At 7-6 and currently the NFC’s No. 6 seed, the Vikings will turn to Nick Mullens to start at quarterback against the Bengals on Sunday.
Mullens replaces Josh Dobbs, who started the last four contests but played the majority of the last five after arriving from Minnesota via midseason trade. While Dobbs started off hot, his play fell off dramatically in the Nov. 27 loss to Chicago and last Sunday’s 3-0 win over Las Vegas. Dobbs completed just 10-of-23 passes for 65 yards and took five sacks before he was replaced by Mullens in the second half.
After announcing the change in his Tuesday press conference, head coach Kevin O’Connell said he’s gotten the impression Dobbs understands why the team is making the change.
“Josh, for the better part of four games and three quarters there, led us to three wins and there’s a lot of teams in this league that when they do lose their starter, it takes a lot to overcome that and continue pressing onward,” O’Connell said. “The team we’re playing this week, they’re experiencing it right now and Jake Browning’s doing a lot of good things to lead them to some wins at the right time of the year. So, I think Josh understands the process and where we’ve been at.
“I think he has respect for the opportunity he had and some of the really good things he did, but I think in communicating with him and making sure he knows exactly what the thought process is, the idea was to make sure there’s full transparency with these guys. I do believe Nick Mullens gives us the best chance to win the football game this Saturday, and that’s the decision we’ve made.”
In his five appearances with Minnesota, Dobbs has completed 62.9 percent of his passes for 895 yards with five touchdowns and five interceptions. Overall this season, Dobbs has a 62.8 percent completion rate with 2,464 yards, 13 touchdowns, and 10 picks between eight games with the Cardinals and five with the Vikings.
