Carson Wentz And Vikings' Offense Melts Down In Loss To Bills With Trade Deadline Looming

It is very difficult to trade for a difference-making quarterback during an NFL season. But the Minnesota Vikings have to try. 

The Vikings are 6-2 but it's hard to see them being a factor in the Super Bowl hunt without something better at quarterback. Carson Wentz, taking over for the struggling and injured Kyler Murray on Monday night, was atrocious in a 23-6 loss to the Buffalo Bills. The Bills improved to 7-1 as they leaned on the run game, without much worry about the Vikings scoring.

The Vikings have a devastating defense built on a blitz-heavy concept, and Minnesota did a good job containing quarterback Josh Allen and a very good Buffalo offense. But Minnesota's offense didn't help at all. It didn't even pick up a first down in the first quarter. Wentz had one of the most notably bad QB performances in NFL regular-season history. By the time the Bills took a 23-6 lead with 4:40 to go, Wentz was 8-of-25 passing for 81 yards, no touchdowns, two interceptions and a lost fumble on a poorly executed pass that was a backward lateral and recovered by the Bills. Wentz was booed often by the home crowd. It was a stunningly inept performance. He was pulled for Max Brosmer late in the fourth quarter, finishing his night with an 8.9 passer rating.

There will be speculation on what the Vikings can do before Tuesday's trade deadline. Kirk Cousins' name will be discussed, but the Raiders haven't given any indication they'll trade him. Daniel Jones is being dangled as trade bait by the Indianapolis Colts but he has been awful this season and would probably be the next quarterback Vikings fans complain about. There simply aren't many good quarterbacks available in a trade. A team would have to overpay tremendously for any viable QB who might be pried loose in a trade. 

That's what makes the Vikings' conundrum so frustrating. They have a fantastic defense and a miserable offense, and there's probably not a whole lot they can do to fix the latter. 

Vikings have a terrible night

The Vikings were on their fifth drive of the game before they finally got a first down. 

Minnesota's offense has been bad all season, and it couldn't move the ball against Buffalo. It's not like the Bills' defense has been very good this season. Buffalo came into the game 24th in points allowed per game and 23rd in yards allowed. The first five drives ended with four punts and a fumble on a pass that Wentz mistakingly threw backward for a lateral and was recovered by the Bills. 

The Bills' offense wasn't much better but it had an excuse. Buffalo was facing the best or second-best defense in the NFL, depending which order you have Minnesota and Seattle. The Vikings' blitzes were working on Allen. They almost had a fumble recovery at the Bills' 1-yard line, which might have led to a rare touchdown by the offense, but it was ruled Allen was barely down before he was stripped of the ball.

Finally, the Bills got some quick-hitting passes to the outside to get into Vikings territory, and Allen made a play late in the second quarter. Right as he was being hit he found tight end Keleki Latu, who didn't have a catch all season, open in the end zone for a touchdown and a 10-3 lead. 

The Vikings got a field goal before the end of the half, and that was the first time the offense showed any signs of life. Then it got worse in the second half.

Carson Wentz implodes

The second half for Minnesota started with Wentz making a throw downfield when his target was completely covered, and linebacker Dorian Williams had an interception. When Wentz threw his second interception of the half, right to linebacker Terrel Bernard, the quarterback was 7-of-19 passing for 75 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions for a 9.6 passer rating. And that passer rating didn't count the lost fumble when he threw the lateral that the Bills recovered. 

Wentz threw incomplete on four third-quarter passes. Two were incomplete and one was right in Bernard's hands for what would have been his second interception but he dropped it. It was a disheartening performance for the entire team. 

The Bills were content to keep it on the ground with James Cook most of the second half. They didn't really need to worry about the Vikings' offense storming back. Cook scored a touchdown with 6:17 left to put Buffalo ahead by 14 points, an insurmountable lead with the way Minnesota had been playing. At that point Buffalo was winning time of possession 39:40 to 14:03.

Wentz nearly won an NFL MVP award in 2017, and probably would have if he didn't tear his ACL late in the season. His career went south after that but Monday night was rock bottom. It was one of the worst quarterback performances in the history of "Monday Night Football" or any other day the NFL plays on.

Murray, who sat out Monday with a sore hamstring, hasn't proven to be the answer at quarterback either. The Vikings are in danger of wasting a tremendous defense and another prime season of the great Justin Jefferson's career. Maybe Tuesday will bring a big trade and a better answer at quarterback.

That will be hard to pull off.