Wild: Carson Wentz played quarterback for the Vikings with a dislocated shoulder that tore his labrum and fractured the socket for nearly 3 games

Carson Wentz’s 2025 season is officially over. The Vikings quarterback is expected to undergo surgery on his left shoulder and will miss the remainder of the year, according to multiple reports from NFL Network. Minnesota placed him on injured reserve Monday afternoon, ending what might be the final chapter of Wentz’s NFL career.

Wentz had been playing through a torn labrum and fractured socket in his left shoulder since Week 5, when he was injured during the Vikings’ win over the Browns in London.

To be crystal clear, he dislocated his shoulder, tore the labrum, fractured the socket, and then kept playing football for nearly three weeks while J.J. McCarthy sat out with an ankle injury.

That’s absolutely insane.

Carson Wentz finally placed on Injured Reserve

Details on Carson Wentz: In the first half of the London game, Wentz suffered a dislocation that tore his labrum and fractured the socket, per The Insiders.

He gutted out 2.5 more games for the #Vikings with a big stabilizing brace, while JJ McCarthy (high-ankle) recovered. https://t.co/JseMqJ7fmC

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 27, 2025

Honestly, this is just reckless coaching and gross negligence from Kevin O’Connell and the Vikings. Wentz was clearly in pain, grimacing on nearly every throw in last Thursday’s loss to the Chargers while wearing a massive shoulder harness.

He completed just 15 of 27 passes for 144 yards with one touchdown, an interception, and five sacks. It was hard to watch. The guy looked broken, because he was broken. Yet Minnesota just kept trotting him out there like nothing was wrong.

Yikes…Kirk Herbstreit on Carson Wentz:

Kirk Herbstreit on Carson Wentz: "When you're the captain of the ship, you're the quarterback, you gotta try to hold some of that emotion in. And I know he's frustrated, and he's hurt, but it's Week 7. There's a long way to go…" #NFL #TNF pic.twitter.com/rPr0GshjJm

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 24, 2025

You can call Carson Wentz a lot of things… a bad quarterback, a bad teammate, a guy who still hasn’t learned how to throw the ball away but you can’t call him soft. The man’s been playing through a serious shoulder injury for nearly a month while getting pummeled behind a collapsing offensive line.

Meanwhile, the Vikings were out of contention by halftime in most of those games. Why was he still out there? Why risk long-term damage to a 32-year-old quarterback on a one-year deal when you have a healthy third-stringer on the sideline?

Wentz went 2-3 as the starter, throwing for 1,216 yards, six touchdowns, and five interceptions with an 85.8 passer rating. He gave the Vikings a chance when McCarthy went down and even managed to steady the ship for a bit before his shoulder gave out.

For a brief moment, there were actual conversations about whether he should remain the starter. That talk is over now. His season’s done, and maybe his career too.

And the irony of it all is that J.J. McCarthy, the rookie they were supposedly protecting, is now healthy and expected to return Sunday against the Lions. Kevin O’Connell even admitted last week that McCarthy “would’ve had a shot to start” if the game against the Chargers was on Sunday instead of Thursday.

Instead, they sent Carson Wentz back out there for one more beating.

I’m not saying Wentz was ever going to lead Minnesota anywhere special, but this feels like the kind of ending that sums up his entire career. He was left out there to die on the football field for the Vikings, gutting it out while everything around him falls apart.

From MVP candidate in Philly to playing hurt for a team that’s mailing in the season, it’s been a brutal ride. Unless there’s some contract incentive he’s chasing, this might be it. The torn labrum surgery probably closes the book on a guy who, for all his flaws, was never short on toughness.

The Vikings should be embarrassed for letting it get to this point.

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