The Minnesota Vikings lost to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday Night Football 33-10, all but ending their hopes at making a playoff run. Chris Spooner looks at the good, bad and ugly from a disappointing performance.
Just like that, the Minnesota Vikings 2023 season is all but over. Last week’s loss against the Detroit Lions removed all possibility of taking home the NFC North title. This week, with a 33-10 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday Night Football, the Vikings have been all but eliminated from the NFC playoff picture entirely.
Minnesota isn’t mathematically eliminated. There is still a scenario in which they can make the playoffs, but it’s far-fetched. Minnesota would have to win next week against the Lions. They would also need the following to happen.
Packers to lose against the Chicago Bears
Seattle Seahawks to lose against the Arizona Cardinals
Either the Tampa Bay Buccaneers or New Orleans Saints to lose their game.
It’s not impossible, but the loss makes a playoff berth highly improbable. But Minnesota even being in this spot at all was highly improbable, after losing Kirk Cousins for the season and the quarterback carousel that followed.
That carousel played a major role in the Vikings’ ultimate demise, as starting quarterback Jaren Hall was benched for former starter Nick Mullens. The move provided a little bit of a spark, but not nearly enough, as Minnesota got blown out at home against their division rival. Here’s the good, bad and ugly from a disappointing performance on Sunday Night Football.
This is the third time that O’Connell has done that this season, doing so after losses against the Las Vegas Raiders and Lions. Each time he did, O’Connell announced the starting quarterback mid week.
Who will be the starter against the Lions? That remains to be seen, as all three quarterbacks have merit to get the start. Mullens looks to be the best option to get the win, Dobbs is a major changeup that could give a spark to the offense and Hall would be the choice if you want to keep learning about what he could be in the future.
That answer will come in time but don’t expect it quite yet.
Johnny Mundt scores his first touchdown of the season after a crucial Najee Thompson fumble recovery.
A spark, perhaps?
Johnny Mundt finds his way into the end zone from six yards out for his first touchdown this season, and to get the Minnesota Vikings their first touchdown against the Green Bay Packers tonight.
In a game that has been over since Kirk Cousins blew the Gjallarhorn to start, Minnesota was searching for any kind of spark to work off. They got it with a fumble recovery off a muffed punt from special teams extraordinaire Najee Thompson.
Two plays later, Mundt takes the ball into the end zone to pull the game to 30-10.
The defense has been getting gashed and the offense has been as discombobulated as they have looked since Cousins left in week eight. With all of this turmoil, Thompson is still burning downfield, waiting for an opportunity to give the team a much-needed spark. While it may not mean anything in the result of this game, it is a sign that there is still a bit of fight left in these Vikings, regardless of the score.
Stay tuned to Vikings Wire for more live game updates.
Jaren Hall’s night is done at quarterback, as the Vikings replaced him with Nick Mullens
The Minnesota Vikings have made another change at quarterback. To start the second half, the Vikings have replaced Jaren Hall with Nick Mullens.
It was a rough second start for Hall, who was pulverized in the pocket consistently. He threw just 10 passes and completed five of them for 67 yards and an interception. Hall was also strip-sacked toward the end of the second quarter when Christian Darrisaw was blown up by Preston Smith.
Things didn’t go well for Hall who seemed a little tentative under center against an undermanned Green Bay Packers secondary. He wasn’t seeing things well and it all manifested in an awful performance.
The Vikings started the second half down 23-3 with their playoff hopes on the line.
The Vikings take on the Green Bay Packers at 7:20 p.m. CST in primetime on Sunday Night Football. The winner gets to sleep peacefully, knowing that they have one more week to make a push for the playoffs. The loser goes home and likely eliminated from contention..
Green Bay’s defense under Joe Barry has been an uninspiring unit. They’re 17th in points allowed, 25th in EPA allowed/play and 30th in defensive DVOA. There has not been much to celebrate. This unit has been one of the more disappointing in the league.
The Vikings are not doing enough to win on the offensive side. They are scoring, averaging just over 24 points a game since Kirk Cousins has been out, but they can’t finish the job. Most of that is because of the lack of consistency at the position.
Josh Dobbs gave the performance of his life for six quarters. After that, he turns into a pumpkin for three straight games, including a game after the bye week. Nick Mullens gave it his best effort, and while the ball was moving, he didn’t perform at the level necessary to keep his job.
Now Minnesota turns to Jaren Hall, the only quarterback with a starting record above .500, to try to spark this offense to the playoffs.
Can he do it? He has the capabilities. He and the rest of this Minnesota offense must follow these four keys to success.
Judd Zulgad breaks down why it was the right decision to start quarterback Jaren Hall against the Green Bay Packers
The Minnesota Vikings selected Jaren Hall in the fifth round of the NFL draft last April with the intention of never having to play him in a game this season. Kirk Cousins hadn’t missed a game because of injury in his first eight seasons as a starter and Nick Mullens was considered a capable backup.
That meant Hall would have the luxury of learning from coach Kevin O’Connell and two veterans without any pressure. Unfortunately, the Vikings’ quarterback plans for 2023 went out the window in late October and continue to be anything but settled as 2024 approaches.
Cousins suffered a season-ending Achilles’ injury on Oct. 29 in Green Bay and the 25-year-old Hall had to replace him because Mullens was on injured reserve with a back injury. Hall started the following week in Atlanta, completing 5-of-6 passes for 78 yards and rushing for 11 yards on two carries before being knocked in the first quarter because of a concussion.
