Adam WellsJanuary 14, 2025
Kevin Abele/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Sam Darnold picked a bad time to have his worst two-week stretch of the season, as the Minnesota Vikings lost back-to-back games to have what seemed like a dream run come crashing down on them.
After the Vikings’ 27-9 loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Wild Card round on Monday, Darnold shouldered the blame for taking nine sacks in the game.
“It’s up to me to be able to feel that and either step up, move, go run for a first down or just simply throw it away,” he said. “I felt like there were a lot of sacks that I was responsible for, where I was just holding onto the football and taking sacks where I could have dirted it at someone’s feet or simply thrown it over someone’s head.”
Darnold finished 25-of-40 for 245 yards with one touchdown and one interception. This came after he went 18-of-41 for 166 yards in a 31-9 loss against the Detroit Lions in Week 18 that determined home-field advantage in the NFC playoffs.
Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell did compliment Darnold for what he accomplished over the course of the entire season as the 27-year-old is set to become a free agent:
What he was able to do this year, when not very many people thought he would be able to lead a team to 14 wins, which is rare. The way he came in, committed himself to just a daily process to be the best version of himself. It did not work out in the end. I think Sam would be the first one to tell you. Could he have played better tonight? I’m sure he would tell you he could have. Could I have coached better? I promise you I could have. Could our team have rallied around a play here and there to keep it close? For sure.
The Rams’ nine sacks are tied for the most by a team in a single playoff game. Six of them came in the first half, with one resulting in a fumble that Jared Verse returned 57 yards for a touchdown.
NFL @NFL
The <a href=”https://twitter.com/RamsNFL?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@RamsNFL</a> defense racked up NINE sacks to tie an <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/NFLPlayoffs?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#NFLPlayoffs</a> record! 😤 <a href=”https://t.co/CADCneZ0Er”>pic.twitter.com/CADCneZ0Er</a>
Going into Week 18, it seemed like a given the Vikings would at least use the franchise tag to keep Darnold. They were 14-2 and challenging the Lions for the No. 1 seed in the conference.
These last two games saw Darnold revert back to the quarterback who was seeing ghosts on the field, opening up the possibility the Vikings decide to simply let him test free agency.
Minnesota’s quarterback plan for this season was supposed to include rookie J.J. McCarthy, but things didn’t work out when he suffered a torn meniscus in the preseason opener that caused him to miss the entire year.
McCarthy, the No. 10 overall pick in the 2024 draft, could go into the offseason as the Vikings’ No. 1 starter. Darnold is going to be a free agent for the third straight year and facing the possibility of playing for his fourth different team since the start of the 2022 season.
