Murphy: Detroit loss did not end the Vikings season, folks
Brian Murphy writes that the Vikings are still very much alive after a gut-punch loss
By Brian Murphy
Talking jaded Vikings fans off the ledge is a fool’s errand, for they’ve been feathering that 100-story nest for decades.
Besides, there aren’t enough wet nurses in all of Minnesota to swaddle the thumb-suckers curled up and conflicted about a 14-win football team that looks more doomed than dominant heading into a postseason that feels more funereal than festive.
Scorn and opprobrium are legitimate emotions after a humiliating 31-9 loss to the Lions Sunday night that paved a yellow brick road for Detroit to fulfill its destiny in Super Bowl LIX.
The faceplant at Ford Field is pure validation for the fatalists conditioned to revel in their misery, but mining familiar cliches about this franchise’s tortured history is too convenient. The story of the 2024 Vikings is more complex than a Week 18 loss, however devastating. It’s still being written.
Lest anyone forget the Vikings weren’t eliminated from contention and dispatched into a winter of discontent. They were gut-punched by a superior opponent (again) and left emotionally wounded (again) heading to Los Angeles for a wild-card clash against the resurgent Rams with a chance to earn a potential rematch with the Lions Jan. 18 or 19 in Motown.
Chatter like that in August would’ve left Vikings fans punch drunk with envy and anticipation. Five months later, late rites are being shouted from the frozen rooftops.
No NFL team spoon-feeds its championship-starved fans with more anxiety or caters to their worst instincts, and now everyone gets to marinate in a week of familiar self-loathing.
With stakes never higher for an NFL regular-season game, the Vikings and their quarterback were completely overwhelmed by the moment, shattering confidence in Sam Darnold and a golden opportunity to drag playoff opponents into the cauldron of U.S. Bank Stadium.
So much wasted, so much to be determined and so little hope heading into a postseason party of obligation.
Hell hath no fury like resigned Vikings fans. No crunchy word salads or soothing lip service from the podium this week are going to whitewash their plunging approval rating.
Kevin O’Connell and his band of brothers are up to their elbows in psychological warfare with themselves, their desperate fans, skeptical carnival barkers and an unsympathetic NFC playoff field that can smell blood.
O’Connell has won 67 percent of his games over three seasons in Minnesota. His resurrection of Darnold from the ash heap of failed first-round prodigies to MVP candidate has raised his golden boy profile so high the NFL media-industrial complex is ginning up far-fetched trade scenarios involving the upstart head coach.
Owners Zygi and Mark Wilf should face felony charges if they botch negotiations with O’Connell on a looming contract extension or run him out of town in a fantasy-league fever dream. Job security should be the least of O’Connell’s worries.
He faces a defining moment to preserve locker-room buy-in and keep Darnold’s disastrous performance against the Lions from metastasizing and turning Monday night’s unplanned detour to SoFi Stadium into a wake. Not that O’Connell needed to be told any of that when autopsying just his third loss of an otherwise magical season.
“What I told those guys, if we’re going to be any different when the results don’t go our way, that’s going to be a problem, and every single man in that locker room responded to that the way that I expected them to,” he said postgame in Detroit.
“That’s part of a journey of a football team and sometimes you’re going to get hit in the mouth, you’re going to get knocked down. What’s defined this team --regardless of when and where that happened and how it happened -- we’ve responded.”
There is no honor in being the first 14-win wild card in league history when you can’t leverage home-field advantage or the feel-good vibes from posting the second-most victories in the 64-year history of this acclaimed franchise.
But there is no shame in drilling into that well of resilience that recharged the Vikings after consecutive losses in October to the Lions and Rams. The well Darnold tapped to flush painful memories of failing to launch his career and to course-correct in November after a rash of interceptions and poor decision-making threatened his comeback.
Darnold must dig deeper to overcome the yips he suffered during the most important game of his career – until the next one. He completed just 18 of 41 passes for 166 yards as the Vikings drove four straight times into the red zone only to stall each time without a touchdown. Receivers were open. Some dropped passes they should have caught or Darnold airmailed them.
Failed execution is still failure, but it can be fundamentally improved, which should hearten fans dreading the matchup with the Rams. Meanwhile, the Vikings defense played as well as could be expected for two-plus quarters.
They had an interception inside the Detroit 10-yard line, picked off another Jared Goff pass, sacked him for an 11-yard loss and had three tackles for losses of 18 yards.
But the league’s most dynamic offense flexed its second-half muscles against a Minnesota defense that has been worn down all season by lopsided field position and time of possession.
Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs chewed clock and ran wild for four soul-crushing touchdowns, leaving the Vikings bleeding out like Tim Roth’s undercover cop in “Reservoir Dogs.”
All of which raises pointed questions about how they can contain a rested Matthew Stafford and all the offensive weapons Rams coach Sean McVay can unleash. Both have already lifted the Lombardi Trophy. And they manhandled the Vikings 30-20 during a Week 8 victory in Los Angeles that was a huge part of the Rams’ midseason revival.
But defensive challenges won’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy season if Darnold cannot overcome the yips and rebound from his most disappointing performance as a pro.
Whatever legacy he leaves in Minnesota, and whatever future the southern California prodigy and former USC star hopes to secure in the NFL, will be forged where it all began.
Good stuff, we likely aren’t a SB contender - hopes got up admittedly. Regardless of preseason expectations, they’re different now and a first round playoff loss is a failed season in my opinion. 1 road win is a good foundation builder - gotta have it.
Really?! You trash Vikings fans who have had the rug pulled out from underneath them year in and year out? Can we be anything other than jaded dude? Calling them thumb suckers is an asinine thing to say, don’t be a dick about how people react, 4 Super Bowls, none since 1977! 1998, 2009, 2018! We’re not paid to write about them, we pay to root for them!!!