Woke up this morning thinking of Brad Johnson winning the Super Bowl with the Bucs. Didn’t have to do much then, either. Anyway, good for Sam! He seems like a great guy, I enjoyed rooting for him last year. He deserves it.
I'll never understand why anyone would be upset with Sam. I would have been equally happy for either quarterback to win but this may be Sam's only opportunity so I am thrilled for him! Boring game but exciting outcome.
There was a stupid, lazy "KOC deserves to be fired" click bait article this morning. I really hate that crap. Thanks for not being like that and understanding nuance.
Wish it was a better game overall and that Sam had a better showing to put the final stamp on the redemption arc, but I’m glad he got the ring in the end. An analytics guy might’ve looked at everybody else in the league trying to win with $60M QBs or cheap rookies and said I think there might be a market inefficiency in the middle range here, but oh well. On to Derek Carr, apparently. Love it for Sam, though. Stand up dude who has been through a lot. Gets a “hell yeah” from me.
Good analysis. Hooray for Sam and the Seahawks. They were clearly the better team. However, I feel good about the Viking prospects because of their defense. The Viking defense may steal a few close games while we wait for number nine to grow up.
I listened to Coller on his podcast today reaction to the Superbowl today, I thought I was listening to Matthew Cowherd instead. The gloating and I told you so was worthy of an ESPN segment.
Alot of us never were against Darnold or wanted him to fail. There are a vocal minority of trolls that will just throw out the worst things possible to get a reaction.
As a fan I wanted to move onto McCarthy because I was scared of being stuck with a Cousins again where we could never get over the hump because of salary or being just not good enough to carry the team. Obviously in hindsight I was wrong, we had the guy in building who could get it done and we let him go. It wasn't a stretch though to think that KoC could get us to the playoffs with JJMcCarthy and that his coaching was good enough to make up for inexperience. The Vikings were 13-4 two years prior and were most likely playoff bound again the year after if Cousins doesn't blow out his achilles. Obviously our rookie QB plan has backfired successfully and the football gods are laughing at us once again. This is the life of a Vikings fan, mediocre success followed by catastrophic failure.
Anyways congratulations to Sam Darnold you deserved it!
Super happy for Sam. He's a great qb and a better man.
The problem I have with letting Sam go is that there was another option besides the franchise tag--sign him to a long term deal and commit to him long term. I wanted that option, as he showed more than enough that he was the answer at QB and the best long term option the Vikings have had since peak Culpepper, probably better. Letting him walk to take a chance on the unknown and fragile JJ was stupid. The other issue I have is that they signed him to a one year deal in the first place. When you have the leverage, at least tack on an extra year or two that's easily voidable if the experiment fails. That is probably Kwesi's fault. Letting Sam walk was KOC's fault, in my opinion, I agree with Mathew on that one 100%.
Nice article and good for Sam. I went into the 2025 season questioning the logic of not signing him, but had faith in KoC. If he thought JJ was ready, going w him had to be the right choice. That trust has eroded and yet another learning moment for this franchise.
Great article Mathew 👏 I've never had any bitterness towards Sam Darnold but a lot of anger towards the Vikings management that made the decision to move on from him. I'm 💯 ready to move on from McCarthy. He just can't stay on the field. Two straight years of no football and this year missed a lot. Thanks for another great year of covering this team.
I don’t see any way the Vikings could have used the franchise tag on Darnold. Not only would the math not be mathin’, but KOC & the org would seem like giant hypocrites and potentially lose the locker room if all their culture talk turned out to be BS at the first inconvenient decision.
Woke up this morning thinking of Brad Johnson winning the Super Bowl with the Bucs. Didn’t have to do much then, either. Anyway, good for Sam! He seems like a great guy, I enjoyed rooting for him last year. He deserves it.
I'll never understand why anyone would be upset with Sam. I would have been equally happy for either quarterback to win but this may be Sam's only opportunity so I am thrilled for him! Boring game but exciting outcome.
I thought it was an excellent defensive struggle and like you said good for Darnold
Sticking with the NFL script, even the commercials were boring.
Very happy for Sam!
No bitterness, he didn’t win that for them. Walker and that defense won that game. Darnold just didn’t lose the game for them.
There was a stupid, lazy "KOC deserves to be fired" click bait article this morning. I really hate that crap. Thanks for not being like that and understanding nuance.
Fans not understanding nuance is always my biggest complaint out there in "everyone is entitled to an opinion land"
Wish it was a better game overall and that Sam had a better showing to put the final stamp on the redemption arc, but I’m glad he got the ring in the end. An analytics guy might’ve looked at everybody else in the league trying to win with $60M QBs or cheap rookies and said I think there might be a market inefficiency in the middle range here, but oh well. On to Derek Carr, apparently. Love it for Sam, though. Stand up dude who has been through a lot. Gets a “hell yeah” from me.
Good analysis. Hooray for Sam and the Seahawks. They were clearly the better team. However, I feel good about the Viking prospects because of their defense. The Viking defense may steal a few close games while we wait for number nine to grow up.
I listened to Coller on his podcast today reaction to the Superbowl today, I thought I was listening to Matthew Cowherd instead. The gloating and I told you so was worthy of an ESPN segment.
Alot of us never were against Darnold or wanted him to fail. There are a vocal minority of trolls that will just throw out the worst things possible to get a reaction.
As a fan I wanted to move onto McCarthy because I was scared of being stuck with a Cousins again where we could never get over the hump because of salary or being just not good enough to carry the team. Obviously in hindsight I was wrong, we had the guy in building who could get it done and we let him go. It wasn't a stretch though to think that KoC could get us to the playoffs with JJMcCarthy and that his coaching was good enough to make up for inexperience. The Vikings were 13-4 two years prior and were most likely playoff bound again the year after if Cousins doesn't blow out his achilles. Obviously our rookie QB plan has backfired successfully and the football gods are laughing at us once again. This is the life of a Vikings fan, mediocre success followed by catastrophic failure.
Anyways congratulations to Sam Darnold you deserved it!
I've been along for the ride watching every Seahawks game this year. I love the Sam Darnold journey and will be a fan for life.
Super happy for Sam. He's a great qb and a better man.
The problem I have with letting Sam go is that there was another option besides the franchise tag--sign him to a long term deal and commit to him long term. I wanted that option, as he showed more than enough that he was the answer at QB and the best long term option the Vikings have had since peak Culpepper, probably better. Letting him walk to take a chance on the unknown and fragile JJ was stupid. The other issue I have is that they signed him to a one year deal in the first place. When you have the leverage, at least tack on an extra year or two that's easily voidable if the experiment fails. That is probably Kwesi's fault. Letting Sam walk was KOC's fault, in my opinion, I agree with Mathew on that one 100%.
Nice article and good for Sam. I went into the 2025 season questioning the logic of not signing him, but had faith in KoC. If he thought JJ was ready, going w him had to be the right choice. That trust has eroded and yet another learning moment for this franchise.
Great article Mathew 👏 I've never had any bitterness towards Sam Darnold but a lot of anger towards the Vikings management that made the decision to move on from him. I'm 💯 ready to move on from McCarthy. He just can't stay on the field. Two straight years of no football and this year missed a lot. Thanks for another great year of covering this team.
I don’t see any way the Vikings could have used the franchise tag on Darnold. Not only would the math not be mathin’, but KOC & the org would seem like giant hypocrites and potentially lose the locker room if all their culture talk turned out to be BS at the first inconvenient decision.