SI

Bengals, Vikings News Has NFL Fans Bummed About Possible Week 3 Backup QB Battle

Liam McKeone

Jake Browning will start in place of Joe Burrow for the next few months in Cincinnati.
Jake Browning will start in place of Joe Burrow for the next few months in Cincinnati. / Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
In this story:

The NFL season isn't even two weeks old and the injury bug has already struck.

Joe Burrow was the first big name to get hurt this year, going down with a turf toe issue in Week 2 against the Jaguars. Monday brought news he'd likely miss a few months as a result. Shortly thereafter Commanders star Jayden Daniels was revealed to have a sprained knee that puts his Week 3 status in question. And then, to top it all off, Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell kicked off his Monday press conference with the surprising news that J.J. McCarthy sprained his ankle and was unlikely to suit up next week.

It's all bad news. Injuries sap so much of the fun out of the game for everybody involved. But the McCarthy and Burrow news in tandem struck a chord with NFL fans. Because Cincinnati and Minnesota are facing off next week.

You know what that means— a backup quarterback battle. Jake Browning will be starting in place of Burrow; the eighth-year signal-caller played well enough in relief of the starter on Sunday that he propelled the Bengals to a win. On the other side will be none other than Carson Wentz, the former top-five pick who has turned into something of a journeyman these last few years. He spent the 2024 season with the Chiefs before signing on with the Vikings this offseason.

The reality of going from a Burrow-McCarthy matchup to Browning-Wentz settled in for fans quickly on Monday and the football world at large was pretty bummed out about the development.

Injuries are an unfortunate reality of professional sports and every season they rob fans of potentially great games. But as noted by a few fans above it normally takes longer than two weeks for things to get to this point. Especially at quarterback.

Perhaps Browning and Wentz will deliver an all-time classic. Perhaps not. Either way we're looking at a battle of backups in Week 3.

More NFL on Sports Illustrated

feed

Published
Liam McKeone
LIAM MCKEONE

Liam McKeone is a senior writer for the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in the industry as a content creator since 2017, and prior to joining SI in May 2024, McKeone worked for NBC Sports Boston and The Big Lead. In addition to his work as a writer, he has hosted the Press Pass Podcast covering sports media and The Big Stream covering pop culture. A graduate of Fordham University, he is always up for a good debate and enjoys loudly arguing about sports, rap music, books and video games. McKeone has been a member of the National Sports Media Association since 2020.

Home/NFL