What followed has been a musical chairs of quarterbacks with the then-recently acquired Josh Dobbs replacing Hall before he was benched just over a month later in Las Vegas. Mullens took over for losses at Cincinnati and against Detroit but he was benched on Thursday as O’Connell turned back to Hall.
The Vikings are on the outside looking in the NFC playoff race with games against the Packers and at Detroit remaining. While Hall is being thrust into a difficult and pressure-filled situation, O’Connell is making the move because he can’t trust Dobbs or Mullens to protect the ball.
Dobbs threw five interceptions and lost three fumbles during the parts of five games. The mistake-prone Mullens was worse. He threw six interceptions, including four on Sunday, and fumbled twice. Both recovered by the Vikings but that didn’t excuse Mullens’ carelessness.
O’Connell’s decision also is a sign that he knows exactly what Dobbs and Mullens can and can’t do, and, more importantly, he knows neither is likely to be back in Minnesota next season. Dobbs is a free agent and Mullens’ contract contains an “out” for 2024.
Hall was the starter at BYU in 2021 and ’22 and started 25 games with the Cougars during a collegiate career that began in 2018. He doesn’t have much NFL experience, but he’s older than many of his teammates, including standout wide receiver Justin Jefferson.
This assures nothing when it comes to how Hall will perform against an often-criticized Packers defense. I thought Mullens would be an upgrade over Dobbs but after watching his decision-making and weaker-than-expected arm, that evaluation proved to be erroneous.
It’s a long shot that Hall is going to lead the Vikings to two consecutive wins, or a playoff berth, but O’Connell is making the right call. He will get an opportunity to get a look at Hall in the present but also have an eye on the future. That’s more productive than continuing with the mistake-prone Mullens.
Judd Zulgad is co-host of the Purple Daily Podcast and Mackey & Judd podcast atwww.skornorth.com.
Hall will get his second start of the season against the Packers
The quarterback conundrum is over…for now.
Head coach Kevin O’Connell spoke to the media on Thursday afternoon and informed the media that the Minnesota Vikings will start quarterback Jaren Hall on Sunday night against the Green Bay Packers.
This comes just days after Nick Mullens threw four interceptions against the Detroit Lions in a performance that wasn’t nearly as bad as the turnovers might have indicated. However, O’Connell did say there would be repercussions for turning the ball over and he is living up to his word.
Hall played relatively well in the small sample size he played this season, going 8-of-10 for 124 yards. This time around, Hall will have Justin Jefferson at his disposal as well as a healthy offensive line. Brian O’Neill looks to be progressing well and is likely going to play on Sunday night after suffering an ankle injury against the Las Vegas Raiders.
O’Connell did say that Mullens was going to be the backup quarterback on Sunday night, making Josh Dobbs will remain as the emergency option.
Judd Zulgad discusses multiple Vikings topics, including the potential of Justin Jefferson leaving
There is a fear among some in the Minnesota Vikings’ fan base that wide receiver Justin Jefferson might decide to leave town as a free agent after the 2024 season, especially if he doesn’t approve of the decision the team makes on its starting quarterback.
While the Vikings’ choice at that position matters to Jefferson, there’s almost zero chance he walks in free agency.
Here’s why, along with some other tidbits on a team that has only two regular-season games remaining and is currently out of a playoff spot.
The Real Forno Show breaks down where the Vikings go from here as they no longer control their own destiny.
The Minnesota Vikings are in a weird place right now. They are coming off of a 30-24 loss to the Detroit Lions and no longer control their own destiny when it comes to the playoffs. They don’t control their own destiny when it comes to making the playoffs and gave the Lions the NFC North title with four interceptions from Nick Mullens.
Who should get the start on Sunday? It’s an interesting discussion that was made even more murky with both Jaren Hall and Mullens getting first-team snaps during Wednesday’s walkthrough.
As we move forward with the final two games of the regular season, there are a lot of questions to answer.
T.J Hockenson and D.J. Wonnum’s season-ending injuries
Brian Flores’ defense has lost the magic?
We are here to break it all down and more on the latest episode of The Real Forno Show, airing Monday and Wednesday nights at 6 pm central on theVikings 1st & SKOL YouTube channel.
Chris Spooner takes a look at five areas of concern that Sunday’s loss to the Detroit Lions exposed heading into the final weeks of the season and into the offseason.
Just like that, the Minnesota Vikings hopes of winning the NFC North were dashed. Instead of a Christmas miracle, the Vikings were handed a lump of coal with their 30-24 loss on Christmas Eve to the Detroit Lions. With the loss, Minnesota was eliminated from contention for the division title, and the Lions clinched their first division title since before the NFC North was even in existence.
The Vikings did a lot of things right in this game. Quarterback Nick Mullens was throwing the ball all over the field and notched his first career game with more than 400 yards passing. Minnesota was able to hold the Lions running game largely in check, and they made some big plays throughout the game when they needed it.
Unfortunately, as has been the case for much of the season, it was the unforced errors that ultimately doomed the Vikings. Mullens was doing his best impression of a baker out there, handing out turnovers left and right. He had four interceptions on the day, and could have easily walked out of there with a couple more.
He also had two plays where he narrowly avoided fumbling the ball. A four-turnover game was almost a blessing considering how much worse it could have been.
The turnover issues have been a theme throughout the season, but there were a lot of other areas of concern that this game exposed. Areas that have been a concern all season, but have largely been masked or glossed over in one way or another. Let’s take a look at five of those areas of concern that the loss against the Detroit Lions exposed.
