MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Vikings had to hit the reset button at quarterback again, forced into another switch in the first quarter of the season opener when newcomer Kyler Murray took a scary hit to the head.
Carson Wentz filled in after Murray was ruled out for the rest of the game with a concussion and helped the Vikings rally for a 39-22 victory over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday. Wentz might need to play again next week when the Vikings visit another NFC North rival, the Chicago Bears.
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Murray was walking around and talking with teammates in the locker room afterward, but concussions are unpredictable and delicate injuries so the Vikings had no update on his status or timetable for his return.
“Take it day by day and see how he comes in tomorrow,” coach Kevin O'Connell said in his postgame news conference. “I did just see him and he seemed to be doing pretty well.”
Murray took off on a third-and-7 play from the Vikings 33 and ran around the right end, leaning forward to avoid contact as Packers outside linebacker Lukas Van Ness got his hand on Murray's helmet at the end of his pursuit. Cornerback Javon Bullard arrived a split-second later and slammed his shoulder into the side of Murray's exposed head, drawing an unnecessary roughness penalty as the quarterback's helmet popped off.
Vikings right tackle Brian O'Neill and left guard Donovan Jackson immediately turned toward the sideline to motion for the medical team, with Murray lying on his side and his legs kicking back and forth. The eighth-year player, who spent the first seven seasons of his career with the Arizona Cardinals, eventually walked off the field under his own power with athletic trainers by his side.
“It’s tough. It almost puts me in a bad head space in a way, because you never want to see anybody get hit, especially when somebody’s posturing on the field. That’s when it’s scary,” Vikings running back Aaron Jones said. “We know what we signed up for, but at the same time you never want to see it happen and you hope it’s never one of your teammates or you. So we’re praying for him. It takes something from you a little bit.”
Wentz entered the game at quarterback and led the Vikings to a field goal on that drive. Wentz was pegged as the primary backup ahead of J.J. McCarthy, the 2024 first-round draft pick who started 10 games last season for Minnesota. McCarthy was inactive on Sunday as the emergency quarterback, meaning he could only enter the game if Wentz were also injured.
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