The scene of veteran quarterback Carson Wentz writhing on the ground in pain last week at SoFi Stadium, then tossing his helmet in frustration after reaching the sideline, has inspired a discourse about how the Vikings handled everything that transpired.
This wasn’t simply a frustrated player lashing out after being taken down for another sack. This was a grown man battling through an immense amount of pain while slowly coming to terms with the fact that his time with Vikings was done.
Should he have even been in the game at that point? That question has continued to be asked this week after Wentz was placed on injured reserve in advance of surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder.
“I knew what I was signing up for,” Wentz said. “It wasn’t like anybody was forcing me to go. This is my 10th year in the league. There’s a lot of bigger things in my life to worry about, so I wasn’t going to do anything that would be detrimental to my own health.”
This is something Wentz said he has been managing since the Oct. 5 game against the Cleveland Browns. He learned that he had suffered a torn labrum in his left shoulder soon after that, and while he knew it was going to require surgery, he proceeded to play in the Oct. 19 game against the Philadelphia Eagles, followed by the Oct. 23 game against the Los Angeles Chargers.
As soon as Wentz got word from the doctors that he couldn’t do any further damage, that was enough for him to keep going for as long as he could.
“Did it become more uncomfortable? Probably,” Wentz said. “Did it become worse that it can’t be fixed? No.”
The decision for Wentz to continue to suit up for the Vikings was made in lockstep with head coach Kevin O’Connell. They were on the same page at every step throughout the process.
“It was determined that if Carson wanted to give it a go, he could,” O’Connell said. “We felt encouraged by giving Carson the opportunity to make the call.”
After rehabbing through the bye and getting through the game against the Eagles relatively unscathed, Wentz acknowledged that in hindsight, he struggled with the four-day turnaround ahead of the game against the Chargers more than he expected.
That said, Wentz never thought about taking himself out of the game, largely because he was relishing the opportunity to be a starter in the NFL once again. That also helps explain why O’Connell left Wentz under center for as long as he did.
“We went into this thing knowing it was kind of a pain-tolerance situation and he would be able to play through it and not make it worse,” O’Connell said. “You have an obligation to the player to let them compete and see it through to a certain point.”
There were conversations on the sideline each time Wentz came off the field last week, and he kept reiterating that he wanted to stay in the game.
“I never once felt unsafe,” Wentz said. “It was like, ‘I don’t want to come out of this game as uncomfortable as this is.’ ”
As reality started to set in for him on the plane ride home last week, however, Wentz finally let himself shift his mindset, knowing it was more than likely in his best interest to fix his torn labrum sooner rather than later.
The hope from Wentz is that he’ll be ready to roll for organized team activities in the spring, whether that’s with the Vikings or another team. The good news is that he’s expected to make a full recovery.
“It’s not that concerning long term,” Wentz said. “It’s just a bummer right now.”
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