Two games for young Viking QB J.J. McCarthy. A comeback victory in Chicago that earned him an Offensive Player of the Week award. And a sloppy, turnover-filled mess against the Falcons.
Now it appears McCarthy will watch this coming Sunday's game against the Cincinnati Bengals from the same place his head coach does - the sidelines.
McCarthy, who took a pretty sound beating by the Falcons defense on Sunday night after he was sacked six times and pressured on more than half his passes, is dealing with a sprained ankle. He was seen on NBC's Sunday Night Football at one point getting an ankle taped.
Monday, head coach Kevin O'Connell said that ankle is in bad enough shape that McCarthy is "unlikely" to play this Sunday. ESPN's NFL Insider Adam Schefter says it's bad enough to keep McCarthy out "two to four weeks."
"I would anticipate we are not planning on having him for Sunday, and don't likely see this being any kind of short term, IR thing," said O'Connell. "But I do wanna see, and Tyler and the group wanna see how, he responds to treatment this week."
O'Connell said that McCarthy was able to get back in the game despite the injury, but as can happen with sprains, it was worse the day after.
"You know, give him a ton of credit, just the toughness to get that thing taped up and keep playing," O'Connell added. "But yeah, that is something that we were able to determine today. So obviously tough news."
That means Carson Wentz, the former Eagles starter who has bounced around the NFL the last few years, will be under center against the Bengals. Wentz was signed at the end of the preseason after the Vikings decided their backup options - Brett Rypien and Sam Howell - weren't getting it done.
Wentz, who spent last season backing up Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City, was the No. 2 overall pick by the Eagles in 2016. He finished third in NFL MVP voting the following season but tore his ACL in December and watched Nick Foles lead Philadelphia to its first Super Bowl victory.
Wentz started for Indianapolis in 2021 and Washington in 2022. He was a backup with the Los Angeles Rams in 2023. The 32-year-old Wentz is 47-46-1 as a starter. He has completed 62.7% of his passes for 22,410 yards, 153 touchdowns and 67 interceptions with an 89.3 passer rating.
He won't be the only backup QB on the field Sunday. Bengals starter Joe Burrow is also injured, and much more significantly. He's scheduled to have surgery on an injured toe and is expected to be out for at least three months.
Former Viking Jake Browning will be starting for the Bengals.
It's far from the only injury issue facing the Vikings as they head to week 3.
Offensive lineman Ryan Kelly and Justin Skule are in the concussion protocol. Both has positive signs according to O'Connell, but he also said it’s in the medical team’s hands.
Running back Aaron Jones is likely to be out this week as well. The Vikings are still evaluating his hamstring injury.
Corner Jeff Okudah and linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel already sat out against Atlanta with concussion issues and there was no update on their condition Monday.