Only three players in NFL history have had more passing yards in their first 19 starts than Minnesota Vikings quarterback Nick Mullens.

With 5,266 passing yards in that span, the former Spain Park High School star trails Patrick Mahomes, Kurt Warner and Justin Herbert. Mahomes with the Kansas City Chiefs and Herbert with the Los Angeles Chargers are current quarterbacks with Pro Bowl selections on their resumes. Warner is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Mullens is preparing to make his 20th NFL start on Sunday – more than five years after he made his first.

Minnesota coach Kevin O’Connell announced on Wednesday the Vikings would return to Mullens as their quarterback for their regular-season finale against the Detroit Lions. It’s a game that Minnesota must win as the first requirement of the NFL team’s slim playoff hopes.

Minnesota started three quarterbacks in December, including Mullens twice. He also came on in relief twice.

“Nick has been very effective moving the team,” O’Connell said when announcing his quarterback decision on Wednesday. “We’ve been very explosive as an offense when he’s been in there. Nick knows that the one area that we must focus on is possession of the football and not giving the football away. Really on some of those weighty type downs – third down, two-minute – when we’re kind of in that throw mode, he’s got to be a great decision-maker, trust in the other 10 guys to do their jobs at a really high level and try to overcome being on the road in a great atmosphere against a defense that’s playing really, really good football.”

The Vikings’ QB carousel started when Kirk Cousins suffered an Achilles-tendon injury in the eighth game of the season on Oct. 29. Mullens would have entered the Minnesota lineup when Cousins went down for the season, but the Vikings had placed him on injured reserve on Oct. 11 with a back ailment.

With Cousins and Mullens sidelined, fifth-round rookie Jarren Hall went into the lineup at quarterback. But after 15 snaps in his first start, Hall left to be examined for a concussion. That left Minnesota with Josh Dobbs to play quarterback. Dobbs started eight games for Arizona this season, but with Kyler Murray on the way back from injured reserve, the Cardinals traded Dobbs to the Vikings on Oct. 31.

Without any practice reps, Dobbs came in for Hall and led Minnesota to a 31-28 victory over the Atlanta Falcons on Nov. 5. After a week of practice, Dobbs won again when the Vikings beat the New Orleans Saints 27-19 on Nov. 12. But losses to the Denver Broncos and Chicago Bears followed, and Minnesota was tied with the Las Vegas Raiders 0-0 on Dec. 10 when Mullens saw his first action of the season in relief of Dobbs.

On his second possession at the helm, Mullens guided Minnesota on a 56-yard, 13-play drive that ended with Greg Joseph’s 36-yard field goal on the first play after the two-minute warning. Mullens completed three third-down passes during the series, which led to the Vikings’ 3-0 victory.

That elevated Mullens into the starting lineup the next week. He completed 26-of-33 passes for 303 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions in Minnesota’s 27-24 overtime loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, who pulled the game out on a touchdown with 39 seconds left in the fourth quarter, then scoring in the extra period.

Mullens stayed in the lineup and completed 22-of-36 passes for 411 yards with two touchdowns and four interceptions the next week. Mullens posted one of the NFL’s six 400-yard passing games this season, but he also had one of the four four-interceptions games as the Vikings lost to the Detroit Lions 30-24 on Dec. 24.

“I think he’s got a good feel for the principles of the offense and a lot of reps logged as our backup over the last two years,” O’Connell said. “And as close as he is with Kirk, their preparation together, whether Nick was playing or not, always was pretty top-shelf. We knew we could rely on him to go in the game and move the team, just as he’s played and gotten real competitive reps. Every game he’s started were very competitive, all the way down to the end, and you look back on those two or three, four plays here and there that if we can just maintain possession of the football, what would that mean for our team on that drive?”

Mullens has 27 interceptions in his 19 starts. Warner’s 19 interceptions are the most among the trio ahead of him in passing yards.

Minnesota turned back to Hall on Sunday night. But with the Vikings trailing the Green Bay Packers 10-0 at halftime and the rookie quarterback 5-of-10 for 67 yards with one interception and a lost fumble, Minnesota switched to Mullens in the second half. Mullens completed 13-of-22 passes for 113 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions, but the Packers posted a 33-10 victory.

Mullens will get another shot at the Detroit defense on Sunday when the Vikings visit the Lions at noon CST.

Detroit has clinched the NFC North and a home playoff game. Minnesota’s three-game losing streak has dropped the Vikings to 7-9 and all but extinguished their postseason opportunity. But there’s still a chance.

For Minnesota to make the NFC playoff field, the Vikings must beat the Lions, the Packers must lose to the Chicago Bears, the Seattle Seahawks must lose to the Arizona Cardinals and the New Orleans Saints or Tampa Bay Buccaneers must lose. The Saints play the Atlanta Falcons and the Buccaneers play the Carolina Panthers.

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