Kevin O’Connell on Tuesday afternoon was not yet ready to commit to a starting quarterback for Sunday night’s game against the Packers.
The Vikings coach said all three quarterbacks — Nick Mullens, Jaren Hall and Joshua Dobbs, who have combined to start seven games since Kirk Cousins suffered a torn Achilles — are “worthy of being involved in the discussion.”
Mullens threw four interceptions in Sunday’s 30-24 loss to the Lions, and Dobbs has also thrown four interceptions during one of his starts.
“We’re working through that right now,” O’Connell said, “making sure that we go through a full evaluation process of the Lions game, of course, but going back to the Bengals game, and taking a look at the inventory of … both of Nick’s starts and when he came into the Raiders game as well. We’ve had some turnovers, there’s no doubt about it. And the interceptions have been kind of the story for much of the year.”
Only the Cleveland Browns have more turnovers (32) than the Vikings’ 30 through 15 games. Perhaps not coincidentally, the Browns have also started four quarterbacks this season.
O’Connell said the Vikings want to maintain an “explosive” offense with playmakers Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison, while doing a better job of playing keep away. He said he can change by getting the Vikings into more running plays. The Vikings didn’t run well or effectively against Detroit. Ty Chandler started and got eight carries for 17 yards.
“We would like to have a more even fight in that time of possession,” O’Connell said. “I do think we need to run the football more and run the football more effectively. But I will say looking on the individual stories of these turnovers of these last few games, they do come down to decision-making.”
O’Connell said rookie Hall has had some “solid” weeks of preparation as the No. 2 quarterback, a role he assumed when Dobbs was demoted to the No. 3 passer after his ineffective start in Las Vegas on Dec. 10. Hall played just 11 snaps in his first NFL start on Nov. 5 before he suffered a concussion.
The coach said he’ll have a decision made before Wednesday’s practice.
“Since we’ve kind of lost Kirk,” O’Connell said, “we’re trying to work through what we feel gives us the best chance to be explosive like we were moving the football the other day … but we have to find a way to possess the football and not set our team back.”