When Minnesota quarterback Kirk Cousins suffered a season-ending Achilles tendon injury on Oct. 29, the Vikings were in trouble. Minnesota not only lost a four-time Pro Bowl QB, but Cousins’ backup, Nick Mullens, had been on injured reserve since Oct. 11 because of a back injury.

On Wednesday, Mullens returned to practice, opening a 21-day window during which he can be restored to the Vikings’ active roster. But when Mullens suits up again, he won’t be riding to the rescue as the Vikings’ starting quarterback.

When Cousins got hurt, it elevated fifth-round rookie Jaren Hall. After making his NFL debut to finish the game in which Cousins got hurt, Hall made his first NFL start on Nov. 5 against the Atlanta Falcons.

But after 15 snaps, Hall left the game to be examined for a concussion. That left Minnesota with Josh Dobbs to play quarterback. Dobbs had started eight games for Arizona, but with Kyler Murray on the way from injured reserve, the Cardinals traded Dobbs to the Vikings on Oct. 31.

Without a single rep in a Minnesota practice, Dobbs completed 20-of-30 passes for 158 yards with two touchdowns – including one with 22 seconds to play — and no interceptions and ran for 66 yards and one touchdown in a 31-28 victory over Atlanta.

After a week of practice, Dobbs completed 23-of-34 passes for 268 yards with one touchdown with no interceptions and ran for 44 yards and one touchdown on eight carries in a 27-19 victory over the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.

When the Viking play the Denver Broncos at 7:20 p.m. CST Sunday, Dobbs will remain the starting quarterback, Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell said.

“Although we’re hoping to have Nick Mullens back soon and Jarren Hall is going to recover and return from the protocol here, I’m really not in the business of playing five or six quarterbacks this year,” O’Connell said on Tuesday. “We happen to like having Josh in the game for us right now, and he’s proven that we can win football games with him.”

Mullens signed a two-year contract extension on March 15 to stay with Minnesota rather than enter free agency. Mullens played in four games for the Vikings as Cousins’ backup in 2022 after Minnesota acquired him in a trade with the Las Vegas Raiders on Aug. 22, 2022.

“We’ll see where he’s at as the week goes on as possibly being up and activated as one of our quarterbacks for the game,” O’Connell said about Mullens on Wednesday. “… The hope is we have both Nick and Jarren, and then we could have three quarterbacks available.”

At Spain Park in Hoover, Mullens won the Gatorade Alabama Football Player of the Year Award for the 2012 season, when he threw for 3,649 yards and 40 touchdowns.

At Southern Miss, Mullens set records for career, single-season and single-game passing yards and career, single-season and single-game touchdown passes. Mullens won Conference USA’s Offensive Player of the Year Award for the 2015 season.

Mullens entered the NFL as an undrafted rookie in 2017, and he spent that season on the 49ers’ practice squad. Over the next three seasons, Mullens started 16 games when Jimmy Garoppolo was sidelined by injuries.

The 49ers started the 2018 season with Garoppolo at quarterback, but he suffered a season-ending injury in the third game. When Garoppolo’s replacement, C.J. Beathard, came up with a sore wrist, San Francisco put Mullens in the lineup, and he started the remainder of the season.

After he became the third player in NFL history with at least 250 passing yards and three touchdown passes without an interception in his NFL debut in a 34-3 victory over the Raiders on Nov. 1, 2018, Mullens completed 176-of-274 passes for 2,277 yards with 13 touchdowns and 10 interceptions for a 90.8 passer rating. San Francisco had a 3-5 record with Mullens at quarterback after going 1-7 in its first eight games in 2018.

In 2019, Garoppolo started every game for San Francisco, which won the NFC championship and played in Super Bowl LIV. Mullens took seven snaps and didn’t throw a pass in 2019.

In 2020, Mullens again started eight games in place of Garoppolo. Mullens completed 211-of-326 passes for 2,437 yards with 12 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.

Mullens’ 2020 season ended prematurely when he sustained an elbow injury in San Francisco’s 14th game. The 49ers did not re-sign Mullens, and he joined the Philadelphia Eagles as a free agent in the offseason.

The Cleveland Browns signed Mullens on Sept. 1, 2021, after he had been released by the Eagles. With Baker Mayfield and Case Keenum on reserve/COVID-19, Mullens started his only game of 2021 in a 16-14 loss to Las Vegas on Dec. 20, when he completed 20-of-30 passes for 147 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions.

After throwing 25 passes for the Vikings in 2022, Mullens has completed 428-of-655 passes for 5,085 yards with 27 touchdowns and 23 interceptions in 24 games, including 17 starts. Only eight quarterbacks in NFL history had more passing yards after their first 17 starts than Mullens.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.