Jaren Hall? Nick Mullens? Josh Dobbs?
Kevin O’Connell says he knows who will be starting at quarterback for the Vikings in the regular season finale Sunday in Detroit, but he’s not ready to air that information to the public.
“I have made a decision on who’s going to start at quarterback for us this week. I have not had a chance yet with the players being off today to go through our face-to-face communication to let those players know, so I’m not going to announce that today,” O’Connell said Monday, “but we will keep you guys posted and get you that information here very, very shortly in the week. Just so we can go through our preparation and go about trying to get a win here in Week 18 and with everybody having the clarity that they need.”
Since Kirk Cousins ruptured his Achilles in Week 8 against the Packers the Vikings have been riding an unpredictable QB carousel. Hall started in Week 9 against Atlanta but suffered a concussion on the second drive of the game. Dobbs took over and started the next five weeks before turnover issues forced O’Connell to pull the plug on Dobbs and give Mullens a chance. Mullens proceeded to throw six interceptions in two starts, which prompted O’Connell to give Hall another try in what turned out to be a Sunday night disaster against the Packers.
O’Connell said he doesn’t regret the decision to give his rookie quarterback a chance in what was essentially a must-win game against Green Bay.
“It was a decision that I ultimately made and had confidence going into the game based upon what I saw from Jaren throughout the week and the preparation and where he was at going into it. I did have confidence that Jaren would give us a chance to win and play and hopefully get off to a good start, and then gain confidence like a lot of young players do from there,” O’Connell explained.
“That is just not what happened. I think, once again, that is not an end all be all indictment on Jaren or anybody else, that’s just a matter of it didn’t go the way we wanted. I made the decision to play Jaren out of my confidence that I had in him, and I still have confidence in Jaren moving forward and in his development. I do believe he’s got a lot of good football out in front of him that he is going to continue to work towards.”
The Vikings can still sneak into the playoffs but it’ll require beating an angry Detroit team on the road along with the Packers and Seahawks losing. They also need either Tampa Bay or New Orleans to lose.
Games to monitor on Sunday include:
- Vikings at Lions, 12 p.m.
- Falcons at Saints, 12 p.m.
- Buccaneers at Panthers, 12 p.m.
- Bears at Packers, 3:25 p.m.
- Seahawks at Cardinals, 3:25 p.m.
