It’s Nick Mullens Time

Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell announced yesterday that Nick Mullens will be the starting quarterback against the Cincinnati Bengals on Saturday. Josh Dobbs had a four-game run as the Vikings starter. The beginning of that run was great and fun. Two wins. Three, if you count the game he entered after Jaren Hall departed. The end of the run wasn’t so great or fun. Two losses. Mullens replaced Dobbs with about 10 minutes to play against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday. Mullens guided the team to a field goal on his second possession. Those three points were the only points that they needed to win. The Vikings offense was terrible and out of sync for nearly all of their Week 12 loss to the Chicago Bears. The Week 13 bye did nothing to get Dobbs back on track as the offense was terrible and out of sync against the Raiders. Mullens triggered a change. He brought a rhythm, some crispness. He was accurate and on time with his throws. It wasn’t difficult to see that the Vikings need Mullens on the field. It’s time. 

Nick Mullens was acquired just before the start of the 2022 season to be QB2. With a similar sort of play, he looked and felt like the perfect backup to Kirk Cousins. Seeing as the Vikings starting quarterback never misses a start, it seemed like a fairly insignificant move. That all changed when Cousins was lost for the season in Week 8. His Achilles popped on the spongy Lambeau turf. Mullens had been acquired to be the next man up if Cousins went down. Unfortunately, Mullens was dealing with a “tweaked” back. He’d been rehabbing that back while on injured reserve since Week 5. QB2 wasn’t available to be QB1. The Vikings had to scramble. Rookie fifth-round pick Jaren Hall was named the starter for the Week 9 game against the Atlanta Falcons. For depth and perhaps more, the Vikings acquired Josh Dobbs from the Arizona Cardinals at the trade deadline. Hall suffered a concussion at the end of his second possession against the Falcons and Dobbs was forced into the game. Initially, he played like a quarterback with only a handful of practices with his new team. He didn’t even know the names of most of his new teammates. It was ugly. Then, something flipped in the second half and he engineered a miracle comeback and win. He had an excellent game against the New Orleans Saints in the Week 10 win. Dobbs was becoming a legend and the Vikings were on fire. Then he and the team fell back to reality. Dobbs was so-so and turnover-prone in a loss to the Denver Broncos in Week 11. Since then, he and the Vikings offense have been terrible. Thankfully, the Vikings defense has been outstanding. 

During the good and bad run of Josh Dobbs, Nick Mullens had gotten healthy. By the time that he was needed, he was ready. This was the way it was supposed to be when Cousins was lost for the season. No team is ever ready to lose their starting quarterback. No matter the quality of QB2, things rarely end well when QB1 isn’t available. There are scattered success stories across league history. Earl Morrall, Doug Williams, Jeff Hostetler, and Nick Foles immediately come to mind. The Vikings made the best of a terrible situation. While his run ended ugly, Dobbs came through when the Vikings were desperate. Those improbable wins against the Falcons and Saints might’ve saved the season. His high moments were a lot of fun. The Vikings are 3-2 since they lost Cousins. It could easily have been 0-5. Dobbs is a big reason it isn’t. 

The Vikings have four remaining games.

@ Cincinnati Bengals

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

@Detroit Lions

The Lions have a two-game lead over the Vikings in the NFC North. If the Vikings can win out, they win the division. It’s a difficult four-game stretch. Nick Mullens will guide his team through it. If the Vikings defense keeps playing like it has, he doesn’t have to light up the scoreboard. It sure would be nice if he does.