The Minnesota Vikings came up short against the Cincinnati Bengals, failing to convert a fourth-and-1 situation in overtime to extend their drive. Instead, they watched the Bengals march 46 yards to get in position for a game-winning field goal.
To even get into that position, though, they road an up-and-down performance from quarterback Nick Mullens, who was making his first start for the Vikings.
Mullens completed 78.8% of his passes for 303 yards and two touchdowns against the Bengals.
He also threw a pair of interceptions that had NBC Sports’ Mike Florio calling for Jaren Hall during the game. Florio previously predicted that Mullens wouldn’t last long in the role. But Justin Jefferson had his quarterback’s back in the locker room.
“Nick did a fantastic job today,” Jefferson said via Fox 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul. “Especially … with the week of preparation, him being the starting quarterback. And I feel like he came out today with confidence. And I feel like we were all together, and he leaned on each one of us to help him throughout the game. So he did a fantastic job.”
Mullens was driving the offense when the drive stalled at the Bengals’ 42-yard line. The Vikings went for it on fourth down. But their attempt at the “tush push” fell short.
Considering that running back Ty Chandler had a spectacular day, some fans questioned the play. Nonetheless, Jefferson gave his assurance that they felt happy with the play call, which put Brandon Powell, a fellow wide receiver, in the pusher role.
But Jefferson evaluated Mullens on more than just that one play (or the one before it).
“It’s kind of been something that’s been with us for a couple of these games that we lose,” Jefferson said. “We just got to keep looking at the drawing board, keep thinking about the things that we need to fix. But there’s a lot of things that we can take away from this game on the positive side.
“Nick coming in and making some big tremendous plays for us, was able to communicate good, and everybody was on the same page,” continued Jefferson. “We just need to those few minor errors that we have. I feel like we played pretty good though.”
Jefferson was playing in his first game with Mullens at quarterback. He returned from an eight-week absence due to injury in Week 14. But he was knocked out of the contest before Mullens entered in relief of Josh Dobbs.
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