Vikings Rookie Receives a Promotion Ahead of Week 15
Josh Frey
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Earlier in the week, the Minnesota Vikings made the decision to start Nick Mullens at quarterback in Week 15 against the Cincinnati Bengals.
However, that is not the only quarterback move that Minnesota has made ahead of this weekend’s game. On Thursday afternoon, Kevin O’Connell also announced that Vikings rookie QB Jaren Hall will move into the QB2 spot while former starter Josh Dobbs will serve as the emergency QB3 in Cincinnati.
Vikings Rookie Receives a Promotion Ahead of Week 15
The Vikings tweeted on Thursday, “Head Coach Kevin O’Connell announces that Jaren Hall will back up Nick Mullens Saturday and Joshua Dobbs will serve as the emergency 3rd QB.”
It’s certainly been a massive fall from grace for Dobbs over the past few weeks since his tremendous start to his stint with the Vikings. Dobbs was thrust into Minnesota’s Week 9 game just five days after being acquired from the Arizona Cardinals at the trade deadline.
This came as a result of Hall suffering a concussion in the first quarter of his inaugural NFL start as he dove for the end zone on a scramble.
Dobbs helped the Vikings rattle off their fourth and fifth consecutive wins against Atlanta and New Orleans, but Minnesota’s offense sputtered to a halt in Weeks 11 and 12 as they suffered losses against Denver and Chicago going into their bye week.
Then, things completely fell of the rails in Week 14 as Minnesota mustered zero points through the first 58 minutes of their game against the Raiders. Because of this, O’Connell made the decision to pull the plug on Dobbs in the fourth quarter, and Mullens came in and led the game-winning field goal drive late in the fourth.
This decision indicates that the Vikings are officially done with the Dobbs experiment, and if Mullens is unable to perform well in Cincinnati or suffers an injury, it will be the rookie Hall who goes into the game.
Hall showed some positive signs during the preseason and during the first two drives in Atlanta, but hopefully, Mullens is able to rejuvenate Minnesota’s offense against a stingy Bengals defense.
The game will kick off at 12 PM Central on Saturday, December 16th at Paycor Stadium.
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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.