Carson Wentz’s mistakes vs. Eagles show why Vikings must get healthy J.J. McCarthy back

MINNEAPOLIS — As much as NFL teams like to guard their strategies like rare jewels, the Minnesota Vikings have been open about the way they think they have to play to win games.

It’s a specific formula with some particular ingredients. Generate early leads. Create turnovers defensively to supply the offense with extra possessions. Remove negative plays to remain efficient on early downs. Score touchdowns in the red zone.

Much of this approach is sensible for football teams at all levels. The Vikings, though, viewed the plan as paramount, especially early in the season while the team was easing in young quarterback J.J. McCarthy. Playing with backup quarterback Carson Wentz only adds to the rigid nature of the recipe. Which is why, following Sunday’s 28-22 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, coaches and players alike spoke almost exclusively about turnovers and red zone woes.

“It just feels like we put ourselves in some of the situations of the football game that we’ve got to clean up,” coach Kevin O’Connell said.

Penalties and executional mishaps have been themes for the Vikings throughout the season. For lack of a better way to say it, it almost feels like the Vikings continue to try to tune the operation to the correct pitch, but they can’t quite get it right.

They improve in one area, but falter in another. The defense knows it must be nearly perfect given the offense’s inconsistency, while the offense understands its chances of scoring can be destroyed by one minuscule error. It’s as if the Vikings are pressured to an unattainable level of down-to-down flawlessness despite having a roster that is well into using its depth.

“It’s about executing one or two plays every drive that hurts us and puts us in bad positions,” superstar wide receiver Justin Jefferson said.

In the season’s first five games, the offensive line’s lack of continuity fit this to a T. Sunday, Wentz’s performance (26-of-42 passing for 313 yards, but a passer rating of just 64.9) became another prime example. The Vikings have reiterated the importance of mitigating turnovers, and yet Wentz has been prone to throwing interceptions for much of his career. His starting — and attempting downfield passes the way the Vikings must with their skill players — comes at a cost.

In the second quarter Sunday, Wentz failed to see Eagles edge rusher Jalyx Hunt, who dropped from the line of scrimmage into a window over the middle of the field and intercepted a pass intended for Jefferson. On the ensuing possession, Wentz bootlegged to the right on second-and-long and hurled a pass deep. The ball floated in the air and was snatched by rookie safety Andrew Mukuba.

“The second one, I was just dumb, trying to make a play,” Wentz said, “Threw it off my back foot. Not a wise decision there.”

Had the Vikings scored more than one touchdown in six red zone trips, those interceptions might not hold as much weight. But this gets at a point O’Connell made last week. Whereas he used to describe third downs as “weighty downs,” every down feels weighty right now.

Before Sunday, the Vikings ranked 10th in the NFL in red zone touchdown percentage, finding the end zone almost two-thirds of the time. From a play design perspective, they had plenty of chances. But against the Eagles, they couldn’t capitalize.

Center Blake Brandel, who is starting with Ryan Kelly on injured reserve (concussion), snapped a ball over Wentz’s head in the first quarter. Jefferson couldn’t catch a potential touchdown pass over Eagles cornerback Cooper DeJean in the second quarter, and Brandel was flagged for a questionable hold several snaps later. In the third, the Vikings lost yards when Wentz intentionally grounded the ball with an available receiver in the flat. And the fourth quarter red zone opportunities featured a Wentz sack and a touchdown completion to tight end T.J. Hockenson that was overturned on replay.

Hockenson was incredulous about the latter call, saying that Bill Vinovich’s crew told him they believed it was a catch. NFL vice president of instant replay Mark Butterworth told a pool reporter that the league “used broadcast-enhanced shots to show that as he was going to the ground — he needs control of the ball throughout the process of the catch — he lost control of the ball.”

Having to rely on replay for a score that wouldn’t even have given the Vikings the lead illustrates the day’s challenges. The offense wasn’t the only culprit, either. Defensively, the Vikings entered with a plan to slow down running back Saquon Barkley and force the Eagles into third-and-long situations. They accomplished both feats. Barkley finished with a meager 44 rushing yards on 18 carries, and Philadelphia averaged 11.3 yards to reach the sticks on third downs.

The one problem? The Vikings secondary couldn’t hang with the Eagles’ pass catchers, nor could the pass rush prevent Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts from finding his weapons.

Hurts amassed a perfect 158.3 passer rating, completing 19-of-23 throws for 326 yards and three touchdowns. The only worse showing Minnesota’s pass defense has had under defensive coordinator Brian Flores was last season’s 31-29 loss to the Lions, when Jared Goff went 22-of-25 for 280 yards and two touchdowns.

“How the game went was us (having) to execute when we got those (third-and-long) opportunities,” safety Josh Metellus said. “And we didn’t. That’s how you get a result like that.”

Emerging from this game, one positive was the lack of injuries. The absence of key players was a theme in the first five games, complicating Minnesota’s attempts to execute. Linebacker Blake Cashman, left guard Donovan Jackson and right tackle Brian O’Neill returned on Sunday. Edge rusher Andrew Van Ginkel and running back Aaron Jones are on the horizon, which also should help.

Then there’s the subject of McCarthy.

If Sunday solidified anything at all, it’s that the Vikings’ ceiling is capped with Wentz at the helm. McCarthy’s floor in the short term may be even less certain, but this season was always going to live or die by his availability and production. That’s still the case.

At the very least, until the Vikings uncover some semblance of balance in each of the game’s three phases, they must finish 2025 with an understanding of where their 22-year-old, first-round quarterback is in his development.

Not that Jalen Hurts is an apples-to-apples comparison given his extensive college experience, but recall Philadelphia’s path. Hurts posted an 8-7 record in his first season as the full-time starter in 2021. The Eagles lost in the wild-card round that season, but Hurts gave them exactly what the Vikings desperately need right now: hope.

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