And he showed it when it mattered most on Sunday
With just over ten minutes left in Sunday’s victory over the San Francisco 49ers, the Minnesota Vikings had given the momentum back to the road team. San Francisco had turned what looked like an Aaron Jones touchdown into a 99-yard touchdown drive when Jones fumbled near the goal line, and the defending NFC champs marched down the field to cut Minnesota’s lead to 20-14.
The Vikings knew they needed to get a drive that ended in points. They also knew that they would have to do it without Justin Jefferson, who had gone out of the game on the previous drive with a quad contusion. They’d also have to do it without Jordan Addison, who was inactive for Sunday’s game with an ankle injury, and without T.J. Hockenson, who won’t be back for at least two more weeks. On the first play of the drive, Jones went to the sideline after taking a rough shot, leaving the Vikings even more short-handed on what was the most important possession of the game.
It would have been easy for Sam Darnold to fold in that spot. The Sam Darnold that people saw with the New York Jets and the Carolina Panthers might have done exactly that. But this isn’t New York Sam Darnold or Carolina Sam Darnold. Not anymore.
Darnold took an offense sporting a combination of skill position players you might expect to see in a preseason game and calmly moved them 62 yards in 14 plays to position Will Reichard for a 27-yard field goal to put the Vikings back up by two scores. Just as importantly, the drive consumed nearly seven minutes of game clock and forced San Francisco to burn all of their timeouts.
Darnold also converted three huge third-down situations on the drive:
- On 3rd-and-7 from the Minnesota 33, Darnold prevented what could have been a three-and-out by finding Brandon Powell for 11 yards, giving Powell enough room to maneuver for the first.
- Three plays later, on 3rd-and-8 from the 46, Darnold made what might have been his best throw of the day, an absolute laser to Jalen Nailor that picked up 26 yards and put the Vikings into field goal range. Darnold put the ball where only Nailor could get it, and he rewarded Darnold’s faith with a nice grab.
- Next, on 3rd-and-2 from the 20, Darnold hit Powell in the middle of the field for another 5-yard pickup and a first down. It was a short pass, but it was effective enough to get the job done.
The last third down of the drive was a handoff to Jones to get the Niners to burn their last timeout, and Reichard drilled his field goal attempt to make it 23-14 with just over three minutes left.
I can understand if people are still skeptical about Sam Darnold, honestly. It’s only been two games and he’s still had a few moments that make you wonder what’s happening. But this is clearly a different Sam Darnold than we’ve seen in the past. He’s playing like a quarterback who knows he’s surrounded by a wealth of talent and, more importantly, has the full faith and confidence of his coaching staff. There’s a reason that the Vikings went out and grabbed Darnold after Kirk Cousins departed for Atlanta, knowing that they were probably going to draft a quarterback in April’s NFL Draft, and Darnold is showing us why.
There’s a reason that Sam Darnold was a #3 overall draft pick. The talent has always been there, but for whatever reason it just hasn’t come together for him. Now, with a coach who knows something about the quarterback position guiding the way and being part of an organization that, to put it politely, isn’t an absolute mess, