Nobody will blame Joshua Dobbs for locking into Justin Jefferson on third-and-four. The Minnesota Vikings were deep in Las Vegas Raiders territory on their third drive, trying to break a 0-0 tie. Dobbs lobbed the ball over the middle – a little late and a skosh high. Jefferson leaped for it, reaching into the Vegas sky as the ball hurdled over the middle of the field.
Former Vikings sixth-rounder Marcus Epps slammed into Jefferson’s body, trying to disrupt the pass. Jefferson felt pain on impact but wanted to continue to play. A hamstring injury had kept him out since Week 5, and he had only played 13 snaps in Vegas. But Minnesota’s medical team examined him under the blue tent and decided to send him to the hospital as a precautionary measure.
Naturally, he wanted to see how the Vikings were doing in his absence. So, he whipped out his phone as the ambulance sirens blared and kept watching as he entered the hospital. There, he underwent tests for internal bleeding or broken ribs. Jefferson said he was initially scared when the medical staff sent him to the hospital, and he “broke down a little bit” knowing he was injured again. But his mood shifted while he watched the team in the emergency room.
“I was yelling, I was screaming,” he said. “The people that were really hurt [in the ER], they probably were annoyed by me.”
Jefferson saw what we all saw. Dobbs went 10/23 for 63 yards, and Kevin O’Connell turned to Nick Mullens with 9:10 left in the game to try and break the scoreless tie. Mullens hit T.J. Hockenson deep over the middle for 26 yards with his first pass and finished 9 of 13 for 83 yards. Mullens operated the offense more efficiently than Dobbs. His passes were crisper and more on time. He looked like the quarterback Minnesota traded for to be Kirk Cousins’ backup two training camps ago.
So why is it vox populi called for Jaren Hall or Dobbs following the bye? Sports Illustrated’s Will Ragatz ran a poll after Dobbs went 22/32 for 185 yards and threw four picks in Minnesota’s 12-10 loss to the Chicago Bears. Hall received 68.3% of the vote. Dobbs finished second with 20.1%. Ragatz entered his name into the mix and received as many votes (5.8%) as Mullens. Ragatz probably should get to take some garbage-time snaps for receiving as much support as the Vikings’ Week 15 starter.
Alas, the people have spoken and are not so keen on Mullens.
We can’t unsee what we’ve seen. In an alternate universe, Mullens doesn’t suffer a back injury, and he enters the Week 8 Green Bay Packers game in place of Cousins. Assuming he plays well and remains healthy, the Vikings never trade for Dobbs, and Hall remains on the sidelines. Hall may still be Minnesota’s most popular quarterback, but the young backup is almost always a fan favorite. Still, it’s different seeing him on the gridiron. We saw the rollout pass to Hockenson, and we saw him complete five passes for 78 yards before suffering an injury in Atlanta. We can’t unsee that.
Nobody will forget Dobbs entering the Atlanta Falcons game days after arriving in Minnesota, either. He hadn’t practiced with the first-team offense, yet led the Vikings to a 31-28 victory. The Passtroanut took flight. O’Connell acted as his ground control, explaining Minnesota’s offense through Dobbs’ headset 15 seconds at a time. Dobbs followed up his win in Atlanta by beating the New Orleans Saints before re-entering orbit in Denver and crash-landing on Monday night against Chicago.
Mullens represents a known. We know he went 5-12 as a starter. Sixteen of those starts came with the San Francisco 49ers, where former Mr. Irrelevant Brock Purdy has taken over Kyle Shanahan’s offense and has had success. Mullens has thrown 27 touchdowns and 23 picks in his career, meaning he’s not as careful with the ball as Cousins, even if they share similar traits. And at age 28, Mullens is not a promising rookie like Hall, nor does he have Dobbs’ athleticism and rocket-science intellect.
Dobbs allowed us to imagine for a minute. The Passtronaut. A quarterback with Ferrari wheels and 12 cylinders between the ears. He may have been 1-7 as a starter in Arizona and a 3-11 career record. But his performance in Atlanta and NASA background let our minds drift into the great beyond. Hall may be a 25-year-old rookie out of BYU, but he’s poised. He has arm strength and athleticism. He has potential.
Mullens is Minnesota’s best choice right now. The Vikings can’t go with Dobbs again after two poor performances, and Hall is a developmental quarterback who’s too green. Mullens is the veteran they chose to back up Cousins in case he gets hurt. He knows the offense. Just because we’ve seen Dobbs take off and glimmers of hope with Hall doesn’t mean they can be a replacement for Cousins. Sometimes, the most straightforward answer is the best one. Sometimes, it makes sense to go with his backup.
