Jaren Hall will start for Minnesota Vikings in Week 17
Jaren Hall is getting his number called again.
The rookie quarterback out of BYU will start for the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday against the Green Bay Packers, coach Kevin O’Connell told reporters Thursday.
Minnesota has been forced to explore its quarterback options after losing starter Kirk Cousins for the season to a torn Achilles in late October.
Hall started the first game in Cousins’ absence on Nov. 5 but didn’t last a quarter after suffering a concussion. He completed 5 of 6 passes for 78 yards before exiting the Nov. 5 game.
Since then, Minnesota has used journeyman Josh Dobbs and Nick Mullens at quarterback, though both have had turnover issues that ultimately led to their benchings.
Before Minnesota’s plans for the QB position were unveiled this week, star wide receiver Justin Jefferson shared his thoughts on the rookie Hall.
“I feel like Jaren is definitely a great quarterback. He has definitely some potential to spark this offense up if we put him out there to play. But we’ll have confidence in whoever,” Jefferson said Wednesday, according to ESPN’s Kevin Seifert.
The Vikings have lost four of their past five games and are now 7-8 on the season — though they still have postseason hopes, the team’s playoff odds are long and will require Minnesota winning both of its final two games and getting some help.
Dobbs, who started eight games for the Arizona Cardinals this season before being traded to the Vikings, took over after Hall suffered the concussion against the Atlanta Falcons and helped Minnesota to a 31-28 win.
He went 2-2 as the Vikings’ starter and has completed nearly 63% of his passes for 895 yards and five touchdowns this year for Minnesota, though he threw four interceptions in a loss at Chicago and was eventually replaced the next week in a 3-0 win over the Las Vegas Raiders.
Mullens started the past two games for Minnesota and while he threw for more than 700 yards and four touchdowns, he also threw six interceptions in a pair of losses, including one in the final minute last Sunday in a six-point loss to the Detroit Lions.
Hall was a fifth-round draft pick by the Vikings back in the spring. He started 25 games at BYU and was the team’s starter during the 2021 and 2022 seasons while throwing for 6,174 yards, 52 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in his five-year college career.
Both the Vikings and Packers, with identical 7-8 records, are fighting to stay in the playoff race. Sunday’s game will kick at 6:20 p.m. MST and be televised on NFL Network.
The winner of Sunday’s game will see their playoff odds increase to more than 50% (51% for Minnesota and 56% for Green Bay, according to the NFL), the loser will have a lower-than-5% chance of making the postseason.
With Hall starting, that also means that a former BYU quarterback will face a former Utah State quarterback, first-year Packers starter Jordan Love, with huge implications on the line.
Hall and Love faced each other once in college, when the Cougars beat the Aggies 42-14 in 2019.
Hall started for BYU that day and completed 12 of 16 passes for 214 yards while running for 54 yards and two touchdowns, though he suffered a concussion just before halftime and was replaced by Baylor Romney.
Love, after leading Utah State a win over BYU the previous season, had a rough day. He completed 29 of 49 passes for 394 yards and a touchdown but also threw three interceptions.
