Kirk Cousins is far from being a perfect quarterback. The veteran is, though, extremely efficient and solid, and he's one of the reasons why the Minnesota Vikings have had a prolific and consistent passing offense over the last few years. Since he got injured in week 8 against the Green Bay Packers, the situation has been a revolving door. And now, the Vikings are set to face the Packers again in a game that could define both teams' playoff hopes.

"I think it goes to show the world the type of player Kirk is," Vikings star receiver Justin Jefferson said. "At the end of the day, this is a tough league. Not everybody is meant for this job. It's tough not having No. 8 out there. The captain that he is, the leader that he is. He's a great player."

But right now, Cousins is out of the equation. For the next two games, against the Packers and Detroit Lions once again, head coach Kevin O'Connell will have to choose from the three guys they have.

Since week 9, three players have started games at quarterback for the Vikings: rookie Jaren Hall, recently-acquired Josh Dobbs, and veteran Nick Mullens. None of them has been particularly impressive, and even though Mullens has been able to put up big volume numbers, his big number of mistakes is a huge concern.

So let's check out the good and bad from each alternative.

Nick Mullens

Mullens finished the Las Vegas Raiders game, giving the team a spark in a crazy 3-0 win, and has started two games since. And he's been willing to throw some bombs away. He had 714 passing yards and four touchdowns combining his stats from games against the Cincinnati Bengals and Minnesota Vikings. But the interception number is insane too: six in two games, including a four-interception performance that probably cost the Vikings the Lions game. Against Detroit, he had a 79.5 passer rating.

Josh Dobbs

The veteran has been traded twice this year (from the Cleveland Browns to the Arizona Cardinals, and from the Cardinals to the Vikings), and started regular season games for two teams. With both of them, the story was similar. Dobbs started playing better than previously expected, but later turned back into a pumpkin.

In his first game for the Vikings, days after being acquired, he had a brilliant performance replacing an injured Jaren Hall against the Atlanta Falcons, leading the team to a big win. He was good against the New Orleans Saints as well, but came down to Earth over the following three weeks, especially against the Bears and Raiders — with two sub-60 passer rating games.

Jaren Hall

The fifth-round rookie was a dart from Kwesi Adofo-Mensah to develop behind Kirk Cousins. He had an opportunity to play right after Cousins got hurt. However, he had only eight plays combining the Packers game, when he took over in the second half, and the Falcons game he started. He was good against Atlanta, producing a 118.8 passer rating. But his individual performance wasn't that great — a 54.7 PFF grade, including a 62.5 passing grade. Anyway, the sample size is too small to take anything definitive out of it.

65 quarterbacks have participated on at least eight plays since week 9. Among them, where the Vikings quarterbacks are:

Nick Mullens (99 plays)

EPA+CPOE composite: 7th
EPA/play: 11th
Success rate: 17th
CPOE: 7th

Josh Dobbs (205 plays)

EPA+CPOE composite: 39th
EPA/play: 41st
Success rate: 40th
CPOE: 37th

Jaren Hall (8 plays)

EPA+CPOE composite: 4th
EPA/play: 4th
Success rate: 7th
CPOE: 3rd

Hall seems to have the highest upside and played better when he had the opportunity. He's also the only one who could potentially become a full-time starter in the future. Nonetheless, O'Connell knows this is a moment where changes can be dicey, and experience matters when the playoffs are on the line. It's a difficult circumstance, especially with the Vikings handling injuries on offense.

It was always going to be a tough situation for the Vikings without Kirk Cousins. Right now, though, Kevin O'Connell has a difficult decision to make, and there's not a definitive answer.

Video: Nick Mullens throws the craziest interception you’ll see

The Vikings were in the red zone