While it has been a rollercoaster for the Minnesota Vikings and their quarterback carousel, add another development to the list as rookie Jaren Hall was announced as the starting signal-caller by head coach Kevin O'Connell. Vikings fans might have not seen this type of changes coming as they for sure thought that Kirk Cousins would not suffer a season-ending Achilles injury.
However, after trading for Joshua Dobbs and giving Nick Mullens a shot, Hall will be the next one to maybe provide some juice to this Minnesota team heading into Sunday's game against the Green Bay Packers. He spoke to the media Friday about the opportunity and mentioned how important preparation has been for him according Senior Editor Craig Peters of the Vikings website.
“There's a process for everybody. You've just got to take every opportunity you're given,” Hall said. “For me, being on practice squad and giving our defense [looks] every day the last couple of weeks has been great. With that, you're always preparing.”
His debut will have nothing short of national attention as the contest against the Packers will be on Sunday Night Football. Hall has been in game-time before as his debut came in Week 8 and funny enough, it was against Green Bay. Hall talked about the limited time he had on the field and the mistakes he has made. He acknowledged that turnovers and events relating to it, but reflects that every player goes through that, but it is about learning from those mistakes.
“There's lots of different reasons why turnovers happen, fumbles, interceptions, whatever it is,” Hall said. “Everyone who has played the game has succumbed to that at one point or another, and you just focus on it all week and try to be better at it.
Vikings' Hall honest heading into start
While Hall has the confidence Vikings fans can come to enjoy, the rookie out of BYU is honest as he said that “everything is a work in progress.” He also admitted he doesn't have a “great handle on everything yet” since he has to play a game and he talked about learning from players like Cousins and Dobbs according to the Vikings website.
“I think everything is still a work in progress. I'm still in my first season. I can't say I've got a great handle on anything yet because I've got to go play a game and see what happens, but I'm always confident in what I'm able to do and the coaching, they've developed me at this point,” Hall said. “I understand the offense more, learning behind Kirk and Nick and Josh when he joined us. It's been great, so I think I've gotten better in every area since I first got here, but there's obviously a lot to still prove.”
O'Connell talks about Hall's preparation
Sunday will be his second start of the season as he got the nod in Week 9 against the Atlanta Falcons, but would not finish the game as he suffered from a concussion. The announcement made by O'Connell came at a time where the team needed a jolt at quarterback as he said that Hall had a “few great weeks of preparation” and that he is excited to see the what he can do.
“He's had a few great weeks of preparation, and I look forward to seeing what Jaren can do,” O'Connell said. “There's a lot of reasons we brought Jaren in here, having to do with his ability and what we look forward to seeing come to life on Sunday night. I also want to just say I thought Nick Mullens, as explosive as we were as an offense, helping us get 24 points in back-to-back games, he knows — I had a great conversation with both of those guys throughout the week, a lot of dialogue but — we have to maintain possession of the football, and the turnover margin has been well talked about all season long. It just felt like at this time, giving Jaren a full week of preparation and clearcut mindset on the game plan, I'm excited to see what Jaren can ultimately do.”
O'Connell says Hall is comfortable
Nick Mullens has started the last three games and had back-to-back games where he threw for over 300 and 400 yards respectively. However, Mullens threw for four interceptions in last weekend's game against the Detroit Lions which shut down a ton of opportunities for the team to score. O'Connell said he feels comfortable with Hall as he put in work through the time he wasn't starting games.
“It's just we've had some really critical, weighty downs, third down, red zone third downs, type of turnovers that's made it really hard to overcome to win football games,” O'Connell said. “Jaren, it's really going to be his second start. What made me feel comfortable with this was knowing how Jaren has put in the work throughout this time, even the past couple of weeks with being the No. 2 and how he's really taken advantage of that and the comfort he feels in the game plan, and then really getting the game plan put together in a way where no matter who plays quarterback we can really talk about what it's going to take to win the game and that position clearly having a big part of it, but it's about the other 10 guys in the huddle and how we play in all three phases as a team.”
Looking back at the Vikings' earlier matchup against Green Bay
O'Connell even goes back to Hall's debut against the Packers earlier in the season and said the team did “a lot of good things” and states that Minnesota as a whole has a lot of confidence in Hall and his abilities to lead.
“You go back to our game at Lambeau, I thought we did that,” O'Connell said. “I thought we did a lot of really good things as a team, from the standpoint of complementing one another, the Metellus interception and the next play to Jordan Addison. Things that made a lot of our football philosophy and how we intended to play this year really come to life. I think that should give our guys a lot of confidence, and I know the guys on the team have a lot of confidence in Jaren because of how he works and what he's been like every single day.”
The Vikings are 7-8 on the season as they look to end the year off on a good note where they will get the opportunity to face the Packers at home. Afterwards, they end the season against the Lions, but knowing Minnesota, the starting quarterback for that game could be a mystery.
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