Frank Schwab Senior writer Updated Tue, November 10, 2026 at 4:32 AM UTC About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In this story 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.
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.
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.
The Vikings came up just short on fourth-and-9, and the Bills knelt down on a 20-6 win.
While Carson Wentz and Minnesota's offense couldn't hold on to the ball, Buffalo's offense finally wore down a sensational Minnesota defense that didn't stand a chance of getting off the field down the stretch.
The big question out of this game is what will the Vikings do at quarterback to make the most of their elite defense? With the trade deadline on Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET there isn't much time and there aren't many options.
Max Brosmer's in for Carson Wentz in garbage time. He's moving the offense to some Bronx cheers from the remaining Vikings fans. Whatever happens here will be too little too late.
The Bills lead is now up to 3 possessions. Tyler Bass extended the advantage to 23-6 with 4:40 remaining, and all that's left here is for the game clock to mercifully expire.
The Vikings turned it over on downs on a possession that lasted 39 seconds. A pretty good summation of Minnesota's offense tonight.
That should do it. The Bills have a 20-6 lead with 6:17 remaining thanks to an 84-yard drive capped by a 5-yard James Cook touchdown run.
The Bills milked 8:32 off the clock and are putting on a clinic in ball control. Minnesota's defense has been outstanding, but its offense can't keep it off the field and the Bills have finally worn them down.
Josh Allen was called short on the field on a fourth-and-inches sneak. But he pretty clearly reached the line to gain, and officials got the call right on replay review. Buffalo picks up a critical first down with a chance to extend the lead to two possessions.
A near interception by Carson Wentz that should have been caught by Terrel Bernard incited a chorus of boos from the Minnesota crowd.
Vikings fans are fed up and rightfully so.
Tyler Bass kicked a 54-yard field goal through the uprights. But a false start on Lloyd Cushenberry blew the play dead as Bass kicked the ball and pushed the Bills back from comfortable field goal range.
Instead of a two-possession lead at 16-6, the score remains at 13-6 after a Buffalo punt.
Carson Wentz doesn't belong out here starting an NFL football game.
His second interception of the quarter went straight to linebacker Terrel Bernard in zone coverage. It's like Wentz didn't see him in the middle of the field.
A drive that started with promise behind strong running from Jordan Mason is abruptly over, and the Bills have the ball back with a 13-6 lead late in the third quarter.
Buffalo put together a second consecutive productive drive, but couldn't cash in in the end zone. A third-down pass from Josh Allen to Dalton Knox in coverage fell incomplete in the end zone, and the Bills settled for for a 25-yard field goal for a 13-6 lead.
The way Minnesota's offense is playing, that might be enough for the Bills.
Hockenson had Dorian Williams beat on a post route near the end zone, but Carson Wentz just underthrew the ball.
Carson Wentz looked deep for tight end TJ Hockenson, but instead found linebacker Dorian Williams in coverage.
Williams made a nice grab to secure the intereption, and Minnesota's misery on offense picks right back up in the third quarter.
The second half is almost underway. The Vikings will have the ball first.
All these offenses needed was a little pressure.
Minnesota's offense responded with its own hurry-up possession and its most successful drive of the game to set up a Will Reichard field-goal attempt with 5 seconds left on the second-quarter clock.
The game will go into the break with Buffalo holding a 10-6 lead.
The Bills finally got something going in a hurry-up offense, and they're on the board with the game's first touchdown.
Josh Allen found second-year tight end Keleki Latu standing wide open in the back of the end zone from 25 yards for Latu's first career touchdown and a 10-3 Buffalo lead with 44 seconds remaining in the first half.
Allen completed all six of his pass attempts on the drive as the Bills drove 80 yards in 3:18.
The Vikings are on the board, no thanks to their offense.
They failed again to pick up a first down. But thanks to starting with the ball at the Buffalo 34, they were in range for a 43-yard field goal by Will Reichard.
The game's tied at 3-3 with 4:02 remaining before halftime.
No fumble. Josh Allen was, indeed down on third down. Buffalo instead punted from the back of its own end zone, and the Vikings will start with the ball at the Buffalo 34.
This Vikings defense is as nasty as it gets. It looked initially on the field like it forced a turnover with strip of Josh Allen next to the Buffalo goal line.
But on replay it looks like Allen was just down before losing control of the ball. It's going to review. Either way, another sick play by Brian Flores' hyper-aggressive unit.
Minnesota picked up 2 first downs — one via penalty and one that it earned. And then a sack of Carson Wentz killed the momentum.
The Vikings have punted again, and Buffalo's offense is left to try to solve Minnesota's defense backed up next to its own goal line.
Minnesota has its first first down of the game. It came on a play in which a sack of Carson Wentz was negated by a holding penalty on Buffalo in the secondary.
Source: Sports
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