Sam Darnold and the Minnesota Vikings’ season was lost on Monday night.
So too with it might have been a lucrative offseason for Darnold following 17 weeks’ worth of a feel-good story.
Darnold was sacked nine times and had two turnovers in the Vikings’ 27-9 Wild Card Weekend loss to the Los Angeles Rams, concluding Minnesota’s once-promising campaign and clouding the QB’s once-auspicious offseason outlook.
“I clearly haven’t played good enough the last couple of weeks,” Darnold, an impending free agent, said after the game. “Just like I said, (I) left too many throws out there that I would usually make. Gotta take better care of the football.”
Darnold’s final line saw him complete 25 of 40 passes for 245 yards, a second-half touchdown, an interception and a 77.6 rating. Those concluding numbers looked far better than what played out in real time, as the Rams pressured and plundered the QB, who was sacked on 18% of his 50 dropbacks, per Next Gen Stats. It was hardly a result that could be pinned solely on his offensive line, as Darnold was often flummoxed by the Rams’ man coverage and was sacked six times at least 4.4 seconds after the snap.
Darnold, who had an interception in the second quarter after his defense forced a three-and-out and a fumble returned 57 yards for a touchdown on the ensuing drive by Jared Verse, took a 13-yard sack on a 6.85-second play in the fourth quarter. Summing up his night, Darnold’s catastrophic loss forced the Vikings to punt on fourth-and-21 down by the final score with 12 minutes to play.
He took too long and time ran out on him and the Vikings’ season, the defeat to the Rams coming a week after a similarly dispiriting 31-9 setback against the Detroit Lions. Had Darnold and the Vikings bested the Lions, they would’ve had a bye this week and still been waiting to begin a hopeful playoff run. Instead, they’re left to ponder how two straight dastardly defeats ruined a 14-win showing.
“We’ve got to find a way to check the ball down and just keep moving the ball forward,” Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell said. “Completions have a negative effect on defense, they just do. Those moments when you are holding that ball and your reaction is trying to make a play. We can’t talk out of both sides of our mouth because he sure as heck made a lot of plays doing that this year. I think that’s part of the growth.”
Problem was, those great plays from Darnold dissipated in each of the last two weeks.
Through the first 17 weeks of Darnold’s revitalization, he threw 35 touchdowns. Over the past two, he threw one.
Similarly, Darnold tallied a 106.4 passer rating from Weeks 1-17, and in the last two compiled a 66.4 rating.
O’Connell, appearing every bit the QB whisperer as he coaxed the very best from the 2018 NFL Draft’s No. 3 pick, remained supportive of Darnold’s continued maturation.
“Remember this guy is 27 years old or whatever he is,” O’Connell said. “I think he has a foundation now of both the things you do at quarterback position to have success and things sometimes you have to learn the hard way. You talk to some of the greatest players to play the game at the position. They all had learning moments throughout their journey. I think Sam will take a lot of positive out of this year. I think he’ll look like we all will very much inward. What’s the next step? What’s the next phase for him to find that consistency. I’m going to do the same thing.”
But will O’Connell and Darnold be aiming for that consistency together in 2025?
Following the quandary of how the Vikings’ sterling campaign so quickly fell to a calamitous end, the most prevailing question for the club is in the QB room.
Darnold was headed for a big payday in the offseason, whether the Vikings re-signed him, applied the franchise tag or he hit the open market. Now, Darnold’s stock has crashed emphatically in two games’ time.
“I’m not worried about that,” Darnold said of how the last two weeks will impact his future. “That’s in the past. Right now, I’m just thinking about, like I said, what I could have done better today and just spending time with the guys in the locker room. That’s really all, I’m focused on right now. At the end of the day in the NFL, you only get one season with one team with everyone together. Today wasn’t our day. It’s as simple as that. For me, I’m going to be focused on spending as much time I can with those guys in the locker room and then I’ll think about whatever the future holds after that.”
Minnesota’s season ended Monday with three first-round quarterbacks on its roster: Darnold (taken by the New York Jets in 2018); Daniel Jones (taken by the New York Giants in 2019) and J.J. McCarthy (taken by the Vikings in 2024).
Jones was the emergency third QB on Monday.
McCarthy is still coming back from knee surgery that ended his rookie season before it ever began.
Darnold, who struggled in his days with the Jets and then with the Carolina Panthers, showed enough promise as a backup with the San Francisco 49ers to get signed by the Vikings this past offseason as a potential bridge to McCarthy.
At this moment in time, it’s fair to say the Vikings have no set plan for their 2025 season Week 1 starting QB. Just as unsure as Darnold’s future is, it would seem so too is the Vikings’ in regard to the most important position in the game.
“I also want to say, I think it’s very important that we think about Sam’s body of work,” O’Connell said. “What he was able to do this year, when not many people thought he would be able to lead a team to 14 wins. Very rare for a quarterback in their first year. In fact, it is rare, most wins by a first-year quarterback with a team.”
What he’s done in the last two losses might well have sullied 14 wins’ worth of reclamation.
The offseason — which unfortunately for Minnesota began on Monday night — will answer that.
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