How can the Vikings bench Kyler Murray without benching Kyler Murray?
They can rely on an injury through which he otherwise would be able to play.
It’s hard not to look at the current status of Murray’s hamstring “tightness” as cover for a soft benching of Murray. That gives the Vikings a chance to let Carson Wentz, who played well enough 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 for an assessment of Murray’s play “in the past couple weeks.”
“I don’t really want to get into, like, overarching, ‘Hey, this is this is the . . .,” Phillips said. “You know, the fact of the matter is, you know, we lost the game against a tough [Lions] football team on the road. It’s a division game. It stings, but we’ve got to get better moving forward. And, you know, we’ll see as the week goes on, where we’re at in that spot . . . but, yeah, we’ve got to get better. We’re going to actively pursue every avenue we can to make that happen.”
This implies, if taken literally, pursuing every avenue toward acquiring an upgrade via a trade — whether that’s Jacoby Brissett, Daniel Jones, Kirk Cousins, or even Justin Herbert.
It all comes down to whether the Vikings are content to keep doing what they’ve been doing, or whether they’ll make a move aimed at significantly upgrading a position that, in recent weeks, has not been good enough.
Yes, they’re 6-1. That’s better than anyone could have expected them to be. But it’s not because Murray has turned the clock back to the early years of his career. His passer rating (86.6) is toward the bottom of all qualifying quarterbacks (and, in fairness, that’s higher than the numbers generated by Brissett, Jones, and Herbert).
It’s the lowest number for any season of Murray’s career, and the overall performance is less than what the Vikings need to maximize their current formula.
Especially since he’s not getting the ball to receiver Justin Jefferson. That’s something Wentz did consistently in 2025, making Wentz the preferred option to J.J. McCarthy — who returned to the lineup following a Week 2 ankle injury only after Wentz suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in Week 8.
If McCarthy was still in Minnesota, there would be an unavoidable groundswell to give him a shot. But he lost the No. 2 job to Wentz. Which means Wentz won it.
Which means that the Vikings could be thinking about giving Wentz a Monday night audition 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 the first-team reps at practice. And whether Murray or Wentz will play on Monday night.
It won’t be a surprise if it’s Wentz against the Bills. Even if Murray is technically healthy enough to play.