Vikings Make the Final Decision Regarding QB Start Against Raiders
After the team’s bye last week, head coach of the Minnesota Vikings Kevin O’Connell struggled for days to decide who should start under center. He arrived on Wednesday, December 6.
In a press conference, O’Connell declared that Josh Dobbs will start at quarterback for the Vikings on December 10 in Sin City when they play the Las Vegas Raiders.
“On Sunday, we’re going to start Josh Dobbs in the football game,” O’Connell declared. “We are very happy with the plan we have for Josh.”
O’Connell went with Dobbs over rookie Jaren Hall, who suffered a concussion in the first quarter of his first start against the Atlanta Falcons approximately a month ago, and Nick Mullens, who started the season as Kirk Cousins’ backup.
Mullens missed several weeks of action in early October due to a back injury. O’Connell did state that the quarterback has increased his game and is ready to play against the Raiders if needed.
O’Connell stated, “Nick Mullens will be ready to go.”
Josh Dobbs, according to Kevin O’Connell, deserves the respect of teammates and coaches
Following two straight losses in which Dobbs threw a total of five interceptions, O’Connell made his decision.
Nine days ago, on Monday Night Football in primetime at home against the Chicago Bears, he threw four of those picks. The Bears were able to win that game without a touchdown for the first time in thirty years as Minnesota was defeated 12–10.
However, O’Connell stated on Wednesday that it was critical that Dobbs sensed the head coach’s belief, adding that the team still has faith in Dobbs’ ability to lead Minnesota to victory in the closing minutes.
The Vikings make the playoffs at the end of the journey, no matter how that success manifests itself. Minnesota currently has an 8.5-8.5 record according to ESPN’s Football Power Index, which gives the team a 50/50 chance to win nine games. Nine victories is presumably the magic number for any NFC Wildcard candidate, as demonstrated by the Vikings’ 49.6% postseason probability as of Wednesday, according to FPI.
Josh Dobbs Could Be the Vikings’ Bench’s Only Mistake or Two
When he informed Dobbs that he would be the starting quarterback in Las Vegas, O’Connell claimed to have seen the excitement on his face. In order to assist the quarterback in reducing his mistakes, O’Connell went on to say that he thinks the offensive team can game plan more skillfully.
On Wednesday, the composed O’Connell expressed his public confidence in the starting quarterback by saying everything that one might anticipate a head coach to say in that regard. O’Connell did, however, soften that assurance a little with a few more remarks and support the two players who were left off of the starting lineup for Sunday’s match.
The coach remarked, “I think we have three quarterbacks we can win football games with.”
Given that Dobbs continues to complete passes to players donning the opposing uniform, as demonstrated by O’Connell’s decision to leave open-ended the question of who would start going forward as the Vikings headed into their bye last week, that assertion may be put to the test early.
That man is Dobbs as of this Wednesday. However, as the year marked by extreme swings in momentum and demoralizing injuries attested, Vikings supporters should be prepared for anything during the season’s final five games.
