Carson Wentz comes full circle with childhood favorite Vikings as sub for J.J. McCarthy vs. Bengals

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The ride of Carson Wentz's football career has rarely been smooth or steady, and his full-circle moment with the Minnesota Vikings this week serves as the latest twist. Just three weeks after the Vikings signed the 32-year-old quarterback for experience and insurance behind J.J. McCarthy, Wentz has found himself running the first-team offense for the team he grew up rooting for. With McCarthy's debut temporarily sidetracked by a sprained ankle, Wentz will extend the NFL record he set last season by making a start for his sixth team in a six-year span when the injury-ravaged Vikings host Cincinnati on Sunday. "It sounds crazy when you say that," Wentz said. The second overall pick in the 2016 draft, Wentz helped put the Philadelphia Eagles in position for their first Super Bowl title the following season before being sidelined by an ACL injury and yielding to Nick Foles. The product of Bismarck, North Dakota, who needed a nine-inch growth spurt at Century High School to even be considered as a quarterback and made the rare jump from the FCS level at North Dakota State to the top of the NFL draft, played remarkably well when he was healthy over the first four years until struggling in 2020. After Jalen Hurts arrived, Wentz was traded to Indianapolis. Then to Washington in 2022. When the Rams needed a backup for Matthew Stafford deep in the 2023 season, Wentz went to Los Angeles. Last year, he backed up Patrick Mahomes with Kansas City. While he's been busy catching up with Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell's playbook, offering McCarthy advice on managing the challenge of being injured so early in his career and fielding ticket requests, Wentz has also reflected this week about how far he's come. "Going from being a starter, traded, cut, being a backup behind some future Hall of Fame quarterbacks and seeing things done at a really high level, that's given me some perspective," Wentz said. "And also just the perspective of not taking this for granted." Battle of the backups The Bengals have also been forced to make a sudden change at quarterback. Jake Browning was thrust into the job again because of a toe injury that required surgery for franchise cornerstone Joe Burrow. Browning started seven games two seasons ago when Burrow hurt his wrist. "I convinced myself to be extremely confident in 2023 when I got thrown in, because I don't think there's been too many quarterbacks to go into a game not feeling good about their own decision-making or ability or whatever and having that go well," said Browning, who spent the 2019 and 2020 seasons on Minnesota's practice squad and was cut by the Vikings at the end of training camp in 2021. "So if I didn't have some delusional confidence in myself, then I probably would have been toast a long time ago." Browning would benefit from some better balance The absence of Burrow, the first overall pick in the 2020 draft who is a two-time Pro Bowl pick and AP Comeback Player of the Year award winner, could be softened a bit if the Bengals can get going on the ground. They're averaging a league-low 2.4 yards per carry. Cincinnati and Tennessee are the only teams without a running play of at least 12 yards. The Vikings, meanwhile, are coming off a rough game defending the run: Atlanta racked up 218 yards on 39 attempts. The Bengals are averaging minus-1.3 yards before contact. Their 33.3% play-call rate on designed runs is the ninth lowest in the league. Chase Brown had 29 yards on seven carries on the first drive of the season at Cleveland, but since then he has rushed 30 times for just 61 yards. Brown did have a crucial 13-yard reception on fourth down of the Bengals' game-winning drive against the Jaguars. Bengals defense making a splash The Bengals have four interceptions, the first time they've logged that many in the first two games since 2014. Jordan Battle is the first Bengals player to pick off a pass in each of the first two games since Ashley Ambrose in 1996. Trey Hendrickson had a hand in Dax Hill's first-quarter interception in the end zone last week against Jacksonville by pressuring Trevor Lawrence and forcing him to throw short. Besides his two sacks, Hendrickson leads the NFL with 12 quarterback hurries and is tied for the top spot with six quarterback hits. One area where the Bengals' defense can improve is simply getting off the field. Opponents have averaged 34:30 in possession time, the third-most in the league, including an NFL-high 19:10 in the second half. Recent thrillers The last two games between these teams have gone to overtime, with the Bengals winning both 27-24. In the 2021 season opener, the Vikings erased a 24-point second-half deficit in what became the first game in NFL history with a game-tying field goal with no time left in regulation and a game-winning kick with no time left in overtime. In 2023, the Bengals trailed 17-3 in the fourth quarter before scoring on three straight drives to tie it.