The Minnesota Vikings enter Week 3 as a volatile 1-1 squad, with eyes on taking down the 2-0 Cincinnati Bengals. First, the good news: Minnesota won’t have to face perennial MVP candidate Joe Burrow as he recovers from turf toe. Now here’s the bad news: Cincinnati’s backup, old friend Jake Browning, torched Minnesota in their last matchup, and he absolutely can do it again. So, despite entering the game as slight favorites, the Vikings may get all they can handle from one of the better backup quarterbacks in the league.
For what seems like the 100th consecutive season, the Bengals will trot out a porous offensive line and a subpar defense. They’ve allowed six sacks through two games, average just 2.4 yards per carry, and have a bottom-five passing defense. Coupled with losing Burrow, this game has all the makings of a dreaded trap game, and one that the Vikings could find themselves losing to a quarterback with revenge on his mind.
In 2023, Browning led a fourth-quarter comeback that ended in an overtime win for Cincy. After allowing just three points through three quarters, it all fell apart for the Vikings when they gave up 24 points in the final 15 minutes of the game. The Bengals found all the soft spots in Minnesota’s secondary, and Browning threw for 324 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Browning then so eloquently let the sideline cameras and Vikings’ brass know that they never should have cut him. The Bengals figured out the Brian Flores defense, and Browning got retribution on the team that cut him three separate times.
Fast-forward to today, and the situation isn’t all that different. Two backup quarterbacks, Carson Wentz and Browning, will duke it out for a pair of teams with playoff aspirations. Things haven’t gone as planned for Minnesota, which has looked like a bottom-of-the-barrel team in all but one of its eight quarters of play this season. For Cincinnati, they’ll again turn to the man who has repeatedly gotten the job done.
Browning is 4-3 as a starter and boasts a career 70% completion rate. He was rewarded with a two-year contract extension last year and has firmly placed himself among the league’s top backups.
However, he turns the ball over a lot. He’s got 10 interceptions on just 275 career attempts, including the three he tossed last week against the Jacksonville Jaguars. While this should be welcome news to a Flores-led defense, the Vikings surprisingly have yet to nab an interception in 2025 despite already playing two second-year quarterbacks who have a combined seven total career wins.
Turnovers are historically fairly luck-based, but Minnesota’s defense led the league last year and had aspirations of repeating that achievement this season. While a growing list of injuries can factor in as a part of the blame, the Viking defense hasn’t had the same turnover prowess this year.
Looking ahead to the next few games, the Vikings will face 40-year-old Joe Flacco and 800-year-old Aaron Rodgers, so it’s easy to feel like a three-game win streak is within reach. But Browning and the Bengals present a challenge unlike most other teams. The star receiving duo of Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins has already combined for 22 catches and 280 yards this season despite Borrow missing most of last week. With weapons like that, it’s easy to see why Browning has had so much success. The Vikings have limited damage through the air this season, but they haven’t faced any receivers of that caliber yet.
So with all that offensive firepower, could the Bengals send Minnesota down to 1-2 and put their playoff hopes in jeopardy? The Vikings are confident heading into Week 3, and they should be, but it would also be wise to treat Browning in the same way they would’ve treated Burrow.
The Bengals have averaged 28.7 points per game in Browning’s starts, and the offense has hardly skipped a beat. Sure, his propensity to turn the ball over is a stark contrast to Burrow’s. However, for the most part, Cincinnati’s offense can be just as effective with Browning in the game. The Vikings have a big opportunity to get things back on track on Sunday, but they’ll need to find ways to pressure Browning and keep him in check.
While it seems odd to put so much focus and worry into a backup quarterback, the Vikings have historically found every way possible to lose to them. Whether it be Cooper Rush, Andy Dalton, or even Jake Browning, the Vikings always seem to struggle when it comes to defeating the league’s backups.
