Vikings rookie quarterback Jaren Hall has gotten two starting opportunities during this regular season. Neither one has gone to plan. In Atlanta, his first career start ended in less than a quarter when he was concussed while attempting to scramble for a touchdown. Facing the Packers on Sunday, he didn't complete a pass in the first quarter and was benched at halftime after turning the ball over twice.
With the Vikings naming Nick Mullens as their starter for this weekend's regular season finale in Detroit, Hall's next opportunity will presumably come in the 2024 preseason.
The results from his two opportunities this year are tough breaks for any player, especially a fifth-round rookie trying to put some positive tape out there and carve out a career in the league. But even though things haven't gone well for Hall when he's gotten a chance to play this season, the Vikings aren't closing the book on the BYU product. They're still expressing belief in his potential as an NFL quarterback.
"What we’ve got to go do for the sake of Jaren’s development is pour into him and make sure he knows this is not, by any means, a period on the end of what we think of Jaren Hall," head coach Kevin O'Connell said this week. "The decision was made to go with Jaren for a lot of reasons, one of which was we were excited about what Jaren’s potential is and we wanted to give him an opportunity. We’ll take a look at it and make sure Jaren knows the areas where he needs to improve during this week, during the offseason, during his path to getting to where he's going to become the player we know he can become."
Hall came into Sunday's game with solid career numbers, having completed 8 of 10 passes for 101 yards in limited action in Green Bay and Atlanta. The Vikings elected to play him over Mullens because they believed he was ready for the moment. That didn't pan out. Hall's second attempt of the day was an errant pass that was tipped and intercepted, and he finished the half 5 of 10 for 67 yards. He also took three sacks, losing a fumble on the third.
"I think Jaren will be the first to tell you there were some things in the game, that during his preparation, during the practice reps, he probably handled a little bit cleaner, a little bit better, as far as having his eyes in the right spot and knowing where his first progressions were," O'Connell said.
Hall said after the game that if he was the coach, he "would've made the same decision" to bench him for Mullens at halftime. He said he just couldn't get into a rhythm for whatever reason.
"Sometimes you gotta learn the hard way, and that'll be the case tonight for me," Hall said. Hopefully years from now, looking back, this'll be something that I grow from and become a much better player because of."
Ultimately, it's not exactly surprising that a fifth-round rookie struggled in an elevated situation like a primetime rivalry game with huge stakes. What he has to do now is learn from it and continue to develop. Even if it's unclear when — if ever — Hall will get another regular season start, he still has an opportunity to at least try to prove himself as a capable backup-caliber QB.
"I still have confidence in Jaren moving forward and in his development," O'Connell said. "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."
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