MINNESOTA VIKINGS CALL UP THEIR EX, KIRKO CHAINZ

Carson Wentz went 8-for-25 for 81 yards with two interceptions Monday night, finishing with a passer rating of 8.9, and Buffalo won 23-6. ESPN Research had his off-target rate at 38%, the highest by any quarterback in a game this season. Vikings fans booed him after nearly every throw, which was the gentlest thing that happened to him all night. He also lost a fumble on a backward pass that sailed over Justin Jefferson's head, a throw that required real effort to miss that badly. So the Vikings did the deadline-day equivalent of drunk-dialing. Minnesota sent a 2027 third-round pick to the Raiders for Kirk Cousins, the 38-year-old who played there from 2018 to 2023 and already knows Kevin O'Connell's offense. Raiders GM John Spytek said he never shopped Cousins and didn't make a single call before Minnesota rang him Tuesday morning, and he called it a hard decision. That is how you get talked out of your quarterback before lunch. The backdrop is that this team is good everywhere else. Kyler Murray was hurt and struggling before Wentz got the job, Max Brosmer finished Monday's game, and the defense held the Bills to a season low in points and still lost by 17. Green Bay is up Sunday at noon.

Why you should give a shit: Minnesota is 6-2 with a defense good enough to win in January, and it just spent a third-round pick on the theory that a 38-year-old who already knows the playbook can complete more than eight passes, which after Monday is a completely reasonable thing to pay for.