NFL: San Francisco 49ers at Minnesota Vikings
USATSI

MINNEAPOLIS -- Sam Darnold was a willfully forgotten man in San Francisco. The ex-New York Jets castoff appeared in just a single game during his 2023 stint with the 49ers, resigned to rebuild his football career in the shadows as Brock Purdy's backup and Kyle Shanahan's latest pupil. After Sunday, however, the Bay Area knows Darnold much better, and 49ers faithful probably wish they didn't.

Making his home debut as the Minnesota Vikings' starting quarterback, the veteran journeyman wasn't perfect before a U.S. Bank Stadium crowd littered with plenty of 49ers red. But he was resilient. He was comfortable. And he was victorious, outdueling Purdy in a 23-17 upset of the reigning NFC champions.

"He was able to sit behind a great coach and a great team in San Francisco," Pro Bowl fullback C.J. Ham said after the game. "To have him, have his poise, his leadership, it's been top-notch."

Ham's remarks were echoed throughout the Vikings' locker room Sunday, less than one calendar year after Kirk Cousins delivered one of the finest performances of his Minnesota career to stun the 49ers -- a game that Darnold attended on the other sideline. When Cousins left this offseason and Darnold was signed as a perceived placeholder, many fans anticipated a natural drop-off.

Not the players.

"You look at the betting odds and all that stuff, you can call it an upset," Ham said, "but at the end of the day we know that we have a chance to beat anybody. ... That happened to be a really good opponent who was the NFC champion last year. But that was last year. We're a different team than we are last year."

Veteran wide receiver Brandon Powell went a step further.

"We know what we got in this locker room," he said. "It's on us to go out and show everybody. We know that team is gonna be a tough team. We just showed today who's the tougher team."

Here's why the Vikings really buy it: It's not only about Darnold. In fact, it never has been. Late Sunday, against a Kyle Shanahan-led powerhouse that's represented the NFC in two of the last five Super Bowls, it wasn't former Green Bay Packers star Aaron Jones or No. 1 wide receiver Justin Jefferson dominating, though the latter had the stadium roaring early on with a 97-yard MVP-level touchdown. Jones was splitting carries and Jefferson was nursing a leg injury. Instead, it was lower-rung contributors like Powell and Jalen Nailor and Ty Chandler coming up big in crunch time, highlighting Minnesota's depth.

"We kinda did the same thing last year," Powell said. "'Jets' went down, T.J. [Hockenson] went down. Man, 'Jets' went down, and people thought we was over with. ... We had to step up. We did the same thing today. I let the media say [whatever]. You come watch us play, and you'll see we got some dawgs."

And that's saying nothing about Brian Flores' defense, which has arguably given Purdy -- a perennial MVP candidate in San Francisco -- more fits than any other team in the last two seasons. Whether it was ascending edge rusher Patrick Jones II or rangy linebacker/safety hybrid Josh Metellus or ball-magnet outside linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel, anyone who wore purple on Sunday seemed built to match the 49ers' championship-caliber physicality. Holding Shanahan's group to 17 is always a victory, and it helps that Minnesota actually sealed the deal at the finish line, confirming an improbable 2-0 start.

Can the Vikings actually keep this up? Two years removed from a magical 13-4 run that proved rather fluky, is Kevin O'Connell's group better built to sustain success this time around? Truth be told, we've never seen a Darnold-led team make more than short-lived noise. This, however, is not any old Darnold-led team. It's got some of the game's best playmakers in Jones and Jefferson. It's got depth that can offset the absence of said stars. And it's now got another formidable win over a very formidable opponent.

"We'll make a play whenever a play is needed," Ham said.

So far, it's been true. And that, frankly, seems like more than Vikings fans could've hoped for.