Rookie Jaren Hall will start for the second time this season as the Minnesota Vikings will insert him into the lineup instead of Nick Mullens for the team’s critical Week 17 matchup with the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night. Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell announced the shift in a Thursday news conference.
The decision moves Mullens to the bench after his erratic play during the past two weeks as the Vikings’ starter. Mullens threw for 714 yards and four touchdowns in Weeks 15 and 16, but he added six interceptions during that span as Minnesota lost both games.
Hall, the team’s 2023 fifth-round pick out of BYU, started for the Vikings in Week 9 against the Atlanta Falcons. He sustained a concussion during the first quarter, though, allowing the freshly acquired Josh Dobbs to play and pull off an improbable win. Dobbs started the next four games with Minnesota going 2-2 in that span. Mullens supplanted Dobbs as the starter in Week 15.
Hall first saw action when he replaced Kirk Cousins in the lineup in Week 8 after Cousins suffered a season-ending Achilles tendon injury. Hall has thrown for 101 yards in two appearances this season.
The Vikings (7-8) have lost four of their last five games and have a 47 percent chance to make the postseason if they beat the Packers. Minnesota will have a four percent chance at the playoffs if it loses in Week 17.
The Vikings believe the unknown Hall gives the team a better chance than the known Dobbs and Mullens. Dobbs is experienced and athletic, but O’Connell lost trust in the aftermath of multiple turnovers. Mullens is experienced and willing to chuck the football down the field, but he, too, turned the football over frequently. The statistic has frustrated O’Connell all season.
Hall is not experienced, but at minimum, Minnesota does not know what he is. He was mostly accurate in college at BYU, and he displayed a couple of flashes in Week 9 against the Atlanta Falcons. But this is O’Connell essentially saying: We want someone who will color inside the lines, someone who will go through his reads and distribute the ball the way the offense wants him to. There are no guarantees. Rarely have the Vikings been able to run the football effectively. This being the case, much of the onus falls on the QB. That’s a lot to ask for a rookie quarterback on Sunday night in an important rivalry game, whether that quarterback is facing a defensive coordinator like Joe Barry or not.
— This article originally appeared in The Athletic.