We got a lesson Monday in how the NFL really works, how high Carson Wentz’s pain tolerance really is and how Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell has spent the better part of seven games this season sifting between what he deems the least worst of bad options.
It turns out what was nonspecifically called a left shoulder injury Wentz suffered just before halftime against the Browns on Oct. 5 is more specifically: a dislocated shoulder, a torn labrum and fractured shoulder socket.
I would be lying in bed on PTO or sitting in a sling trying to type this one-handed for you if that had happened to me. Wentz played another 2½ games, absorbing the punishing hits of 300-pound men, and is now limping to injured reserve with a season-ending surgery.
The fundamental question we are left to wrestle with is this: Should Wentz have kept playing through the injury? It’s complicated, but here are some of my thoughts at the outset of today’s 10 things to know:
- Viewed from Wentz’s perspective, which is important when it comes to playing through an injury, these factors stands out: He rooted for the Vikings as a kid growing up in North Dakota. He is a former No. 2 overall pick whose career has spiraled because of injury and performance to the point that the Vikings were his sixth team in six seasons. He will be 33 soon. Wentz has to know this is one of his last chances, if not his last, to be a starting NFL quarterback. He was going to do whatever he could to stay on the field for both noble and selfish reasons.
- But should the Vikings and head coach Kevin O’Connell have allowed him to play knowing that he was in a lot of pain and also understanding that the pain could limit Wentz’s ability to help the Vikings win? This is a fair question and one that goes back to O’Connell choosing between a lot of bad options. Rush J.J. McCarthy back from injury and risk losing him for a longer stretch? Play undrafted rookie Max Brosmer? If O’Connell thought Brosmer could either outplay Wentz or stay upright without damaging his own long-term development, he would have been out there. My biggest quibble is that if O’Connell didn’t want to use Brosmer, the Vikings should have signed another veteran during the bye week to be a stopgap in case Wentz couldn’t go. The QB situation hasn’t been handled smoothly from the start of free agency to now, but in this particular case O’Connell picked from a bunch of bad options. Was sticking with Wentz the best one? That’s debatable, but it does matter that Wentz wanted to play. In a radio interview on the Vikings’ flagship radio station KFAN Tuesday, O’Connell said: “There was never a point in time where, medically, we were going against the grain of what was in Carson’s best interest and ultimately what Carson wanted to kind of see through.”
- Players fighting through injuries is the reality of pro sports, particularly in the brutally physical NFL. This wasn’t a head injury, and it does seem like Wentz couldn’t do more damage by continuing to play. Wentz played with a contraption the seemed to increase in bulk as weeks went on, and he was clearly fighting the injury in Thursday’s non-competitive loss to the Chargers. Wentz almost certainly gained more locker room points for toughing it out than O’Connell lost by sticking with him. “Pain is pain,” Wentz said after Thursday’s game. “I felt like I could still help this team.”
- Complicating and factoring into the decision to stick with Wentz through his injury is the Vikings’ frustratingly fluid situation at both offensive tackle spots. Brian O’Neill didn’t play against the Chargers and Christian Darrisaw saw only nine snaps as he continues to test his limits after last year’s season-ending knee injury. With two healthy and elite tackles, maybe it’s easier to try Brosmer or push McCarthy. Without them? O’Connell made the call to stick with Wentz and limit the damage to just one QB. It feels like the veteran was sacrificed for the greater future good of the team. It also feels like he was willing to do it. That is distasteful in polite society but honored in the NFL.
- Now the Vikings will almost certainly turn things back to McCarthy on Sunday at Detroit. He will have had ample time to heal from his ankle injury and there’s at least a decent chance he’ll have both of his tackles back. The rest of this season is all about McCarthy’s development.
- Tom Brady in his prime wouldn’t have led the Vikings to a victory on Thursday if he was playing behind such a porous offensive line and backed by a defense that was constantly gashed on the way to 37 Chargers points. As Andrew Krammer and I talked about on Tuesday’s Daily Delivery podcast, the problems with the Vikings extend far beyond just what’s happening at QB.
- Speaking of defensive woes, the Wolves lost 127-114 to the Nuggets on Monday. We’ve talked plenty about how they function at point guard, but probably not enough about their lack of a big man outside of Rudy Gobert who provides a meaningful defensive presence.
- Prediction: After the Dodgers outlasted the Blue Jays 6-5 in 18 innings on Monday in a World Series classic, L.A. will win the next two games and take the championship again.
- The Loons won on penalties in their playoff opener Monday against Seattle. The Sounders had the better of the action if we account for expected goals, but Minnesota United goalie Dayne St. Clair is a great equalizer.
- Wednesday’s podcast will feature plenty of dissection of how the Gophers football team lost 41-3 against Iowa on Saturday.
