The Vikings made Kyler Murray their quarterback choice to open the 2026 season, but it didn’t take long for their plans to go awry.

Murray was concussed early in the season opener, missed Week 2 and then led an underwhelming offense to a 4-1 record before suffering a hamstring injury in Week 8. The Vikings offense got even worse with Carson Wentz in Monday night’s loss to the Bills, which led the team to trade for Kirk Cousins on Tuesday.

Head coach Kevin O’Connell hasn’t committed to starting Cousins against the Packers this weekend, but it’s why the deal was made and Murray isn’t currently an option because he remained out of practice with a hamstring injury on Wednesday. Once Murray is healthy, he’ll be slated for a backup role as O’Connell said he doesn’t believe “you can have a competition during the season” and that his hope is that Murray is available if and when the Vikings have to pivot again.

“The reality is what it is,” O’Connell said. “It’s one of those things where I think he appreciated hearing about it before the transaction took place, but at the same time, he knows I believe in him. I believe in Kyler, just like I believe in Carson and I believe in Max [Brosmer]. I want him to get healthy and get back to work because you just never know. We do not hold the cards in how this will go from a health standpoint or anything like that with anybody on our team.”

O’Connell said that he told Murray that he knows it has been a “less than ideal” series of events, but that underscores the possibility that the Vikings will have to turn back to him with an important game on the line at some point later this year.