It's been quite the carousel for the Purple. The Vikings are changing quarterbacks. Again.
Thursday, head coach Kevin O'Connell announced they were going back to rookie QB Jaren Hall as the starter for the Sunday Night Football game against the Green Bay Packers.
Hall started in week nine against the Atlanta Falcons, the game after regular starter Kirk Cousins tore his Achilles and was lost for the season. Hall played 11 snaps in Green Bay as the Vikings held on to win after the Cousins injury.
Against Atlanta, the Vikings and Hall moved the ball down the field before having to settle for a short field goal, but Hall took a shot that lead to a concussion and ushered in the Josh Dobbs portion of the season.
Once Dobbs struggled after a couple of starts, O'Connell came back to backup QB Nick Mullens, who himself had been injured. But multiple interceptions by Mullens against Cincinnati and Detroit has now put him on the bench.
Hall is a rookie out of BYU, a fifth round draft pick, and has very little experience as an NFL quarterback compared to Mullens or Dobbs. But O'Connell had moved Hall up to the backup QB position the last two weeks Mullens started and gave him some time to work behind the scenes while getting healthy.
Hall will need to succeed without a key weapon too. Tight end T.J. Hockenson is now out for the rest of the season with a torn ACL and MCL in his knee. They'll also be down linebacker D.J. Wonnum who is also out for the season with a torn quad. Rookie wide receiver Jordan Addison is also questionable after hurting his ankle which would further handicap the offense.
It's far from time to give up for the Vikings who still have a legitimate shot for a playoff spot. They're currently behind both Seattle and the LA Rams in the Wild Card chase despite losing the last two games. They'll have to likely win out which includes Green Bay this week, and at Detroit next week. But by the time they get to Detroit, the Lions may not have much to play for after clinching the NFC North Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium, their first division title in 30 years.
The one thing Hall will need to do is limit mistakes, something Dobbs and Mullens have struggled with. Dobbs threw four picks in the loss to Chicago. Mullen threw two (in the Red Zone) in Cincinnati and followed that up with four more interceptions against Detroit. Mullens threw for over 400 yards against the Lions. But production is one thing. Limiting mistakes is something that has killed the team all year and has only gotten worse under Dobbs and Mullens who now has the worst interception rate in the entire NFL during his career.
INTERCEPTIONS
Hall: 0 interceptions in 10 attempts (0.0% interception rate)
Cousins: 5 interceptions in 311 attempts (1.6% interception rate)
Dobbs: 5 interceptions in 151 attempts (3.3% interception rate)
Mullens: 6 interceptions in 82 attempts (7.3% interception rate)
That's 16 interceptions which isn't good. Two thirds of those are under Dobbs/Mullens. The Vikings are second worst in the NFL with 30 turnovers this season, mixing in plenty of fumbles too. The only team worse is Cleveland who, ironically or not, has also started three quarterbacks in 2023.
TELEVISION NOTE
If you're a Vikings fan and you have DirecTV, you may not be able to get Sunday's night's game against the Packers.
That's because of a contract dispute between KARE-11's parent company and DirecTV, which has resulted in a blackout of all NBC programming since November 30. Vikings games typically air on CBS or FOX, but this one's on NBC which could leave you in the dark if you're on DirecTV.
HALL OF FAME?
Already a member of Minnesota's Ring of Honor, former Viking Defensive End Jared Allen is also one of 15 finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2024.
Allen played six years with the purple finishing with 85.5 sacks, sixth in franchise history, and was named a First Team All-Pro three times.
He played a total of 12 seasons in the NFL finishing with 136 sacks, which ranks 12th all-time.
Final voting will take place early next year.