This is how the Minnesota Vikings soft benching of Kyler Murray in favor of new starter Carson Wentz played out:
At the beginning of the week, even with the season’s first loss still fresh for the Vikings, coach Kevin O’Connell committed to Murray as his starting quarterback. The coach was asked whether Murray would be the Vikings’ starter against the Buffalo Bills on “Monday Night Football” if he overcame his sore hamstring during the week.
“Yes,” O’Connell responded without equivocation.
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Except, there was equivocation.
O’Connell announced Thursday that Wentz will start for the Vikings while Max Brosmer will serve as the backup. Murray is out this week.
“After evaluating Kyler on Monday, getting some imaging and things, we did determine he does have a hamstring strain,” O’Connell said. “Don’t believe it to be much more than a week-to-week kind of thing right now, but for him, his movement skills and the way he plays the game, we do feel like we’d be putting him at risk of possibly turning this into a more significant injury than it is by trying to have him work through it here early on.”
This is obviously a decision based on an injury, but also based on performance.
Murray has not played to expectations since joining the team in March on a one-year contract. He’s thrown five TD passes in six games and that ranks him tied for 29th in the NFL.
The team’s passing “attack” has been mostly in retreat while averaging 165 yards per game, which is 31st in the NFL. And, most importantly, the offense is 27th in the league, averaging 20 points per game.
The reason the Vikings lead the NFC North with a 6-1 record is because the 93 points they’ve allowed is the lowest mark in the league.
That, obviously, is not sustainable, and there were signs that the Vikings’ patience with Murray could be running out regardless of the injury.
Murray’s health status opened the door for Wentz to step into the starting role, as he did earlier this year after Murray suffered a concussion in the regular-season opener.
Wentz led a comeback win in that opener and then helped his team win the one game he started after that, a gritty 9-3 win against the Chicago Bears.
“There’s a ton of confidence in Carson,” O’Connell said Thursday.
Taken together, these factors give the Vikings’ coaching staff reason to move in a different direction without embarrassing Murray, whom the team still hopes can contribute once he’s fully healthy.
So, we’re seeing the soft benching of Murray.
The signs this was coming began following the 19-15 loss to Detroit. After the game, receiver Justin Jefferson was clearly frustrated.
(Hint to Vikings quarterbacks: Keep Jefferson happy because if he isn’t, you’ve done something wrong and failed to utilize one of the NFL’s most dynamic offensive weapons.)
Jefferson, usually affable, exited the locker room without talking to reporters.
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“I don’t fault the frustration or the competitiveness in any way, shape or form,” O’Connell said afterward.
O’Connell did seem to fault Murray for an inability to maximize his opportunities to Jefferson.
The coach mentioned the attempts to Jefferson: “A couple that we missed maybe a little high, one on schedule, one off schedule.”
And, O’Connell added, “I thought there were some play-pass chances that we didn’t see or didn’t pull the trigger on.”
That all points to the quarterback who just lost his starting job because of a hamstring injury – more or less.
