Minnesota Vikings' Nightmare Playoff Game Wreck Sam Darnold's Season?

Nightmarish. That’s the only way to describe the wildcard-playoff performance from the Minnesota Vikings and quarterback Sam Darnold.

The Minnesota Vikings were blown off the field in a 27-9 throttling against the Los Angeles Rams. Former USC Trojans quarterback, Sam Darnold was sacked a career-high nine times, threw an interception, and lost a fumble that was returned for a touchdown to put the game on ice essentially. Darnold looked like a shell of the player he’d been playing like all season.

Make no mistakes: the Vikings' offensive line was abused for four quarters by a young, explosive defensive line group. Minnesota coach Kevin O’Connell was thoroughly outclassed schematically by Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula. The Vikings defense and defensive coordinator Brian Flores are getting a pass due to quarterback-centric discourse, but they were also abysmal. It was a 10-0 game before the offense encountered any trouble. That said, quarterback play rules the roost. Darnold was bad. He made bad situations into catastrophic situations. Darnold mitigated those types of errors most of the season but ultimately crumbled on the biggest stage.

Often times sacks are a QB stat

How many on QB?

2-3 pic.twitter.com/vSBbknf2yu
— Dan Orlovsky (@danorlovsky7) January 14, 2025

Darnold, who was named to his first NFC Pro Bowl team, threw for 35 passing touchdowns and 4,319 passing yards in the regular season. Both were the fifth-best marks in the league. Darnold also completed 66 percent of his passes and finished sixth in the league in passer rating. Darnold finished sixth in passing yards per attempt and had a higher average depth of target than Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Jalen Hurts, and Aaron Rodgers to name a few.

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Darnold wasn’t playing with training wheels this season. There's no denying Kevin O’Connell’s impact as a play caller or the amazing talents like wide receivers Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison. However, to attribute all of Darnold’s successes this season to a coach or wide receiver room would be disingenuous, to say the least. To attribute all of Darnold’s failures this season solely to him is also disingenuous. It was a mutually beneficial relationship that maxed out at the worst possible time.

Sam was excellent for 85 percent of the season and imploded late. The implosions just happened to take place under the watch of the entire country in standalone primetime games. It’s the type of perfect storm that can erase people’s memory of all the good from the season. It’s a "What have you done for me lately?" league, and Darnold hasn’t been good enough lately. Plain and simple.

"You think last night's about Sam Darnold? You're out of your mind." 😳 @danorlovsky7 tells @stephenasmith that Sam Darnold is "4th or 5th" on the list of reasons that the Vikings lost to the Rams in the Wild Card 👀 pic.twitter.com/Oc5hvaPee3
— First Take (@FirstTake) January 14, 2025

Darnold was a solid performance away from stepping into a Baker Mayfield or Geno Smith-esque storyline. A high draft pick quarterback reclamation project that blossomed in the right surroundings and helped their team to the playoffs, then rewarded with a handsome contract. Sounds like a storybook. Unfortunately, perception is a reality for most people. Darnold's was destroyed over the years, rebuilt this regular season, and then destroyed in one night. The game is the game, and your name is your name.

It remains to be seen whether or not Darnold gets a multi-year deal from the Vikings. A franchise tag, tag and trade, or a multi-year deal with another franchise are all on the table. Although it sounds like his time in Minnesota may be over, it shouldn’t be remembered in a negative light. The Vikings won 14 games this season. Darnold had the best year of his career, broke NFL records, and had one of the best seasons in the NFL this year.

It ended ugly, and that’s all some people will remember, but some players will never reach the heights Darnold was able to this season. Beyond any victory or future financial situation, Darnold should hold his head high after what he put on tape this season. Even in a nightmare moment, Darnold conquered the ghosts of the past in some ways.

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