GREEN BAY, Wis. — It appears that rookie quarterback Jaren Hall is going to be the guy for the Vikings moving forward. He made his NFL debut on Sunday afternoon at Lambeau Field after starting quarterback Kirk Cousins suffered a significant injury.

Minnesota Vikings quarterback Jaren Hall answers questions during a press conference after an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers, Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023, in Green Bay, Wis. The Vikings won 24-10. (AP Photo/Matt Ludtke)

In relief, Hall finished 3 of 4 passing for 23 yards, which included a completion to tight end T.J. Hockenson that helped the Vikings put the finishing touches on a 24-10 victory over the Green Bay Packers.

“We needed him in the last bit there,” Hockenson said. “He stepped up. He was clear in the huddle. We have all the trust in the world in Jaren.”

If the Vikings are indeed without Cousins, who is feared to have torn his Achilles’ tendon, Hall is expected to be the starter in the short term.

“Whatever happens next week, I’ll be prepared,” Hall said. “That’s not up to me. I trust our coaches, and they’re going to do what’s best for this team. I’ve just got to do right by my  team and make sure I’m prepared.”

As soon as Cousins went down with 9 minutes, 50 seconds left, Hall immediately started taking snaps with center Garrett Bradbury on the Vikings’ sideline. Not long after that, Hall trotted onto the field for his first NFL snap.

“We were just kind of on our way,” Hall said. “I didn’t have a lot of time to think about it. Just kind of let the preparation and time before that kick in. Just tried to soak it all in one play at a time.”

Picked up in the fifth round of the 2023 draft, Hall was supposed to learn the ropes behind Cousins and veteran backup Nick Mullens. At least, that was the Vikings’ original plan.

Now he’s stepping into the spotlight with Cousins going down and Mullens on injured reserve with a back injury. Asked how prepared he feels to take over for the Vikings moving forward, Hall replied, “Very.” He then credited the coaching staff with helping him be ready for this moment.

“I pride myself on preparation,” Hall said. “I feel like I’m more than capable and ready to do whatever is asked of me.”

Talking to reporters postgame, head coach Kevin O’Connell praised Hall for his performance.

“It’s not easy to come in cold — legitimately cold — and get a couple of completions there,” O’Connell said. “The third-down completion to T.J. was big in the landscape of time and forcing them to use their timeouts. Every single offensive player told me (Hall) was very, very good with his communication, snap counts and cadence. I thought Jaren was incredibly cool, calm and collected.”

There’s a chance that the Vikings could turn to Mullens when he is activated from injured reserve. He certainly has more experience in the NFL.

“We have kind of been allowing Nick to rehab, and he has done a  really nice job with getting stronger,” O’Connell said. “I imagine he will be a real possibility for us.”

As of right now, O’Connell isn’t ready to commit to his starting quarterback for next week, which isn’t surprising considering he’s still coming to grips with the fact that he has lost Cousins.

“We will definitely talk about the best thing moving forward,” O’Connell said. “It is going to take our entire football team to rally around Kirk.”

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The Wild had a perfect opportunity to send their game with the New Jersey Devils into overtime on Sunday, drawing a high-sticking penalty on Eric Haula with 1 minute, 37 seconds remaining.

Minnesota had pulled goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury almost a minute earlier, and the Wild sent six skaters against four New Jersey penalty killers with the game on the line.

But Minnesota got only one shot on net, a quick slapshot from Kirill Kaprizov from the slot in the final seconds, and finished a three-game road trip with a 4-3 loss to New Jersey at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.

With time ticking away with under a minute remaining, Wild players passed to one another repeatedly, as if hesitant to shoot with the two-man advantage.

“We didn’t move, either,” head coach Dean Evason told reporters on the Bally North postgame show. “That’s what we’re disappointed with. We stood still and allowed them to collapse. … We just stood and tried to make plays in the area where they were standing.”

Jake Middleton pulled the Wild within one goal when he took a pass at the crease from Pat Maroon and slammed it in to make it 4-3 at 13:27, but Minnesota could never get the equalizer against Devils goaltender Vitek Vanecek.

In their first three-game trip of the season, the Wild went 0-2-1 in games at Philadelphia, Washington and New Jersey.

Ryan Hartman scored on a power play, and Maroon tied the score 1-1 when he finished on a breakaway, but Jesper Bratt scored two goals for the Devils and Vanecek stopped 30 shots.

The Wild (3-4-2) begin a two-game home stand with a 7 p.m. puck drop against the Devils on Thursday after earning just one point — in a shootout loss to the Capitals — on their trip east.

Fleury stopped 26 shots, including a 2-on-0 rush by Curtis Lazar and Michael McLeod, and a 2-on-1 chance by McLeod and Ondrej Palat to keep the Wild in it. But Minnesota could not capitalize on the two-man advantage late.

“Obviously, special teams, again, hurt us,” Evason told reporters. “We lose that battle and we can’t score at the end.”

The Wild now have just five goals in 36 power-play chances, and only three on 5 on 4.

Hartman’s goal 7 seconds into the Wild’s second chance gave them a 2-1 lead at 17:32 of the second period. But the Devils –- who started the game with the NHL’s best power play, connecting on 40 percent of their chances — scored two power-play goals among three unanswered in the second period for a 4-2 lead heading into the third period.

With Hartman in the box for slashing, Tyler Toffoli tied it with a power-play goal at 6:10, his seventh goal of the season. Just 44 seconds later, Haula intercepted a turnover by Vinni Lettieri near the Wild blue line, skated forward and ripped a slapshot that beat Fleury high for a 3-2 Devils lead.

With just more than 3 minutes left in the second, and Dakota Mermis in the box for high sticking, Bratt ended the New Jersey scoring with a snap shot from the left circle.

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GREEN BAY, Wis. — Once again, the Green Bay Packers’ offense showed up late to the party.

The Packers failed to score a first-half touchdown for the fifth consecutive game en route to a 24-10 loss to the Vikings on Sunday at Lambeau Field, their fourth straight defeat

After going three-and-out on their first four possessions, the Packers’ only first-half score came on Anders Carlson’s 30-yard field goal on the final play of the first half to pull within 10-3, but even that required a do-over.

Carlson hit the right upright on his first attempt, but Minnesota’s Jay Ward lined up in the neutral zone. The second-chance field goal means the Packers have been outscored 73-9 in the first half over the past five games, instead of 73-6.

“We’ve got to find out a way to convert a third down early in the game so you can run your offense,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “We’re running the two-minute offense for half the game. You don’t even get into what you work on all week and what you plan for. You can’t even get into your normal rhythm because you’re not moving the chains.

“That’s what’s disappointing,” LaFleur said. “You put all this time and effort into something, you come up with a plan, and you don’t even give yourself a chance to go execute it.”

Green Bay (2-5) managed 98 yards total offense before the break, with 73 coming on the final 14-play scoring drive. The Packers did not pick up their initial first down until just over four minutes left in the half.

The Packers also were penalized eight times for 69 yards before the intermission.

“You can go back and look at it, we didn’t make any plays those first couple of series,” Packers quarterback Jordan Love said. “We had opportunities. Had a couple of drops, a missed throw, the run game … we had third and one. It’s those little plays that we’re not making, we’re not capitalizing on.

“It’s obvious. It’s not like, what are we doing wrong? It’s obvious on the film,” Love said. “We’re just not executing.”

The Packers entered Sunday ranked last in first-half points per game with a 4.3-point average but tops in second-half scoring at 17.3 ppg. In each of the two previous losses, Green Bay came back to take the lead in the second half before losing, but the Packers didn’t accomplish that against the Vikings.

Minnesota extended its lead to 24-3 with a pair of third-quarter touchdowns, the second set up by an interception of Love, his fifth consecutive game with at least one pick.

Green Bay finally got on the TD scoreboard when Love hit Romeo Doubs on a 1-yard touchdown pass on fourth down with 2:39 left in the third quarter to pull within 24-10.

The Packers came away empty on a pair of red-zone opportunities in the fourth quarter.

After Greg Joseph’s 44-yard field-goal attempt was blocked, the Packers drove to get to second-and-5 at the Vikings’ 10, but Love threw three consecutive incompletions.

After Vikings starting quarterback Kirk Cousins left with an injury, backup Jaren Hall fumbled on a strip-sack, giving Green Bay a first down at the 15.

After a 1-yard run by A.J. Dillon, Love was sacked for a 7-yard loss, threw an incompletion, and then was stopped a yard short on a fourth-down scramble.

Love completed 24 of 41 passes for 229 yards with one touchdown, one interception and a passer rating of 72.1. Love has thrown four touchdowns with seven interceptions over the past four games.

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