Carson Wentz is the starting quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings for at least another week, head coach Kevin O’Connell said a few minutes after celebrating a 48-10 win Sunday.
Wentz threw two TD passes and completed 14 of his 20 attempts in place of J.J. McCarthy, who is not expected to play in Week 4 when Minnesota (2-1) heads to Ireland to play the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“I told him when I took him out of the game, I was the least surprised person in the whole building today that he was able to go out there and effectively run our offense,” O’Connell said Sunday after the 38-point win over the visiting Cincinnati Bengals. “There’s a reason why he came here. He had a lot of opportunities potentially.
“We clearly trusted him to go play football.”
Making a start for a sixth different team in the past six seasons, Wentz threw a TD pass to Josh Ollver to jump ahead 7-0. He was afforded an enormous cushion thanks to four turnovers by the Bengals, two of which were returned for touchdowns by cornerback Isaiah Rodgers.
McCarthy rallied the Vikings to a Week 1 win at Chicago after Minnesota fell behind 17-6. He is dealing with a high ankle sprain suffered in the Week 2 loss and expected to return after 2-4 weeks.
O’Connell said that Wentz told him during the week of preparation at one point, “Coach, the reason why I came here is this system. You guys, the players and you fire away, let’s rock.”
