The Vikings’ QB Decision for Week 15 Should Be Simple
The Minnesota Vikings have struggled to find a clear solution at the QB position following Kirk Cousins’ Achilles injury.
In the days after the injury, Minnesota decided to trade for Josh Dobbs, who began the season with the Arizona Cardinals. After Jaren Hall suffered a concussion in the first quarter against Atlanta, Dobbs stepped in and led a comeback victory against the Falcons while following that up with a strong game against the Saints.
Since then, though, some of the Dobbs luster has faded away, and that was never more apparent that in Week 14 against the Las Vegas Raiders. As the Raiders and Vikings faced a 0-0 stalemate late into the fourth quarter, Kevin O’Connell finally pulled the plug on Dobbs and put in Nick Mullens.
Mullens’ first drive resulted in another punt by the Vikings, but on the second possession, the fourth QB to take snaps for Minnesota finally broke the tie and led the Vikings to a field goal drive with less than two minutes remaining in the game, ultimately winning that game 3-0.
After what we saw on Sunday afternoon, and after hearing some of the comments from Kevin O’Connell following the game, Minnesota’s QB decision for Week 15 against the Cincinnati Bengals seems like a pretty straightforward one.
The Vikings QB Decision Should Be Simple
O’Connell would not make an official announcement at the position on Monday following the 3-0 victory, but he did offer some clues that the decision is just about wrapped up. “As we move forward in the week, we’ll make a decision on the starting quarterback. We’re in the process of solidifying that as a staff now. We’ll inform the players and then ultimately make an announcement here in the next couple days here.”
It sounds like the decision to start Mullens this weekend is going happen soon, but not before O’Connell has a chance to formally announce it to the players.
The fact of the matter is that Mullens simply outplayed Dobbs this weekend even with only three drives compared to eight for Dobbs. Mullens threw for 83 yards by completing 9 of his 13 passes while Dobbs threw for only 63 yards, completing 10 of 23 passes.
Especially with the Vikings in the thick of a playoff race right now at 7-6, Minnesota needs a quarterback that is able to stand in the pocket and deliver sharp, accurate passes to the talented receivers.
It can be argued that Jefferson’s injury came as a result of Dobbs throwing an inaccurate pass which left the receiver vulnerable to a big hit from Marcus Epps. Had the pass been a bit lower, perhaps Jefferson could have protected himself a bit easier.
The final four games of the season each come against teams with .500 records or better, including three matchups against NFC North opponents (Detroit twice and Green Bay once). Minnesota needs to continue winning games in order to get into the dance, and they’ll likely need to score more than 3 points in order to do that moving forward. Mullens should be the guy under center this weekend and moving forward.
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Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho and managing editor of PurplePTSD.com. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh enjoys running, gaming, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. Check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken.