As the Minnesota Vikings enter their by week, they do so unsure of who their starting quarterback will be.
Following the Vikings’ 12-10 loss to the Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football, head coach Kevin O’Connell told reporters that he’ll use the team’s upcoming week off to reassess its quarterback situation.
“We’re gonna take a look, really evaluate the inventory of plays now we have of Josh,” O’Connell said in his postgame news conference, according to Yahoo Sports’ Jason Owens. “We got healthy, we’ve got Jaren [Hall] back available to us. And Nick Mullens is available as well.”
Minnesota’s quarterback situation has been in flux dating back to starter Kirk Cousins suffering a season-ending torn Achilles in the Vikings’ Week 8 win over the Green Bay Packers. The following week, Minnesota turned to rookie Jaren Hall to start against the Atlanta Falcons, but the BYU product was unable to finish the game due to a concussion.
With Hall sidelined, the Vikings turned to veteran Joshua Dobbs — who Minnesota had acquired from the Arizona Cardinals just days earlier ahead of the NFL trade deadline. The Tennessee product proceeded to lead the Vikings to a victory over Atlanta and has started each of their three games since, with Minnesota having lost each of its last two outings.
While Dobbs has performed admirably considering the circumstances of his arrival, he threw four interceptions in the Vikings’ Week 12 loss to the Bears. Should O’Connell opt for a new starter, as he noted, he could return to Hall or veteran Nick Mullens, who has been serving as Minnesota’s No. 2 quarterback for the last two weeks after being activated from injured reserve due to a back injury.
Sitting at 6-6, the Vikings will return from their bye on Dec. 10 for a road game against the Las Vegas Raiders.
[Yahoo]
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.