'A bleep show with the training staff': Vikings under fire after Wentz injury fallout

"This is more evidence of a bleep show with the training staff this year. So many mismanaged injuries," a source with knowledge of the situation told Matthew Coller of Purple Insider.

Oct 23, 2025; Inglewood, California, USA; Minnesota Vikings quarterback Carson Wentz (11) practices before the game against the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

After news broke Wednesday that Carson Wentz will need season-ending surgery on his left shoulder, there's a red-hot spotlight on Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell and the team's medical staff.

Multiple insiders say Wentz played through a dislocated left shoulder that included a torn labrum and fractured socket. He suffered the original injury in Minnesota's Week 4 game in London, though it's unclear if the injury worsened in games that followed against the Browns, Eagles and Chargers. But last Thursday, while the Vikings were being blown out and Wentz was battling through extreme pain, O'Connell and the medical staff allowed Wentz to keep playing.

Was it the right thing to do? Why did the Vikings play him in the first place? If he didn't have two young players behind him — undrafted rookie Max Brosmer and 22-year-old J.J. McCarthy, who was cleared but only as the emergency quarterback — would he have been allowed to play?

Wentz is a grown man who said he was "physically able to go whether it hurts or not."

Either way, the spotlight of scrutiny is shining directly on the Vikings, specifically O'Connell and the medical staff. In fact, Vikings beat reporter Matthew Coller says he's talked to multiple league sources who are shocked Wentz was allowed to keep playing.

"I spent the last couple of hours just talking to a few people that I know, and I'll just say... your reactions are a lot like their reactions," Coller said on his Purple Insider YouTube channel. "I'll tell you one note that I got from a person with, I'll just say with knowledge of the situation, said to me, quote, 'This is more evidence of a bleep show with the training staff this year. So many mismanaged injuries: Van Ginkel, O'Neill, Darrisaw, Wentz, and McCarthy.' And another person that I talked to in the league said, 'This is how you lose a locker room. Everyone is going to be in the cold tub saying, 'What the heck are we doing?'"

Darrisaw admitted on Monday that he came back from his torn ACL way before anyone thought he would. He certainly hasn't been the same as he works his way back. Was it the right decision to play him in Week 2?

O'Neill suffered a sprained MCL and missed only one game before returning in Week 7 against the Eagles. He wound up missing last week's game against the Chargers on short rest. Did the Vikings rush him back onto the field too soon?

Van Ginkel missed a ton of time during training camp and the preseason, only to suit up for the season opener and then suffer a concussion. He missed Week 2, played eight snaps in Week 3 and hasn't played since due to a neck injury. Has his situation been mishandled?

Have the Vikings mishandled McCarthy's high ankle sprain?

"Pain is pain. I felt like I could still help this team and go down and find a way to score," Wentz said after the loss. "That's no excuse. When I'm playing out there, I felt fine."

When asked if it was the most pain he's been in during a game, Wentz replied, "Quite possibly."

O'Connell, who will surely have more to say this week, said last week that Wentz "understands some of our circumstances" and that it would've been "very difficult to ask a [Brosmer] to go in there for his first performance."

The injuries have piled up for the Vikings, and how they handled Wentz has opened the door for questions about how they've handled other injured players.