Ground control has unofficially landed quarterback Joshua Dobbs’ story in Minnesota.

Dubbed the “Passtronaut” due to his connections with NASA, Dobbs saw his folk hero success come crashing down on Monday Night Football vs the Chicago Bears.

The 28 year old, who was making his third start for the Vikings (but his fourth game), finishing the game with 22/32 passes completed for 185 yards, 1 touchdown, and an ugly 4 interceptions.

The Vikings offense mustered a mere 3 points through the first three quarters of the game, and ultimately lost 12-10 to Justin Fields and the Chicago Bears.

Not every interception was the fault of Dobbs; one of his picks was thrown in the direction of Jordan Addison, who should have caught the ball, but instead it bounced off of him and into the hands of the Bears.

Dobbs threw back to back interceptions in the second quarter, and did it again in the second half, getting picked late in the third and early on in the fourth.

He did not play with the same level of sharpness and accuracy that he did so far in his Vikings career.

Dobbs started the season with the Arizona Cardinals, where he started every game he was there while starter Kyler Murray was rehabbing from injury. He used that time in Arizona to really put himself on the map, after finally getting a chance to be a consistent starter in the NFL.

The former fourth round pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers had just two games of NFL starting experience prior to this year (both with Tennessee last year), but he gained a massive following as he shined in Arizona despite the Cardinals’ poor record.

At the trade deadline, with starting QB Kirk Cousins out for the year, the Vikings swung a trade to bring Dobbs in, along with a seventh round pick, in exchange for a sixth rounder.

Dobbs replaced Jaren Hall back in Week 9, leading the Vikings to an electrifying 31-28 win over the Atlanta Falcons.

He earned the start the next game, throwing for 268 yards and a touchdown in Minnesota’s 27-19 win over the New Orleans Saints.

Dobbs still looked good against the Denver Broncos last week, but that winning magic had begun to fade as the Vikings fell 21-20 on Sunday night.

However, things completely collapsed last night in a slugfest against the Bears. Despite Fields fumbling and losing the ball twice in the fourth quarter, the Vikings could not complete the win.

Minnesota finally got in the endzone for the first time off Fields’ first fumble, with Dobbs finally cobbling together a solid-looking drive for the Vikings. However, on the second Fields fumble, the Vikings were forced to punt, and on the subsequent Bears drive, Fields rebounded and led his team to a time-killing field goal to take the lead.

Chicago took a 12-10 lead with ten seconds left to go, forcing the Vikings to try a failed lateral miracle.

After the game, when asked about a potential quarterback change, Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell said “we’ll take a look at everything.”

O’Connell was not-committal on who the starting quarterback would be for the Vikings moving forward. The loss dropped the team to 5-6 in one score games this season (6-6 overall), a staggering fall for a team that went 11-0 in one-score contests last year.

Minnesota has their bye week next week, which would be a great opportunity to either 1) help Dobbs get reset and re-focused with the offense, or 2) get a new quarterback prepped and ready to go come Week 14.

Wide receiver Justin Jefferson, who has been out of the lineup since Week 6, is expected to return post-bye, which would be a massive boost for whoever is throwing the football for Minnesota.

If the team decides to go in a direction other than Dobbs, they could go back to Jaren Hall, the team’s fifth round pick from last draft.

Hall, who was concussed in his first NFL start against Atlanta, went 5/6 for 78 yards before he was taken out of the game. He’s incredibly inexperienced, attempting just 10 total passes in his career to date.

Nick Mullens is also an option. The five year veteran has attempted 25 passes for the Vikings this year, but has not started a game yet this year.

Kevin O’Connell hinted that he considered putting Mullens on the field in this game, but he ultimately stuck with Dobbs for the whole night.

Of course, their decision at quarterback should also be influenced by their game plan. The Vikings barely utilized Dobbs’ threat as a runner, and kept him contained in the pocket much of the night.

Minnesota seemed to be using Dobbs much in the same way that they would use Kirk Cousins, who is much more of a pocket QB than Dobbs.

If their plan is to play that way, perhaps Mullens might find more success than Dobbs did on Monday night.

If the Dobbs story has come to an end, it’s a sad finale for one of football’s best stories and one of the league’s most likable guys in years.

Dobbs is a free agent at the end of the year.

(Featured photo by Bruce Kluckhohn/AP)