EAGAN, Minn. -- The Minnesota Vikings have once again hopped on their quarterback carousel. Backup Carson Wentz will start Monday night's game against the Buffalo Bills, coach Kevin O'Connell announced Thursday, because starter Kyler Murray is nursing a strained hamstring.
The change marks the 14th time the Vikings have shifted from one quarterback to another during a season, either because of injuries or for performance reasons, since Kirk Cousins tore his right Achilles tendon midway through the 2023 season.
Murray suffered the injury while running on a read-option play early in the fourth quarter of the Vikings' 19-15 loss last Sunday to the Detroit Lions. Murray also struggled to connect with open receivers throughout the game, leaving receiver Justin Jefferson so frustrated that he declined to speak with reporters afterward.
O'Connell said that putting Murray on injured reserve is not a consideration.
"I don't believe it to be much more than a week-to-week kind of thing right now," O'Connell said. "But for him, his movement skills and the way he plays the game, we do feel like we'd be putting him at risk of possibly turning this into a more significant injury than it is by trying to have him work through it here early on."
Murray scrambled seven times during a Week 4 game against the New Orleans Saints but has run only 13 times in his five remaining starts. But O'Connell said the injury would affect more than simply his ability to run.
"It's more the explosive movements, the quick twitch movements," O'Connell said. "Running is obviously a part of some of that ... but it's more of just the overall ability to impact the game. And ultimately, we could try to say all we want of, 'Hey, you can play, but you just got to stay in the pocket.' But then football starts, and it's an imperfect game where he's going to react and we don't want to make this strain any worse than it is."
Murray missed most of two games earlier this season because of a concussion and his QBR (44.7) ranks No. 26 out of 30 qualified quarterbacks as he plays on a one-year contract. Speaking Monday, O'Connell said that Murray would remain his starter this week if he were healthy. Asked Thursday if Wentz had an opportunity to earn additional starts based on his performance, independent of Murray's health, O'Connell said in part: "It's all about this week for our team."
Wentz has started six games and played most of a seventh since signing with the Vikings in August 2025. The team is 4-3 in those games, during which Wentz has completed 63.9% of his passes for 1,492 yards, nine touchdowns and five interceptions.
He has excelled in getting the ball to Jefferson, however. In those seven games, Jefferson has caught 44 passes for 615 yards and two touchdowns.
"[Wentz] is the perfect guy in a moment where you can't have Kyler out there at full strength to go in there," O'Connell said. "And we feel very strongly about when Carson's in there, we're going to get really effective quarterback play."