JJ McCarthy looked awful. Then he looked like a franchise quarterback to beat the Chicago Bears with a rousing second half turnaround in his regular season debut. This set the stage for a Sunday Night Football showdown at home against the Atlanta Falcons where McCarthy… looked awful again.

It turns out it may have been more than just the crushing weight of a second-ever NFL start that got to the young QB. Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell told media Monday that McCarthy suffered an ankle sprain in the midst of Week 2’s 22-6 loss. As a result, he’s not expected to play Week 3’s matchup with the Cincinnati Bengals (and, coincidentally, their backup quarterback Jake Browning). McCarthy could also miss time beyond that.

That means it’s Carson Wentz time in the Twin Cities.

What has Carson Wentz done lately?

Wentz was unsigned well into the preseason, only inking a deal with Minnesota on August 24. He was enough of a solution for O’Connell to green light a trade that shipped previous backup Sam Howell to the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for a swap of late-stage draft picks in 2026 and 2027.

The former second overall pick is in his Josh McCown era, having played for six different teams over the last six seasons. He spent last season with the Kansas City Chiefs, where he started a Week 18 game no one in Missouri really cared about (a 38-0 trouncing by the Denver Broncos, who were fighting for a playoff spot). The year before that, his lone start as a Los Angeles Ram came in Week 18 as well — this time in a 21-20 win over the San Francisco 49ers’ backups.

While he’s been fairly average in that small sample size, he hasn’t really seen much meaningful action. Fortunately, he gets to line up against the Bengals’ middling defense in Week 3. Unfortunately, that means he’ll have to deal with Trey Hendrickson, who was an absolute menace against Trevor Lawrence and the Jacksonville Jaguars in stretches on Sunday.