Carson Wentz benched as Vikings hunt QB before deadline

Everyone in the building knew what was riding on Monday night. Wentz's night went bad in the first half and never got better.

Ben Goessling

@BenGoessling

Carson Wentz, who is 2 for 6, has a 42.4 passer rating. That's 25.4 points higher than that of Josh Allen.

That was the good part. The Vikings went three-and-out after three-and-out, U.S. Bank Stadium booed its own offense, and in the third quarter the Bills started taking the ball away. Dorian Williams picked Wentz off, then Terrel Bernard did it again, and the Bills celebrated the second one with a Viking Row. In Minneapolis. On the night the franchise was honoring Adrian Peterson.

Jay Skurski

@JaySkurski

Carson Wentz now has a 9.6 quarterback rating, and honestly, that feels high.

It somehow got worse. Bernard dropped what should have been a third interception, Wentz got hurt on the play, and the crowd turned on the head coach and the quarterback at the same time. Wentz had his foot stepped on and stayed in. The Vikings punted to start the fourth quarter and Kevin O'Connell kept running him out there anyway.

The Bills didn't need to be fancy. James Cook carried 31 times, the most by anyone in a game this season, and Minnesota finished with 17:28 of possession, the lowest in franchise history. Wentz's final line was 8-of-25 for 81 yards with 2 picks and a lost fumble. His 2.3 QBR was the worst any quarterback has posted all season. Then O'Connell finally made the switch.

Ben Goessling

@BenGoessling

Max Brosmer is in at quarterback, to applause from the U.S. Bank Stadium fans

Brosmer went 6-of-7 for 58 yards in garbage time, which made the call look even later than it already did. The Bills won 23-6. After the game O'Connell was asked straight up about trading for a quarterback, and he handed the question to his GM.

Mike Garafolo

@MikeGarafolo

“We've had dialogue about a lot of different positions. Tight turnaround … and we'll get right to work on any potential moves that can be there.” Kevin O’Connell after the #Vikings’ loss, asked about trading for a QB. He deferred to GM Nolan Teasley. t.co/qScuJQ1vGF

That isn't a no. By Tuesday morning the league insiders were saying the Wentz game was basically an audition, and he bombed it.

Mike Garafolo

@MikeGarafolo

From @gmfb: The word going into last night was the #Vikings would be in the QB market ahead of the trade deadline if Carson Wentz didn’t play well. He didn’t. And here we stand with less than 8 hours to the deadline.

Around noon Central the calls started going out.

Adam Schefter

@AdamSchefter

Developing: The Vikings have begun making calls around the league about trading for a quarterback ahead of today’s 4 pm ET deadline, per @rapsheet and me.

Every bad offense in the league is suddenly a possible trade partner, and Jets fans are already doing the math on Geno Smith. The Jets beat writer had a warning for anyone ready to ship him out tonight.

Rich Cimini

@RichCimini

Lots of chatter on here about the possibility of trading Geno Smith (see: Vikings desperate for QB). Common sentiment among fans might be, "Trade him, the season already is lost." But here's the thing: If you trade Smith and turn it over to Cade Klubnik, it jeopardizes the ability to develop/evaluate young offensive players such as Kenyon Sadiq, Omar Cooper Jr. and Mason Taylor. And that's what the remainder of the season is about -- player development. Then there's Aaron Glenn, fighting for his job. If you trade his QB, you're basically ending Glenn. It's one thing to start Brady Cook in the final four games of season 1/tear-down year; it would be quite another story if they start a rookie for 8 games in season 2/progression year (even though the record shows no progression to this point). Lastly, Smith might be an option for 2027 as a stopgap/mentor for a rookie QB. #Jets

So now it's on Nolan Teasley. Justin Jefferson said after the game that the offense just didn't get it done, and the Vikings have watched Wentz and now Brosmer try to fix that without a real answer. If 4 pm ET comes and goes without a deal, they're betting the season on Brosmer. If they do make a trade, whoever they get is learning the playbook on a short week. Either way, a team that came into Monday trying to make a statement is spending Tuesday on the phone.