Minnesota Vikings Ring in the New Year With Disappointment in 33-10 Loss to Green Bay Packers

A late substitution of Nick Mullens for Jaren Hall didn't mean much in the Vikings embarrassing loss to the Packers on New Years Eve

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It seems that the Minnesota Vikings lost resolve instead of producing a New Year’s Resolution. Their 33-10 loss to the Green Bay Packers featured everything that could go wrong with their decision to bench Nick Mullens for Jaren Hall.

The Vikings couldn’t make a decision on quarterback all season and their indecisiveness bit them — Hall struggled all game. In the scant moments where Hall avoided bad play, he was victimized by drops or instant pressure.

And the defense, like for the last several weeks, couldn’t put the offense into a position to recapture the game. It was a failure all around, spotlighted by the regrettable quarterback situation.

That said, it’s impossible to create a winning scenario for the Vikings coaching staff, at least when it comes to the quarterback decision. The defense allowed six scores on just nine drives.

Thirty-three points is a fair amount, but it looks worse in the context of the small number of drives the Packers actually had. With 3.67 points per non-kneel drive, the Packers were on pace to score 45 points in a typical game scenario.

The short fields magnified the problems, but the Packers had six drives gain more than 50 yards. Three drives gained more than 60 yards. Hall did not force the Vikings to miss their tackles or void their zones.

The Quarterback Situation Dominated the Game

Much was made of the news that the Vikings would bench Mullens for Hall entering the week. Hall, who had been the third quarterback on the depth chart following training camp and throughout the season, would be allowed to prove his mettle after positive showings in relief of Cousins and starting against Atlanta.

It seems as if there was a reason the Vikings kept Hall third on the depth chart throughout the season — and a reason they felt the need to trade for a quarterback after Cousins’ and Mullens’ injury instead of relying on Hall and a practice squad backup.

The rest of the offense struggled along with Hall. Despite his late touchdown, Johnny Mundt was a liability more than an asset and had difficulty reeling in open passes or contested catches.

The Vikings adapted poorly to the fact that T.J. Hockenson, their second-best receiving option this year, would miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL and MCL. They still insisted on running two-tight end sets instead of looking at other options like three-receiver formations or inserting fullback C.J. Ham into the gameplan.

They were lucky to get Jordan Addison healthy for the game but neither he nor Justin Jefferson could provide the spark needed to keep the game alive — though Jefferson’s best chance was marred by inaccuracy from Hall on a deep pass, throwing inside when he should have thrown out.

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On 10 targets, Jefferson finished with only five receptions for just 59 yards. The brief moment of hope when Mullens started out the second half with a strike to Jefferson at the sideline didn’t mean much.

The offensive line didn’t do the Vikings many favors, either. While quarterbacks are often responsible for their own sacks, it’s tough to blame Hall for his three sacks, coming on just 13 dropbacks.

The tackles that are meant to be the foundation of the trenches, Brian O’Neill and Christian Darrisaw, both allowed pressures that turned into sacks. Garrett Bradbury got involved, too. Not only that, running back Ty Chandler allowed the third sack through after Quay Walker dusted him as a pass-rusher.

In that environment, turning from Hall to Mullens didn’t mean much.

Mullens did produce more, in a manner of speaking. Going from minus-1.06 EPA per play to minus-0.13 EPA per play is technically improvement. It’s not especially helpful. That’s particularly true when the two worst plays — the interception on a target to Mundt and the sack-fumble coming off of Darrisaw’s assignment — weren’t really Hall’s fault.

While Hall bears some responsibility for both — a more accurate pass to Mundt and more awareness of the pressure situation would have helped — the primary issue has more to do with bad luck and bad play from teammates. Without those plays, the difference between Hall and Mullens is negligible.

But Mullens produced touchdowns while Hall did not. Whether that’s a fair method of evaluation is another matter entirely.

The Defense Is Broken

On December 1, Kevin Seifert at ESPN published a piece about how excellent the Vikings defense has been and how they accomplished that goal. It’s an excellently reported piece and Seifert deserves plaudits for it.

But it remains the fact that, since then, the defense has collapsed.

The first three weeks were marked separately because, according to the piece, the Vikings made big adjustments to their scheme to start Week 4.

It could be a case of cosmic whiplash — the Vikings losing their stellar defense just as it gains recognition. It could also be a situation where the piece provided enough insight for opponents to dig into the nuances of the scheme to counter it in ways they couldn’t before.

That’s no knock on Seifert; he has no responsibility to the team other than being open and honest about what he’s doing. The team may have wanted to be a bit more tight-lipped, however.

It may also be the case that injuries complicated the issue for the Vikings. Losing starting linebacker Jordan Hicks, starting cornerback Byron Murphy and starting edge rusher D.J. Wonnum late in the season hurt the unit, even if they did get Hicks back in Week 16.

Hicks hasn’t looked good in his return from injury and the cornerback unit looks lost without Murphy. As starter Akayleb Evans struggles — and has since the Murphy injury — players like Mekhi Blackmon, Jay Ward, Andrew Booth Jr. and Jaylin Williams have played critical snaps and have been liabilities as well.

Pat Jones II has stepped up admirably in D.J. Wonnum’s absence but an already thin pass rush group looks even thinner without Wonnum, whose status as a starter is the product of another injury — one to Marcus Davenport.

That means the rotation must necessarily feature a player like Andre Carter II instead of allowing Jones to feature as a subpackage player.

Regardless of the reason, the defense struggled. The Vikings will wait to announce their starter for Week 18 but if they don’t figure out why their defense has given up at 27 or more points in each of their last three games, it won’t matter.

And technically, something is still on the line. If a Rube Goldberg-like set of dominoes fall, they could still make the playoffs.

Sure.