How can the Vikings bench Kyler Murray without benching Kyler Murray?
They can count on an injury he might otherwise play with.
It’s hard not to view the current state of Murray’s hamstring “tightness” as a cover for a soft Murray bench. This gives the Vikings a chance to move on from Carson Wentz, who played quite well in most of the Week 1 win over the Packers and all of the Week 2 win over the Bears.
While the Vikings will never admit to that strategy, consider this undeniable fact: On Tuesday, offensive coordinator Wes Phillips was asked to evaluate Murray’s play “over the last two weeks.”
“I don’t really want to go into a blanket approach of, ‘Hey, this is it, this is the…,'” Phillips said. “You know, the fact is we lost the game to a tough football team (the Lions) on the road. It’s a divisional game. It stings, but we’ve got to get better going forward. And, you know, we’ll see as the week goes on, where we are at this point…but, yeah, we’ve got to get better. We’re going to actively explore every possible avenue to get there.”
This involves, if taken at face value, pursuing all avenues to acquire an upgrade via trade – whether it’s Jacoby Brissett, Daniel Jones, Kirk Cousins or even Justin Herbert.
It all depends on whether the Vikings will be content to continue doing what they’ve been doing or make a move to significantly improve a position that in recent weeks hasn’t been good enough.
Yes, they are 6-1. It’s better than anyone could have expected. But that’s not because Murray went back in time to the early years of his career. His passer rating (86.6) is at the bottom of all qualified quarterbacks (and, in fairness, it’s higher than the numbers generated by Brissett, Jones and Herbert).
This is the lowest number of any season in Murray’s career, and the overall performance is below what the Vikings need to maximize their current formula.
Especially since he does not pass the ball to receiver Justin Jefferson. This is something Wentz has done consistently in 2025, making Wentz the preferred option for JJ McCarthy – who returned to the lineup following an ankle injury in just Week 2 after Wentz suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in Week 8.
If McCarthy were still in Minnesota, there would be an inevitable groundswell to give him a chance. But he lost the No. 2 job to Wentz. Which means Wentz won it.
Which means the Vikings could consider giving Wentz an audition Monday night against the Bills, with a plan to make a possible trade the next day if things don’t go well.
For now, the rest of the week will reveal whether and to what extent Murray or Wentz will take first-team reps in practice. And whether Murray or Wentz will play Monday night.
It wouldn’t be a surprise if it was Wentz against the Bills. Even though Murray is technically healthy enough to play.
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