Wentz or McCarthy? Kevin O'Connell isn't naming Vikings' Week 7 QB yet

If Kevin O'Connell knows who his starting quarterback is going to be for Sunday's game against the Eagles at U.S. Bank Stadium, he isn't revealing that information to the public just yet. And it's certainly possible O'Connell himself doesn't know the answer to the Vikings' QB question at this point.

Week 1 starter J.J. McCarthy, who has missed the last three games due to a high ankle sprain suffered in Week 2, participated (in some capacity) in the Vikings' bonus, post-bye week practice on Monday afternoon. So did Carson Wentz, who has started the past three games but is dealing with an injury to his non-throwing shoulder that came up during a Week 5 win over the Browns in London.

Maybe O'Connell already has a good idea of which of those two is going to get the ball against the Eagles in six days. Maybe he still needs to see how both quarterbacks look, from a health standpoint and more, before he makes that decision.

"We've gotta try to prepare to win a game on Sunday," O'Connell said at a press conference on Monday. "We really want to get our team ready to go. In the process of doing that, J.J. has his plan of attack that we want to try to make sure we maximize every single day. Prepare all of our guys to be ready to go and make the best decision for our team and also, individually, for each one of those guys as we get closer to it. Not ready to say yet exactly where (McCarthy will) be towards the end of the week, want to see how this week plays out first."

O'Connell then said the quiet part out loud, which is that the timelines for the decision being made (if it hasn't already happened) and for the public finding out are not necessarily the same.

"I think there's the decision that's the public one and I think there's the decision one with what we're going to do for the game," he said. "And those two things can be on different timelines, although I know that's not the most comforting thing to share with you guys. There is a feel of making sure that we're preparing the quarterback position for the game, knowing that we've won games with two different guys this year."

There are all kinds of factors at play when it comes to this decision. The most obvious is health. But whether McCarthy, the tenth overall pick last year and the Vikings' unquestioned starter all offseason, gets the start on Sunday is about more than just the status of his ankle. Given how rough the execution and results were for seven of his first eight NFL quarters, he'll need to show the Vikings that he's both healthy and in a good spot to go out and have success. That starts with his basic lower-body mechanics and his ability to get the football out of his hands within the rhythm of O'Connell's offense.

McCarthy was around the Vikings' facility throughout the bye week and was able to get some work in on the field. Monday marked his first official return to practice in roughly a month, with his last session coming before a 22-6 loss to the Falcons on Sept. 14. He missed a practice that week for the birth of his first child, and he finished the game against Atlanta playing through a high ankle sprain.

"We had some good work last week," O'Connell said of McCarthy. "It was great to get back on the grass and had some good sessions out there, kind of getting back to a lot of the principle of lower-body mechanics and things that had been really good parts of his early journey here. Didn't even hit me until we were out there, he had practiced one time (officially) since we had left Chicago. So a lot of the things, you're allowing him to get his health back and get his feet back underneath him, but then building that foundation of fundamentals and techniques.

"You can talk about routes and certain throws and certain plays and things like that, but it's the foundation of throwing mechanics, from the ground up, that he's really taken to since he got here and just the consistency of it. You're not talking about an incredible amount of body of work when you're considering when that injury happened and the week that he had leading into that game. Very excited to get him back officially practicing. I don't necessarily want to put a percentage on where I think he's at health-wise, and I think this week will be massive for our whole team, but (it was good) just to see J.J. back out there, getting reps and working through the process of building that foundation back up. We got off to a really good start last week, I was very fortunate to get that time with him."

The Vikings didn't build McCarthy up as their starter all throughout the offseason to bail on him after two games and 55 total dropbacks. They still have a ton of belief in the 22-year-old's future, and he clearly needs game reps to continue his development. But at the same time, they aren't going to throw him out there against the Eagles' Vic Fangio defense if they don't believe he's healthy and ready to efficiently operate their offense.

One key element to that will be getting the ball out quickly. McCarthy averaged 3.08 seconds to throw and was sacked nine times in his first two games. The veteran Wentz averaged 2.59 seconds to throw, which is a big reason why the Vikings' offense was able to find significantly more success over the past three games, even if it was far from perfect.

"I think one of the things (J.J.) took away from these two or three weeks of watching Carson play was just the power of completions, that maybe don't always go to the first or second progression," O'Connell said. "It might be T.J. (Hockenson) helping out on a protection and it's a critical 12-yard gain when all we did was really check the ball down."

Wentz helped the Vikings go 2-1 in three games before the bye week and looked like you'd expect a quality veteran backup to look. He got the ball into the hands of his weapons, most notably Justin Jefferson, and threw five touchdown passes, including a game-winner to Jordan Addison to beat the Browns. However, he took 12 sacks and held onto the ball too long at times, which led to hits like the one that gave him some significant left shoulder soreness coming out of the London game.

"I think Carson's done a really good job of, without a bunch of time on task in the offense, understanding that completion mindset," O'Connell said. "And I think even some of the times where he's maybe tried to hold onto the ball or create a play, that's led to maybe taking some more hits than he needs to."

So, will it be Wentz making a fourth straight start and playing against his former team on Sunday? Or will McCarthy make his return from injury and look to put together sustained success for the first time in his very young NFL career?

All we know for sure is that O'Connell will know the answer before we do. Patience will be key this week, because it may not be until Friday (or later) that the public finds out.

LIVE: Head Coach Kevin O'Connell talks to the media https://t.co/tq7N8nLbNh
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