Vikings' Carson Wentz drawing rave reviews as he prepares for his first meaningful start in nearly three years

No one knew it at the time, but the Vikings' practice last Thursday was a foreshadowing of what was soon to come. 

With J.J. McCarthy awaiting the birth of his son, Carson Wentz stepped in and led the Vikings' first-team offense during practice. Wentz is once again leading the Vikings in practice this week after McCarthy sustained an ankle injury during Sunday night's loss to the Falcons that is expected to sideline him for several weeks. 

Wentz, a former No. 2 overall pick one-time Pro Bowler with the Eagles, has received rave reviews as he prepares for Sunday's game against the Bengals in what will be his first meaningful start in nearly three years. 

"He was in total command," Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell said of last Thursday's practice. "I was really pushing the group via the play clock coming off the Chicago game because I thought we were a little slow with our operation, especially early, and I was trying to push the entire group and obviously the quarterback is going to feel that. And Carson did a phenomenal job with that." 

Veteran wideout Adam Thielen has also been impressed by Wentz, a 10-year veteran who is playing for his fifth team over the past five years. 

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"He's a guy that plays with a lot of confidence," Thielen said. "You feel that and you see that even before he was starting, just his confidence in individual (drills) and routes on air and in scout-team reps, just going and slinging the football around and having fun doing it. As you get to be an older player and a veteran player, you learn to just go and enjoy it and not treat it so much like a job and a profession, but really just taking advantage of the moments that you have, and he's a guy that does that, which is great."

When it comes to the past several seasons, Wentz said that he benefitted by getting to chance to play with and learn from some of the NFL's best quarterbacks that includes the Rams' Matthew Stafford and the Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes. Wentz feels that those experiences will only benefit him on Sunday and moving forward. 

Regarding Sunday's game against the Bengals, Wentz acknowledged he wishes the circumstances behind the situation were different. He went out of his way to praise McCarthy and how he is handling his latest setback. 

Wentz is nonetheless looking forward to playing in a game "with real consequences" for the first time since 2022, when he briefly served as Washington's starting quarterback. 

"You never know when your next chance is going to be in this league," he said. "The league's hard; two years ago I was at home until mid-November. It's not something I want to take lightly or take for granted. So I've definitely got a lot of perspective, both from, you know, physically seeing how it's done, but also just the mental side of, you know, being appreciative and not wasting an opportunity."

While he obviously has different skill sets as compared to McCarthy, Wentz will work off the same menu of plays. Along with having a solid understanding of the game plan, Wentz's confidence in his new teammates should also pay dividends for the Vikings, who are hoping to rebound following last Sunday's 22-6 loss to Atlanta. 

Furthermore, the Vikings have all the confidence in Wentz to get the job done. 

"I was telling the team today, you've got a guy that's played at a really high level," McConnell said. "Played a lot of football, and ultimately is at a place in his career where I think you can really tap into a lot of that while also shaping a game plan he's comfortable with and he can go out and have consistent success."