Kirk Herbstreit was critical of Carson Wentz over the Minnesota Vikings quarterback’s behavior during the team’s Week 8 game against the Los Angeles Chargers on “Thursday Night Football” at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., on Thursday night.
Wentz went just 15/27 for 144 yards with one touchdown and one interception, and he was sacked five times in his Vikings’ 37-10 loss to the Chargers. The veteran quarterback was getting beat up during the game and didn’t hide his pain on the sidelines.
Kirk Herbstreit, who provided analysis of the game for Amazon, was critical of Wentz for showing all his emotions.
“It’s been obviously a rough night. And he hadn’t had a lot of help. To me, when you’re the captain of the ship, you’re the quarterback, you gotta try to hold some of that emotion in. I know he’s frustrated that he’s hurt, but it’s Week 7. There’s a long way to go. I think some of that is just raw emotion,” Herbstreit said.
“Quarterback does that, to me, it’s worse. Because, like I said, you’re the guy. You’re the leader, you’re the alpha.”
Kirk Herbstreit on Carson Wentz: "When you're the captain of the ship, you're the quarterback, you gotta try to hold some of that emotion in. And I know he's frustrated, and he's hurt, but it's Week 7. There's a long way to go…" #NFL #TNF pic.twitter.com/rPr0GshjJm
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 24, 2025
Were Herbstreit’s comments fair or inappropriate? On one hand, he’s trying to be real about what he thinks proper leadership looks like from a team’s quarterback. On the other, he’s dissuading a player from showing true emotions and authenticity.
Wentz’s run as the Vikings’ starting quarterback may be ending anyway. The team’s head coach Kevin O’Connell told reporters that J.J. McCarthy will be the starter in Week 9 if he is ready.
