The Minnesota Vikings’ 27-9 Wild Card loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Monday night was bittersweet.
It was disappointing to see the Vikings post a 14-2 record and then crash out in the final two games of the season. However, it opened the floodgates to the topic Vikings fans really wanted to talk about: The future of the quarterback position.
Admit it. It didn’t matter whether Sam Darnold led the Vikings to a 17-0 record or lost every game in 2024. No matter what he did, there would always be an eye on the 2025 season.
Even when the Vikings were 14-2, Vikings fans and national analysts argued over whether they should use “The Baker Mayfield Contract” to execute “The Jordan Love Plan” to “Find their Patrick Mahomes.”
If fans could have Madden simulate next season, they would have.
It happened when the Vikings appeared to put J.J. McCarthy on a “redshirt” plan after selecting him with the 10th-overall pick in last April’s draft. It became an official redshirt year when McCarthy tore his meniscus in the Vikings’ first preseason game.
Darnold was never supposed to be the future. However, Vikings fans desperately fell for him when he started performing like few Minnesota quarterbacks have in their lifetime.
Darnold’s year started auspiciously with a win over the New York Giants. Nobody knew it then, but Darnold’s season would go so well that he beat his future backup, Daniel Jones, in that game. A win over the NFC runner-up San Francisco 49ers followed, and a home win over the Houston Texans pushed them to 3-0.
The first real test for Vikings fans was a trip to Lambeau Field, and Darnold delivered with a win over the Green Bay Packers.
The victory was like catnip for the Vikings fans, who shrugged off a shaky performance against the New York Jets to improve to 5-0 and then ho-hummed their way through back-to-back losses to the Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Rams.
The next two weeks sent Vikings fans back to earth as Darnold beat the Indianapolis Colts and then chucked three interceptions in a win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Kevin O’Connell rebooted Darnold like a computer that downloaded Limewire in the early aughts, and the Vikings rattled off six consecutive wins. But it wasn’t just that the Vikings were winning. It was how Darnold was playing and who he was beating.
The Vikings tried to give the Chicago Bears a feel-good victory in Week 12, but Darnold wouldn’t let it happen, engineering a game-winning drive in overtime while throwing for 330 yards and two touchdowns.
When the Vikings came home the following week, Darnold did it again, orchestrating a fourth-quarter comeback to defeat the Arizona Cardinals.
That led to the big showdown with the Atlanta Falcons. Playing in front of the man he had replaced, Darnold looked like a quarterback worthy of the $180 million contract Kirk Cousins took to leave Minnesota. Darnold threw for 347 yards and five touchdowns in the 42-21 win.
Darnold continued to stack good performances together, defeating the Chicago Bears at home and engineering another fourth-quarter comeback in Minnesota’s first win in Seattle since 2006.
Although he had one win over the Packers, Vikings fans were buzzing like they took a fistful of Zyns after he threw for 377 yards and three touchdowns in a Week 17 victory over Green Bay.
At this point, the people who knew it was supposed to be a one-night stand wanted a long-term relationship with Darnold. In a future that was uncertain when Cousins left, Darnold was thriving and giving the Vikings the type of quarterback play reserved for Daunte Culpepper in 2004 and Brett Favre in 2009.
Spotrac estimated that Darnold should earn $54.7 million as recently as Sunday morning, and the crazy part was some fans actually agreed with it.
The Vikings may have had McCarthy waiting in the wings. Still, turning things over to him was too risky, especially when Jordan Love spent three years on a rookie contract sitting behind Aaron Rodgers.
That’s where things turned for Darnold.
His performance reminded Vikings fans of when Josh Freeman tanked Minnesota’s hopes at the No. 1 seed in a loss to the Lions in Week 18.
Still, he had a shot at redemption on Monday night.
When you think about it, Hollywood couldn’t have written a better script for Darnold. Avenge the loss to the Rams and keep O’Connell from being “Little bro’ed” by Sean McVay in the Wild Card round. Head to Philadelphia and avenge the 38-7 beatdown the Eagles laid on the Vikings in 2017. Then, slay the beast in Dan Campbell and send those kneecap-biting junkies back to the trailer park in Detroit.
Alas, it wasn’t meant to be. Darnold sailed passes and looked like the nervous wreck many saw during his time with the New York Jets. Like the week before, the moment was too big for him and the Rams punished the Vikings in a 27-9 defeat that ended their season.
It’s not just that the Vikings lost. It’s how they lost. X user Jay Cuda mentioned that Darnold became the 25th quarterback in NFL history to throw a pick, lose a fumble, and get sacked nine times in a game.
Some Vikings fans will believe keeping Darnold is the right course of action. The sane ones know that it’s time to move on.
But let’s say the Vikings keep Darnold. Hopefully, you were fond of the offensive line’s performance, which allowed Darnold to get sacked six times in the first half and called out by O’Connell after Monday’s game.
Those cool turnover celebrations? Those are probably gone because the Vikings won’t be able to afford Cam Bynum.
Do you want a defensive tackle that can wreck a game like Braden Fiske did? Get ready to research the late rounds of the NFL Draft, buddy.
And if you want to win 14 games again? Better learn to settle for nine or 10 and hope to get hot in the playoffs.
You may say, “It’s not Sam’s fault!”
To some degree, you may be right. But it would be setting Vikings football back roughly three or four years.
Cousins had a handful of performances like Darnold had this season, but with $35 million more on the books. Rick Spielman was forced to trade for the entire seventh round of the NFL Draft and hope he hit on a serviceable player to start at corner or offensive guard.
Spoiler alert: It didn’t happen. And now other teams are figuring it out.
Look at what happened in Green Bay, where Jordan Love is making $55 million surrounded by the youngest roster in the NFL. Check out Jacksonville, where Trevor Lawrence made the same amount for a team that went 4-13. Justin Herbert melted down in the playoffs with a $52.5 million salary, and Dak Prescott held Jerry Jones over a barrel for $60 million because of the great unknown.
You can point to other examples across the league, where nine quarterbacks make over $50 million annually. In some cases, it may be worth it (Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson). But it’s risky to pay an above-average quarterback elite money, let alone a guy with one good season under his belt.
Ultimately, Darnold should wind up in the same bin as Randall Cunningham, Jeff George, and Gus Frerotte. Each of them had fun seasons we’ll look back on in 10 years, but each came up short of the ultimate goal. That’s exactly what we hoped Darnold would be, and in the last two weeks, he’s made the Vikings’ decision to move on a lot easier.