Some Vikings Fans Are Ready to Go Back to the Rookie
It won’t happen, but some Minnesota Vikings fans are ready.
The purple team lost at the Denver Broncos last weekend, a one-point defeat, 21-20, caused by three turnovers and a failed would-be game-winning drive in the 4th Quarter.
Some Vikings Fans Are Ready to Go Back to the Rookie
Indeed, quarterback Joshua Dobbs’ undisputed honeymoon hit the pause button, and now the bulk of the Vikings fanbase will hope he and the club bounce back this Monday night at home versus the Chicago Bears.
Interestingly, though, a handful of fans are ready to end the experiment. That’s right — some are ready to hand the scepter back to rookie passer Jaren Hall.
To be clear, the bench-Dobbs or back-to-Hall crowd isn’t large, but it is vociferous on social media. One popular X app account called Vikeologist tweeted Monday, “I’d start Jaren Hall next week if he’s healthy.”
“This isn’t an overreaction to Dobbs play tonight. I really liked what I saw from Hall. The Vikings might want to see more from the rookie they drafted during this time. I can see rationale either way {…} It gets interesting this week if Jaren Hall is cleared to play,” writer Dominique Clare tweeted after the Vikings’ loss in Denver.
Vikings fan Mike Fischetti added, “Dobbs is a fun story, but we saw last night his accuracy is a problem. Seems Jaren Hall is the more accurate thrower. Give Dobbs another shot against the Bears Monday night. If he makes mistakes and doesn’t look good, you gotta give Hall a shot coming out of the bye week IMO.”
And those commentaries, theories, and suggestions are just the tip of the iceberg. There’s a real faction, albeit small, of purple and gold fans who’d prefer a swap back to Hall when the youngster exits the NFL’s concussion protocol.
Why? Well, Dobbs’ ceiling — and the Vikings’ ceiling with Dobbs — is probably limited. While Dobbs’ addition to the offense is fun and electric, he likely isn’t in the plans to lead Minnesota all the way to February for a Super Bowl triumph. So, the idea goes — if the Vikings won’t win a Super Bowl with Dobbs, why not just play Hall to “see what you have?”
Of course, the they-won’t-win-the-Super-Bowl-so-why-does-it-matter mindset can be applied to almost every NFL team in a given season when it’s all said and done. The Vikings acquired Dobbs for a reason — to keep the enterprise afloat and possibly get frisky in the playoffs.
Yet, for the pro-Hall camp, it’s a golden opportunity to peek at his skillset and determine possible QB1 mettle. No one knows for sure if Hall was drafted to be a backup quarterback forever or if Kevin O’Connell + Kwesi Adofo-Mensah envisioned a QB1 ceiling for the BYU alumnus. The latter is a longshot, but at least he could “rule himself out” in 2023 after Kirk Cousins’ injury.
In the real world, social media theories be damned, Dobbs is emphatically the QB1 for Minnesota and would need two or three awful games to hand the playbook back to Hall.
Plus, that’s assuming Hall would be the guy at all in the event of a Dobbs injury or bench assignment. The official depth chart lists Nick Mullens as the team’s QB2.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sal Spice. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band).
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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