MINNEAPOLIS -- At the dawn of the new year, Sam Darnold was a folk hero in Minnesota. Not only did the quarterback -- no longer locally branded a reclamation project, but rather a full-blown, high-octane Pro Bowler -- sweep the rival Green Bay Packers to give the Vikings their best regular-season record in 16 years, but he registered as a near-lock to return in 2025, as the pleasantly surprising captain of the ship.
In the Vikings' two games that followed, the rejuvenated Darnold didn't just light fire to his potentially lucrative offseason earnings. He was the chief reason those two games proved to be the most deflating -- and, ultimately, the final games -- of an otherwise inspiring Minnesota campaign. In other words, the quarterback crashed even more dramatically than he rose, cementing himself as a perfect fit for a football community ever-reluctant to let the air of "Minnesota Nice" overshadow lingering anticipation of disappointment.
Week 18 was one thing. Going to Detroit to unseat the juggernaut Lions, the darling of all the NFL, was always going to be a tall task. Who could blame Darnold for sailing a couple throws, rushing a couple more? It was his first NFL game of playoff magnitude, after all. Surely he'd settle down just a touch for the ensuing wild-card game, in a do-or-die scenario. Surely a trip out west, where he was born and raised and once built his draft stock, would rekindle that unfazed, borderline fearless, composure that marked the rest of his genuinely authoritative Vikings debut.
No. Not so. Monday's season-ending loss to the Los Angeles Rams wasn't a touch better for Darnold than the week prior. It was catastrophically worse. The numbers aren't pretty -- he finished 25 of 40 with one touchdown, one interception and one fumble -- but the visual of his unsettled dancing in and around the pocket was even uglier. By the end of Monday's game, Darnold had absorbed a playoff-record nine sacks, losing the Vikings a combined 82 yards. On paper, that's an indictment of a rattled front. Darnold's unending penchant for holding the ball -- he might still be holding it -- was the truly crushing culprit.
This isn't to say Darnold's return to NFL relevance was a sham. Part of his appeal, for much of this season, was his willingness to stand in the pocket, endure the heat of pressure, and launch the rock deep with his first-round arm, feeding some of the game's best perimeter playmakers in Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison. For several stretches, in fact, his combo of natural accuracy and impenetrable zeal made the Vikings' offseason gamble to let Kirk Cousins walk look downright genius; they had bet on a couple of mysteries over a solid but unspectacular known commodity, and Darnold perfectly paired with O'Connell and Co. to seize the moment, even making fans briefly forget about first-round rookie J.J. McCarthy.
But just as quarterbacks aren't guaranteed starting jobs every year (Darnold knows this well), teams aren't guaranteed 14-win seasons. Teams aren't guaranteed playoff appearances. The Vikings rode the "Minneapolis Miracle" to the NFC Championship game in 2017, only to miss the postseason altogether in three of their next four seasons. They rattled off 13 wins in O'Connell's inspiring 2022 debut, only to go one-and-done in the playoffs and then miss the dance, and essentially lose Cousins for good, the next year. Things change in a hurry in the NFL. Which is another way of saying, Darnold may well have enjoyed a renaissance in 2024, and he may have earned a close look as more than a placeholder under center, but in the biggest, brightest moments that were always going to differentiate his team between "nice autumn story" and "meaningful winter contender," well, he froze up like the Vikings' home state.
Is O'Connell's play design blameless here? Or the interior offensive line? Or a Brian Flores-led defense that racked up crunch-time turnovers all year but let Matthew Stafford and the Rams carve them up out of the gate on Monday? As always, a loss in the NFL -- even an atrocious one -- can't be pinned on a single player. And yet, if we can crown Darnold for his hand in shepherding the Vikings' attack from September through December, we can also identify his hand as the one that helped firmly drag Minnesota back to Earth and, ultimately, out of the playoffs in January. The Vikings just needed competent passing to be competitive at the close, and what they got instead was what you'd expect from a wide-eyed rookie called cold off the bench.
At 27 years old, this isn't the end of the road for Sam Darnold. Not after hurling 35 scores in his first gig as a full-timer in years. The road forward simply may not be paved in purple. O'Connell isn't going to forget 16 games of mostly top-10 production, but he and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah are also going to enter the 2025 offseason with the last two games fresh on their minds. That's not a delightful thought. One, because those games proved that, even with all-star weaponry, and 14 wins against a so-so slate, and a successful lottery-ticket quarterback, the Vikings still resembled a wild-card hopeful more than a Super Bowl heavyweight. And two, because the time for making another big quarterback gamble is already here.
Darnold's free agent market almost certainly took a hit thanks to his finish, and in theory, that might benefit the Vikings. Then again, how much should they even be willing to pay for his services right now? The NFL is always desperate for quality arms, and April's draft class isn't believed to be especially strong at the position, so it's possible a needy squad like the Las Vegas Raiders or New York Giants will swoop in with a reasonable offer. And if that occurs, forcing Minnesota to bid for his return, well, the recent track record of Adofo-Mensah suggests the Vikings will be more inclined to say, "Thanks for the memories."
Remember Cousins last offseason? He was older, yes, and coming off a serious injury. But he'd given Minnesota six years of mostly steady quarterbacking. He'd at least led one playoff win in town. And the Vikings, moving into 2024, were no longer comfortable paying big bucks for "just OK" under center. They preferred to throw multiple darts at low-risk, high-upside prospects, one of which was Darnold. The other one, McCarthy, may have missed his rookie season due to knee surgeries, but he's still a premium investment as a top-10 pick. He's younger. He's cheaper. And after Darnold sank rather than elevated Minnesota to close his dream debut, who's to say McCarthy can't offer more sooner than later?
In the parity-driven NFL, there isn't necessarily a clear-cut answer. The Vikings wouldn't have had the chance to flop in the playoffs, after all, if it weren't for the Darnold stardom that helped get them there. Can they convince Darnold to return on another team-friendly one-year deal? Can they simply restart a quarterback competition next summer? Would that suffocate what confidence is left inside No. 14? And if they let him go, they'll inevitably search for Darnold 2.0 in free agency, or pray he emerges in practice-squad call-up Daniel Jones, so that the playoff-ready vets on this team aren't entirely left out to dry. Pivoting fully to "the future" might well be the right move, affording McCarthy patience to grow at his pace, but it's less easily sold when you've got a gleaming facility full of players and coaches who just came within a single win of the NFC's No. 1 playoff seed.
In a weird way, it would've been easier for team brass to move into 2025 had Darnold simply shown nothing at all in his humble hunt for career redemption; then, at least, they'd have an easy justification for turning right to McCarthy, the handpicked face of the franchise, next fall. But that wasn't reality. The reality was that Darnold far exceeded expectations ... until he didn't. It's not unusual for teams and quarterbacks to experience playoff defeat; only one team wins it all every year. It is entirely more complicated when every win and loss, especially at season's end, informs the next steps of a franchise at a crossroads.
And so, for now, it's back to square one at the most important position in football. Vikings faithful got a taste of the good stuff this season. But here we are after their team's early exit and, as is often the case, they're right back to waiting.
