Kevin O'Connell Doesn't Commit to Josh Dobbs as Vikings' QB After Bye
After Josh Dobbs threw four interceptions in the Vikings' ugly 12-10 loss against the Bears on Monday night, head coach Kevin O'Connell declined to explicitly commit to Dobbs as the team's starting quarterback when they travel to face the Raiders following their upcoming bye week.
"We're going to take a look, really evaluate the inventory of plays we have of Josh," O'Connell said when asked if he'll consider a QB change. "We got healthy, we got Jaren (Hall) back available to us and then Nick Mullens is available as well."
Just a couple weeks ago, Dobbs' remarkable play was one of the biggest stories in the NFL. Hall's concussion against the Falcons in Week 9 thrust Dobbs into action just days after he joined the Vikings, and his unbelievable performance in a comeback victory resulted in him being named the NFC offensive player of the week. The following week, he torched the Saints for 24 first-half points in another victory.
Last week against the Broncos wasn't quite as smooth; Dobbs scored two touchdowns but also turned the ball over twice in a one-point loss. This week, in another primetime game, it all came crashing down. Dobbs was completely held in check as a runner and threw for 185 yards with one touchdown and four picks as the Vikings fell to a bad Bears team at home. He now has eight turnovers in four games with Minnesota.
"I'm frustrated with myself," Dobbs said. "I'll be better from it, I'll learn from every single one of them tonight. ... I know I can play better football. I'm excited for the next opportunity to show that."
O'Connell said it got to a point where he considered putting Mullens into the game. Hall was inactive as the team's emergency third quarterback, meaning he only would've been eligible to play if Dobbs and Mullens were both injured. But O'Connell's decision to stick with Dobbs after INT No. 4 paid off, as he led the Vikings to their only touchdown in the fourth quarter to take the lead at 10-9.
"It started to get to the point where, I was just trying to think almost what would give us a spark," O'Connell said. "We got the sudden change on that turnover and then Josh took us down the field for a touchdown. As much as the turnovers absolutely cripple you offensively, I still thought Josh battled. No flinch, and just kept playing and competing to try to help us win. I really credit him for that. It's tough to do on a night where you've turned the ball over with some interceptions here and there, just to keep playing. This guy's a competitor."
"We'll take a look at everything," added O'Connell, who said there were some play calls he wishes he could have back.
This was the type of outing that might explain why Dobbs — for as well as he played in his first couple games with the Vikings — has been on three teams this year and seven in his career. He made poor decisions, his timing was off, and he was inaccurate with the football. Dobbs only ran twice for 11 yards and was ineffective as a pocket passer, throwing interception after interception. There were a couple unlucky deflected bounces, sure, but the Bears also dropped a possible pick-six in the first half. Dobbs simply put the ball into harm's way far too often on a night where the Vikings really struggled to sustain drives.
"You're hoping to get some explosives via the play-pass, keeper game, maybe a screen or two, and not make it such a dropback game," O'Connell said. "They just wouldn't let Josh's athleticism really get started on any of that stuff, they kept him contained in there pretty good. We've gotta try to have a little bit more rhythm to our passing game, where (Josh's) feet and eyes are tied together, guys are showing up along with the progressions. We'll continue to build comfort with that."
The fact that the Vikings didn't turn to Mullens at all during this game suggests that they're unlikely to give the veteran backup an opportunity after the bye. Going back to Hall, on the other hand, feels like something that can't fully be ruled out. The rookie out of BYU has been around this offense all year and looked good on the drive before his concussion in Atlanta.
Could the Vikings consider seeing what they have in Hall? It's a possibility. The other option is to let Dobbs learn from this and continue to get more comfortable in the offense over the bye week, knowing the Vikings are about to get Justin Jefferson back from his hamstring injury. The argument for letting Dobbs keep playing would be to not overreact to one dud performance as he continues to learn the offense.
"Look, I think what Josh Dobbs has done coming in here on short notice, going 2-2 in a stretch where a lot of people might've thought, with Kirk Cousins and Justin Jefferson being out, the deck stacked against us — that's not the way this team thinks," O'Connell said. "That's not the way we operate, that's not the way I operate. We're trying to go out and win every football game we play. We're going to evaluate what we've been able to do, things we need to get better at. We'll take a look at what that looks like. Hopefully we'll get Justin back — he was close tonight. Getting him back, anytime you can infuse that into your offense, it makes everybody around him better. We'll take a look at everything. We've got a lot of work to do during the bye."
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