Will Bengals have a healthy, viable quarterback for Week 17?

Adding injury to insult has been the Cincinnati Bengals’ way of life for some time now, but this time it’s really crippling.

A.J. McCarron played a mostly strong game Monday night but lost a fumble on the final snap of overtime, allowing the Denver Broncos to beat the Bengals in a crucial game for AFC playoff seeding.

Moreover, McCarron suffered a left (non-throwing) wrist injury on the play, and an MRI on Monday revealed that he has a “significant” sprain but that it appears, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, that McCarron will be able to play through the pain. Because the Bengals lost and missed out on a chance to wrap up a top-two seed — and with it, a first-round bye — they’ll need to beat the Ravens in Week 17 and hope the Chargers beat the Broncos.

It appears as if Andy Dalton (thumb) is not ready to return to action and is perhaps still a few weeks away. If McCarron were to go down, the Bengals would have to turn to Keith Wenning, a 24-year-old out of Ball State who has yet to attempt an NFL regular-season pass and whose last game snaps were in August in the preseason.

Get this: Wenning has 30 career pass attempts, all in preseason games. And that’s over two seasons! 

Even with McCarron expected to play with the injury, things are a bit dicey for a team that otherwise is talented enough to make a run in the playoffs, perhaps all the way to the Super Bowl. Gotta have a QB, though, and an extra week of rest for Dalton sure would be nice.

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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm