben Yurosek as the TE3 and Josh Oliver injured, adding Sims is a smart play.

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