After officially winning the Minnesota Vikings' highly publicized quarterback competition back in August, Kyler Murray's run leading Kevin O'Connell's offense lasted mere minutes, with the Heisman-winning signal-caller exiting their Week 1 clash against the Green Bay Packers with a concussion.

While usually, that sort of blow in a division rivalry game spells disaster, apparently, no one told that to QB2 Carson Wentz, who promptly turned in the best game of his career that he didn't start.

Eventually, Murray will clear concussion protocol and return to the mix at quarterback, but if that doesn't happen in Week 2 and Wentz balls out to an impressive degree against the Chicago Bears, ESPN NFL Insider Ian Rapoport believes it could force a quarterback competition in the Gopher State.

“And it really will be able to tell a lot, on whether or not Kyler Murray is able to practice on Wednesday. If he does, then we'll have a pretty good idea that he at least has a shot on Sunday. Otherwise, it is going to be Carson Wentz once again, and we spent so much time talking about JJ McCarthy versus Kyler Murray. It seemed at no point was Carson Wentz ever in that quarterback derby, yet where he finds himself right now is a really interesting situation.

“He played really well last Sunday, led them back three touchdowns in the fourth quarter. If he plays well again, then we're going to have to have at some point a conversation about whether or not Carson Wentz has a shot at this job. Obviously, they would love it if Kyler was the starter. That was the whole idea. But if Wentz continues to play well in a system that he knows extremely well, for an organization that brought him back for this reason, at the very least, the Vikings will have an excellent, excellent problem on their hands.”

To say Wentz played well against the Vikings might actually be an understatement, with the 33-year-old completing 12 of his 19 passes for 133 yards and three touchdowns. However, the team he could face in Week 2, the Bears, also know a thing about efficiently putting points on the board, with Chicago's offense scoring the most points of any team in the NFL thus far in 2026. Granted, their defense gave up 37 points too, the fourth-most points allowed by any team in Week 1, but if the Vikings are going to pull off the Week 2 upset, they will almost certainly require another huge game from Wentz, which, in turn, would indeed warrant a QB competition.

From The Insiders on @NFLNetwork: Aaron Donald could make his #Rams re-debut on MNF. pic.twitter.com/CcYiH3ubAB

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 15, 2026