{"id":72850,"date":"2023-12-19T02:56:36","date_gmt":"2023-12-19T02:56:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/?p=72850"},"modified":"2023-12-19T02:56:36","modified_gmt":"2023-12-19T02:56:36","slug":"vikings-urged-to-bench-nick-mullens-for-4-million-qb-kieu-linh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/vikings-urged-to-bench-nick-mullens-for-4-million-qb-kieu-linh\/","title":{"rendered":"Vikings Urged to Bench Nick Mullens for $4 Million QB"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Minnesota Vikings saw the highs and lows of Nick Mullens in a Week 15 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.<\/p>\n

\"Nick<\/p>\n

Mullens did throw for 303 yards and two touchdowns, but he also threw two interceptions inside the Bengals\u2019 25-yard line and would have thrown a pick-six had it not been for an offsides call on Trey Hendrickson.<\/p>\n

Mullens\u2019 situational awareness, tossing the ball into the lap of Cincinnati defensive line B.J. Hill, and recklessness proved costly with the Vikings leaving points on the board. The game had the makings of a blowout if Mullens could capitalize, but instead, it led to an eventual 27-24 overtime loss on Saturday, December 16.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t a knock on Mullens. He played well and could be enough to get the Vikings to the playoffs, but he offers little optimism for anything more.<\/p>\n

But at this stage of the season, Minnesota has become one of 29 NFL teams since 1950 to start four different quarterbacks in a single season after losing Kirk Cousins to injury. The Vikings have seen what they can get out of Josh Dobbs and Mullens \u2014 but one quarterback remains a mystery.<\/p>\n

SKOR North\u2019s Judd Zulgad, formerly with the Star Tribune, urged Minnesota to bench Mullens and start Jaren Hall against the Detroit Lions on December 24 to see what they have in the fifth-round rookie.<\/p>\n

The Case for Vikings to Bench Nick Mullens for Jaren Hall<\/h2>\n

\"Jaren<\/p>\n

On a December 17 episode of the \u201cMackey and Judd\u201d podcast, Zulgad stated his case for Hall with the hopes that the rookie quarterback could take better care of the football than Mullens did.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe second interception that Mullens threw is one of the worst I have ever seen from an NFL quarterback \u2014 he literally spiked the ball into a defender\u2019s chest,\u201d Zulgad said. \u201cHall might be in over his skis, I know he\u2019s a project, he\u2019s a fifth-round pick, there\u2019s a lot of reasons not to play him.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut after what I saw (from Mullens)\u2026 I\u2019m going to give Jaren Hall a look. He deserves it. In 14 plays against the Falcons, before he was concussed, there was nothing he did where I\u2019m like \u2018This kid looks like he\u2019s lost.\u2019 Do I want to do this? Do I want to say this? No, but I can\u2019t take what I saw against the Bengals.<\/p>\n

While the sample size is small, Hall looked sharp in his start against the Atlanta Falcons before he took a hit that landed him in concussion protocol.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Mullens is established in the NFL as a backup and spot starter. Mullens\u2019 career interception rate of 3.6% would lead the NFL this season, and since joining the Vikings, he has thrown an interception in three of four games in which he\u2019s attempted more than seven passes.<\/p>\n

Jaren Hall\u2019s Upside is Undiscovered<\/h2>\n

\"Jaren<\/p>\n

While Mullens is the safer option with the Vikings\u2019 playoff hopes hanging at 51.2%, per ESPN, he\u2019s not going to inspire any hopes of making a run with a 5-13 career record.<\/p>\n

Hall is the only stone left unturned in Minnesota and offers some upside mobility that would be helpful considering the injuries on the offensive line.<\/p>\n

The rookie quarterback seems to be the middle ground between Dobbs and Mullens, which may be the exact balance Kevin O\u2019Connell needs from his quarterback.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Minnesota Vikings saw the highs and lows of Nick Mullens in a Week 15 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. Mullens did throw for 303 yards and… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nfl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72850\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}