Vikings' thrilling season comes to lifeless end in blowout loss to Rams

It's fairly stunning how quickly and painfully the jubilant vibes of a 14-win season and nine-game winning streak can come crashing down in just nine days.

Less than two weeks ago, the 14-2 Vikings were riding high as they headed to Detroit with a chance to secure the top seed in the NFC. Their quarterback was on fire and they hadn't lost in more than two months. But after an ugly blowout loss against the Los Angeles Rams on Monday night, eight disastrous quarters of primetime football was all it took for their season to come to a shockingly abrupt ending.

Really, it was four quarters that did them in. The Vikings trailed 10-6 at halftime against the Lions in Week 18 and lost the second half 21-3. When that defeat relegated them to wild card status, they traveled to Arizona and played an even worse half with everything on the line. Sam Darnold was sacked six times and turned it over twice in a first half that the Vikings lost 24-3, which was a deficit too big to recover from in an eventual 27-9 loss at State Farm Stadium.

The story of this game was the play of Darnold, who was hoping to bounce back from a stinker of a performance in Detroit. Instead of responding with a strong outing in his first career postseason start, he flopped again. Darnold threw an interception and was not sharp from an accuracy standpoint, but the far bigger issue was how long he held onto the ball over and over again. He took a whopping nine sacks, six of which came in the Vikings' nightmare of a first half.

Minnesota's offensive line very much lost the battle against the Rams' talented young front four, but many of the sacks were a result of Darnold simply not getting the ball out of his hands. There were far too many occasions where he tried to maneuver in the pocket and make something happen instead of letting it rip early in his progression or at least throwing it away — and it cost the Vikings. The most notable example came on a strip sack touchdown in the second quarter that blew the game open.

JARED VERSE SCOOP AND SCORE!

📺: #MINvsLAR on ESPN/ABC
📱: Stream on @NFLPlus and ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/bXLHmOUaQW
— NFL (@NFL) January 14, 2025

A fantastic Pro Bowl season for Darnold in Minnesota will be tainted by his poor play in the two most important games of the year. And the discussion over what the Vikings should do at quarterback this offseason looks a lot different than it did just two weeks ago. After beating the Packers in Week 17, it felt like Minnesota would've been crazy to let him walk in free agency. Now it feels like they'd be crazy to bring him back. Darnold has quite possibly cost himself tens of millions of dollars on his next contract over the last two games.

Basically nothing went right for the Vikings in the franchise's latest disturbingly lifeless playoff defeat. The Rams came out and marched down the field with ease on the game's opening drive, scoring a touchdown that set the tone. The Vikings responded with a three-and-out. One sign that it wasn't going to be Minnesota's night came when they were down 10-3 and appeared to score a defensive touchdown, only to have it wiped off the board upon video review.

Shortly after, Darnold threw a bad interception. Yet the Vikings were still down just seven points when Jared Verse scooped up the football and raced to the end zone, changing the complexion of the evening. Another game-changing play came when the Vikings went for it on 4th and 2 at midfield, trailing 17-3, and Darnold took another sack. That set the Rams up for Matthew Stafford's second touchdown pass, making it a 21-point game as a shellshocked Minnesota team went into the locker room.

The miracle the Vikings needed in the second half didn't come. They did score one touchdown, but it made little difference. And now, after going 0-4 against the Lions and Rams to end a year where they went 14-0 against everyone else, the Vikings head into the offseason facing all kinds of questions.

Stay up to date on all things Vikings by bookmarking Minnesota Vikings On SI, subscribing to our YouTube channel, and signing up to receive our free Vikings newsletter.