Darnold, Vikings melt in the desert

Sam Darnold repeated his miserable performance from last week and the Vikings season is over

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GLENDALE, Ariz. — Until two weeks ago, the Minnesota Vikings’ 2024 season seemed like much more than a magic carpet ride. They were reeling off wins, coming up clutch, getting a top-five defensive performance and elite quarterback play behind an extremely physically gifted quarterback. Why not them?

Against the Cardinals, game-winning drive. Against the Falcons, destruction of Kirk Cousins’s team. In Seattle, game-winning drive. Versus Green Bay on the big stage, a stellar performance. They had outscored opponents by a wide margin and passed very test.

And then under the brightest lights, they melted into a pathetic puddle.

Last week with the No. 1 seed on the line, the Vikings lost 31-9 in one of Sam Darnold’s worst career games. The offensive line struggled under pressure, they dropped passes and the defense couldn’t hang on for dear life against a great quarterback and megastar running back.

With an extra day to lick their wounds and prepare for the Los Angeles Rams, the expectation was that the 14-win version would arrive in Glendale with about 30,000 of their closest friends backing the purple.

But from the outset of Monday night’s game, it was obvious the version that left Detroit having had its confidence cracked was not repaired. They let the Rams move the ball right down the field to start the game like they were the 2020 Vikings defense rather than 2024. Then Darnold had no answers for their pass rush, panicking over and over under the Fearsome Foursome’s pressure.

There was nothing more stunning than Darnold’s collapse after throwing for 35 touchdowns and registering a 102.5 QB rating in the regular season. He got strip-sacked for a Rams touchdown, then sacked again on a fourth down attempt at the end of the half, and threw wildly inaccurate to start the third quarter when they had a glimpse of a chance to get back in the game, then got sacked for the 8th time when a miracle comeback was still within reach in the fourth quarter. He looked every bit the backup quarterback he was last year, not the star he was this year.

With the season over, let the flood of questions begin. What do they do now? Do they let Darnold’s terrible ending to the season dictate the path at quarterback?

How can they let two games completely override an entire terrific season? It’s not like the Chargers are trading Herbert or the Bucs getting rid of Mayfield after coming up short in the first round. But those teams don’t have first-round QBs waiting in the wings. There’s no way the Vikings are going to be able to shake the images of Darnold’s failure out of their minds and it’s hard to know whether he’s going to recover from these meltdowns.

The Vikings might look around at the NFC and say that they just weren’t talented enough and they will need the cap space to spend on the roster. They might also see the team as having been on equal ground with their opponents and they simply choked.

Had the Vikings lost in last-second fashion, we would have been able to say that it was still a fun ride and that they overachieved like few teams ever have. Instead, similarly to the 2022 season, the the silver linings got stripped away by the way in which the loss went down. There’s no way to pat them on the back and say that they gave it the old college try. They fell apart. Period.

Is this who O’Connell’s teams are going to be? Kings of the regular season? But what was he supposed to do differently when the quarterback refused to throw the ball?

The defense is not without blame. The Vikings blitzed and blitzed their hearts out despite the fact that Stafford had been really good against the blitz all year and destroyed their blitzes last time. Live by the blitz, die by the blitz and they chose to die. Maybe things would have been different had the referees not overturned a Blake Cashman fumble return for touchdown but otherwise the Rams were well prepared for a defensive scheme that’s supposed to be able to shape-shift.

And you have to give it to the cynical Vikings fans who spend the entire year waiting for the other shoe to drop. Those folks had seen this movie many times before and they knew how it was going to end. The long-time followers of this tortured franchise ended up getting another good regular season served cold in the biggest moment.

Maybe next year.

Here’s how it went down…

PREGAME

Of all the things I’ve covered over the years, there have been few more strange than the atmosphere in Arizona. On my left, the area behind the Rams bench was filled with Todd Gurley and Aaron Donald jerseys, while straight across the way behind the Vikings bench was all purple. There have been lots of games where Vikings fans took over the opposing stadium and it felt like a 50-50 crowd but the routine Thursday night game with locals versus vacationers at SoFi Stadium couldn’t match the tension and intensity of the playoffs.

The other thing making it bizarre visually was the red everywhere. The seats, red. The signage, red. The banners, red. They were barely able to paint over the end zone logos well enough to cover the red coloring.

And then there were random locals who just came to see a football game. Below us was a Minkah Fitzpatrick jersey and another guy was wearing a Bobby Boucher No. 9 — yes, The Waterboy.

Twenty minutes before kickoff, a woman singer played a piano at the 50-yard line as photos of firefighters were shown on the video board. No matter how energetic the atmosphere, it was impossible for anyone to ignore the reason we’re here.

As the Vikings entered the field, it felt a little more cheer-y than boo-y. The lights went out and the Rams played all of their game introduction video board stuff. There were bursts of noise but a far, far cry from what the Vikings were hearing last week in Detroit when the intros were deafening.

The anthem was normal. The giant flag taken off the field. The pomp and circumstance over. The Vikings win the toss. They choose to punt. Off we go.

FIRST QUARTER

The last time the Vikings played against the Rams, receiver Puka Nacua demolished them. Defensive coordinator Brian Flores suggested that they had been taken by surprise by his availability back in Week 8 and this time they would have time to prepare. Well, not for the first play. Stafford had time to throw and found Nacua for a 27-yard first down. The veteran QB then followed up with another deep throw over the middle to tight end Tyler Higbee for a first down. Exactly the way the Vikings did not want to start the game.

On the first third down of the game for the Rams, the noise level hit about two-thirds of US Bank Stadium. That was enough for Stafford to burn an early timeout.

