Vikings coach responds to QB trade after Carson Wentz leaves Troy Aikman and Joe Buck at a loss

The Minnesota Vikings are in deep trouble. Despite boasting a 6-2 record on the 2026 NFL season, their 23-6 loss against the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football left very little confidence that the Vikings are ready to compete for a Super Bowl . This largely has to do with the quarterback position after veteran backup Carson Wentz – who was starting in place of an injured Kyler Murray – had a historically bad individual performance. In the defeat, the 33-year-old completed just eight of his 25 pass attempts for 81 yards and two interceptions, which earned him a lowly 8.9 quarterback rating. Just to put this into context, had he spiked the ball on every play would have given him a 39.6 QBR. In fact, Wentz’s performance was so bad that he almost single-handedly helped repair the relationship between ESPN’s No. 1 booth pairing of Troy Aikman and Joe Buck. The duo, who have spent 25 years calling NFL games together , are headed for a divorce after friction grew amid Buck being offered a six-year, $108 million extension to remain at ESPN while the network has let the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback’s contract wind down. But the pair appeared to really be having fun in each other’s company throughout Monday night’s broadcast. “You know, Joe, I heard from Drew Brees, and he’s thinking maybe he should come out of retirement. I told him if he does Kevin O’Connell will sign him tomorrow,” Aikman said. “There is no doubt about that,” Buck replied. “Wonder if we’ll see [Max] Brosmer before the end of the night.” “Brosmer’s hoping not,” Aikman joked back. Of course, Brosmer did eventually enter the game in place of Wentz, completing six of his seven pass attempts for 58 yards. Kevin O’Connell hints at possible QB trade With the MNF clash taking place on the eve of the trade deadline, the Vikings have very little time to make a change under center, but that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t exhaust all efforts and try – which is something head coach O’Connell hinted at. Addressing the media post-game, when asked by a reporter whether Minnesota could potentially explore the market, O’Connell deferred entirely to general manager Nolan Teasley. “I’ll defer to Nolan on that. We’ve had dialogue about a lot of different positions,” he said. “Tight turnaround obviously playing the Monday night game before that. And we’ll get right to work on any potential moves that can be there.” These comments appeared to signal that the head coach wants his superiors to go out and make a trade, and perhaps nobody will be happier – should they manage to get another quarterback – than Justin Jefferson . The superstar wide receiver has just 393 receiving yards on the season and four touchdowns, and hasn’t had a 100-plus yard game since October of 2025. With options very limited, though, it remains to be seen who they could realistically bring in, leaving the Vikings at a crossroads. Perhaps somebody like Kirk Cousins or Daniel Jones could be made available if the price is right. If only they hadn’t traded J.J. McCarthy away… Sign up for talkSPORT Stateside , the YouTube channel dedicated to passionate US Sports fans. Will Gavin, Brian T. Smith, former NFL star Efe Obada and a collection of special guests debate the biggest talking points across the NFL, soccer, NBA and more.