The Minnesota Vikings have been fighting to stay in playoff contention against all odds for much of the season, but they may have been dealt a finishing blow in Week 17 with a 33-10 loss to the Green Bay Packers. Along the way, rookie quarterback Jaren Hall was benched by Kevin O’Connell, which was the latest bump in the road in what’s been a strange rookie campaign for him.
Hall has played in three games this season, with two of them being starts, but in the first start he was knocked out with a concussion, and then in this one against the Packers, he was pulled at halftime in favor of Nick Mullens. It certainly wasn’t a great look for Hall, but O’Connell wanted to make it a point of emphasis that Minnesota isn’t giving up on him just because of this benching.
Ever since Kirk Cousins suffered a torn Achilles, the Vikings quarterback situation has been a complete mess. They’ve pieced things together with Hall, Mullens, and Joshua Dobbs, but three straight losses have pushed their playoff hopes to the brink. While they are still alive as the ten seed in the NFC headed into Week 18, they have just a three percent spot to sneak in and clinch one of the final spots.
Jaren Hall was dealt a tough hand by drawing the start in Week 17, but Kevin O’Connell makes it clear that the Vikings aren’t going to cast him to the side and forget about him because of these struggles. Not many young quarterbacks would succeed when getting thrown into the fire like Hall was here, and while he almost certainly won’t start in Week 18, this likely isn’t the last time we have seen him take the field for Minnesota.
More must-reads: