Carson Wentz Posts an 8.9 Passer Rating as the Vikings Fall 23-6 to the Bills on Monday Night

Carson Wentz had the worst kind of Monday night: the historically bad kind. Filling in for the injured Kyler Murray, he completed 8 of 25 passes for 81 yards with two interceptions and a lost fumble as the Buffalo Bills beat the Minnesota Vikings 23-6 at U.S. Bank Stadium, and he finished with an 8.9 passer rating. A quarterback who spiked the ball into the ground on every play would have rated 39.6. Wentz was benched for Max Brosmer in the fourth quarter, and his head coach spent the postgame blaming himself while refusing to say whether the Vikings will trade for a quarterback before Tuesday’s 4 p.m. ET deadline.

How bad was Wentz’s night, exactly?

Bad enough to enter the record book. The 8.9 passer rating is the lowest by an NFL quarterback with at least 25 pass attempts in a game since 2019, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, and the New York Post notes the last one this low was Sam Darnold’s “seeing ghosts” game against the Patriots in 2019, according to ESPN Insights. Wentz completed only one of eight passes in the second half, and both of his interceptions came in the third quarter: linebacker Dorian Williams picked off a seam pass to T.J. Hockenson at the Buffalo 11, and Terrel Bernard picked off a slant to Justin Jefferson, Vikings.com reports.

The fumble was its own small disaster. Wentz was charged with a fumble lost on an overhand throw to Jefferson that went behind the line of scrimmage, and the ball was recovered by Greg Rousseau at the Minnesota 44, Vikings.com reports. It erased a drive that had started at the Minnesota 47 after Byron Murphy Jr.’s 55-yard interception return. Three Vikings turnovers in all, including one on the fourth play of the game, kept Minnesota’s offense from ever finding a rhythm.

What did Troy Aikman say on the broadcast?

He had seen enough by the end of the third quarter. Wentz had his foot stepped on as he went to throw, and the ball would have been intercepted by Terrel Bernard had he not dropped it, the New York Post reports. “I don’t think it mattered. I mean, I know he got stepped on, but this ball was probably going to be intercepted, or at least he doesn’t catch it,” an exasperated Aikman said on the ESPN broadcast. He added later that O’Connell was beside himself, and that the offense had been a shell of the prolific 2024 version. Cam Ward laughed off a viral clip from his own press conference earlier this season, but there was nothing to laugh off in this one.

What did Kevin O’Connell say, and what did he refuse to say?

He took the blame, and he punted the one question that mattered. “We never got Carson in a rhythm,” O’Connell said in his postgame press conference, the New York Post reports. “Tried a bunch of tools to see if we could help that happen and I didn’t do a good enough job doing that.” USA Today reports he blamed himself for being unable to get Wentz into a rhythm against the Bills.

On the trade deadline, he said nothing at all. Asked whether the Vikings were pursuing a quarterback, he said, “I’ll defer to (general manager) Nolan (Teasley) on that,” USA Today reports. “We’ve had dialogue about a lot of different positions. Tight turnaround obviously, playing the Monday night game before that. We’ll get right to work on any potential moves that can be there.” As of midnight ET, the Vikings had yet to bring in a player via trade, and their only midseason trade so far this year was the one that moved a quarterback off the roster, sending J.J. McCarthy to the New York Giants in late September. The Browns are living the same quarterback question, where Shedeur Sanders’s 297-yard finish changed nothing.

Who is left at quarterback in Minnesota?

Two men, and one of them just played the worst game of his career. Murray is out with the hamstring injury he suffered in Week 8 at Detroit, Vikings.com reports, and Wentz and Brosmer are the only two quarterbacks on the Vikings’ active roster, USA Today reports. Brosmer, a second-year pro and former undrafted free agent, went 6-for-7 for 58 yards with a 101.1 passer rating on the final possession, Vikings.com reports, though the drive ended on downs and the Bills were no longer defending tightly.

The timing is the problem. Minnesota lost its grip on first place in the NFC North with a second straight loss, USA Today reports, and now visits the Green Bay Packers on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET on a short week, with Green Bay possibly getting edge rusher Micah Parsons back from the ACL tear he sustained in 2025. Dak Prescott confronted the tunnel worker who called the Cowboys embarrassing after their own loss, which is what a quarterback under fire looks like when the frustration lands on someone else; in Minnesota, the frustration landed on the coach, and the coach put it on himself.

What did the Bills do to make it historic?

They played a defense the league has not seen in more than 40 years, and they set records on offense while they were at it. For the second consecutive game, Buffalo forced at least three turnovers, recorded multiple sacks, allowed fewer than 200 total yards, held the opposing quarterback below a 50 percent completion rate and did not surrender a passing touchdown, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports. The last team to do all five in consecutive games was the 1985 Chicago Bears, who did it in three straight games from November 10 to 24.

Minnesota went 0-for-8 on third down, gained 178 net yards on 46 plays, and held the ball for 17 minutes and 28 seconds against Buffalo’s 42:32, Vikings.com reports. Josh Allen’s 25-yard touchdown pass to rookie tight end Keleki Latu gave him 322 career regular-season touchdowns, tying Peyton Manning for the most by any player through his first 10 NFL seasons. James Cook carried 31 times for 107 yards and a touchdown, his seventh straight game with at least 75 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown, the longest such streak since LaDainian Tomlinson in 2006. Allen and Cook both passed 5,000 career rushing yards in the same game. Buffalo is 7-1 for the first time since 1993, with a fourth straight win since its only loss, a 29-26 defeat at New England on October 4.

What happens next for the Vikings?

The clock is the story now. The trade deadline falls at 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday, and O’Connell’s deferral to Teasley means the decision sits with the front office, not the coach. Murray’s return timeline from the hamstring injury is still unannounced, and the Packers game on Sunday is the next test, with the Commanders letting the clock run out in overtime instead of kicking as a reminder of how quickly a season can turn on one coaching decision. The Vikings are 6-2, still in the race, and still without an answer at the position that decides it.