A swing pass gained six and the Rams elected to go for fourth down. Everywhere you look these days fourth downs are swinging games. Defensive tackle Jonathan Bullard fell for the hard count and gave L.A. a free first down. One play later, touchdown Rams. 7-0 in an eyeblink.

The Rams played their “Whose house? Our house!” chant on the big board. Neither team’s house, actually. Or maybe it will depend on how this next drive goes.

The Rams D-line certainly made a case for it being their homestead right off the bat. Aaron Jones ran for a loss and then Darnold got sacked. After a short completion to Jefferson, the Vikings punted.

Not that any playoff game can be decided in the first 10 minutes but it certainly felt like the Vikings were already teetering on disaster.

Stafford picked up where he left off. Bang, another explosive play. Bang, another first down pass.

The struggles continued with a 17-yard run by Kyren Williams. What the heck is going on?

But the Vikings caught a break with the Rams center committing a late hit on Andrew Van Ginkel. On third-and-16, Stafford checked down over the middle and the Rams settled for a field goal.

The Vikings got the ball back with 4:01 left in the first quarter. The proper word for this possession should be: Desperate.

On third-and-1, Jordan Addison ripped a ball out of the sky for a first down because running on third-and-short is impossible for this team.

Darnold then dropped back, got pressure, and threw the type of pass that we didn’t see in Detroit. On the money downfield to Justin Jefferson for 22 yards. Signs of life.

But it was clear from the jump the O-line wasn’t going to be great against a nasty Rams front. They sacked Darnold on first down, losing seven yards.

SECOND QUARTER

On third-and-10, Darnold completed an 8-yard pass. O’Connell, who hasn’t been very aggressive on fourth downs, decided to settle for a field goal. 10-3.

Whether that decision is right or not is going to be determined by the Vikings defense.

And we have our first ref-show event of the night. Jonathan Greenard sacked Stafford and the ball came out and Blake Cashman took it back for a touchdown. However, the refs ruled that Stafford was passing the ball and took seven points off the board.

The Vikings did build off their first hit of Stafford, though. They forced back-to-back incompletions and got the ball back.

Aaron Jones got going with back-to-back big runs but the Rams knew that Kevin O’Connell couldn’t run the ball three times in a row and they blitzed and sacked Darnold for an enormous loss.

The Rams tripped on their own horns again though. On Ryan Wright’s punt, they committed a personal foul and the Vikings remained on the field.

But they made nothing of it. Jefferson got pulled down on a screen and Darnold threw an interception at mid-field on an underthrown out route.

That’s twice the Vikings offense had opportunities to make something happen and failed. That isn’t going to take them far.

The defense continued to get pressure on Stafford and caused a three-and-out that included a holding call. Then Kamu Grugier-Hill nearly blocked a punt and the Vikings took back over inside their own 10.

Darnold hit a pass to TJ Hockenson on third-and-3 that might get him in rhythm a bit. Then Akers blasted off for a 26-yard gain as he continued to be a huge part of the operation.

And then complete disaster struck.

The Rams stripped Darnold and star rookie Jared Verse ran it back for a 57-yard touchdown. To add insult to injury, the Vikings traded up for Dallas Turner rather than drafting Verse.

17-3. Yeesh.

All year long, Darnold’s one Achilles heel was that he held onto the ball too long. That simply couldn’t happen against a tremendous Rams D-line and yet…

When the Vikings got the ball back down two scores, Darnold got sacked again. It looked very much like what we saw from Justin Herbert against the Houston Texans on Saturday.

After a first down completion to Jefferson, the Vikings still somehow had a chance to score and make it a 7-point game with the ball coming back their way to start the second half. Yet that felt very, very far away having not produced a touchdown in basically four quarters.

Facing fourth-and-2 at mid-field, Darnold got sacked again. Make it six sacks in the half.

The Vikings line had no answers but Darnold was clearly not seeing the field at all. This was the version of Darnold that everyone feared would arrive at the wrong time.

Stafford was not going to let the Vikings hang around. While getting dragged down, he whipped a side-winding pass for a touchdown. 24-3. Goodnight, Glendale.

THIRD QUARTER

The Vikings got the ball to start the second half. If they could get into the end zone, then maybe hope would remain alive for a crazy comeback.

Darnold began by whipping a pass into Jordan Addison for a first down. But that was all he was going to get. Darnold threw behind a wide open Jalen Nailor and the drive came to an end.

The TV broadcast zoomed in on Darnold’s face, rolling his eyes in frustration. We haven’t seen that lack of confidence from him at any point in purple outside of last week.

As the Rams took over, the buzz in the press box was largely about the Vikings offseason decision at quarterback.

The Vikings were able to get a stop and force a Rams field goal to keep the game at 27-10. Then Darnold finally looked a little like himself, getting the ball to Nailor on the move and then flipping a pass to TJ Hockenson for a long touchdown to bring the score to 27-9.

After failing the two-point conversion, it seemed there just wasn’t enough time to make this one all that interesting but you never know, I guess.

The Vikings got a stop with two minutes left in the third, giving them a glimmer of hope. The problem is that the Rams punter bombed one to the goal line, forcing the Vikings to travel the length of the field if they want to make this one interesting.

FOURTH QUARTER

Darnold showed some of the athleticism that separated him for most of the year and then he got popped at the end of the run, drawing a 15-yard penalty. With the ball at mid-field, the opportunity was there to put a quick score on the board and put some pressure on the Rams.

Instead, Darnold got sacked again after hanging onto the ball forever. Just brutal.

There wasn’t much fight after that. For some reason O’Connell ran the ball with about seven minutes left down by 18 points but the game was long, long over.

With 3:35 left, Darnold threw a bomb way over the head of Justin Jefferson to bring the night to an end — and maybe his tenure as a Viking.

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