After loss to Eagles, Vikings' quarterback decision should be clear

The Vikings' loss to the Eagles on Sunday should remove any controversy over what Kevin O'Connell must do at the quarterback position. Once J.J. McCarthy is fully healthy, he needs to return to the starting lineup.

Carson Wentz's two-interception performance in his fourth Vikings start, this one against his former team, showed who he is. Wentz is a high-quality backup capable of piling up yards and winning games if certain things break the right way. He's also a veteran who has been mistake-prone for years, which is why he's been on six teams in six seasons and has been a backup for the past three.

The Vikings, now 3-3, aren't winning the Super Bowl with Wentz this season. This isn't a Randall Cunningham or Case Keenum situation where a backup comes in, runs away with the quarterback job, and brings a talented team to the NFC title game.

Wentz is a known quantity. It's time to find out what the Vikings have behind door No. 2 in McCarthy, the 22-year-old former 10th overall pick who has thrown a total of 41 passes in the NFL.

Are they winning the Super Bowl in February with McCarthy at the helm? Right now, that feels incredibly unlikely, considering how poorly he played in seven of his first eight quarters, how many game reps he's missed out on since being drafted, and the difficulty of the schedule that lies ahead. But the Vikings can't properly assess McCarthy's abilities — and what his ceiling might be in future years — until he starts to get those game reps that are required for development.

After the loss to the Eagles, Kevin O'Connell declined to commit to either of his quarterbacks ahead of Thursday night's game against the Chargers in Los Angeles. That leaves the door open to the possibility of McCarthy getting the start this week. But if McCarthy's ankle isn't quite ready, or if O'Connell doesn't want to throw him out there on a short week, he needs to start in Week 9 in Detroit, no matter what Wentz does in LA.

Coming into this game, the possibility of Wentz seizing the Vikings' QB1 job still seemed to exist. Had he thrived and gone 2-0 against the Eagles and Chargers, bringing his season record to 4-1, it would've been tough to take him out of the lineup.

That idea ended on Sunday. Wentz missed a pair of potential touchdowns to a wide-open Jordan Addison on the Vikings' first possession. On the second, he threw a pick-six directly into the chest of an Eagles defender. On the third, he threw a ball backwards for an eight-yard loss and then heaved up an arm punt interception into double coverage.