Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy shares a strong message about his health ahead of his return as the starter in Week 9.

McCarthy will be making his return in a crucial game for the Vikings, who have slipped to 3-4 this season, but remain 1-0 in NFC North play. A win over the Lions would be major for Minnesota making sure their season doesn’t start to slip away from them.

"It's too obvious to ignore," Walder began. "The Vikings are expected to get McCarthy back this week, but he struggled when he played this season (23.2 QBR), the Carson Wentz backup experiment was largely a failure, and this team has too much potential to waste this season."

The Vikings continue to be linked to their former quarterback despite them being seemingly all in on J.J. McCarthy.

Wentz, who sported a large brace on his left shoulder, took five sacks and several more hits and was seen wincing throughout the night. Wentz, filling in for J.J. McCarthy (ankle), finished 15 for 27 for 144 yards. The Vikings managed just 34 rushing yards compared to the Chargers' 207. Minnesota has lost three of four.

The Minnesota Vikings have been urged to consider making an extremely surprising quarterback trade after the Carson Wentz injury.

After the Week 9 NFC North showdown with the Lions, Minnesota returns home to take on a Ravens team that will have had Lamar Jackson back for a week. That game suddenly went from pretty manageable to pretty difficult.

Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and head coach Kevin O'Connell made the choice to rely on veteran free agents instead of young drafted players, and now the Vikings are paying the price with a 3-4 record.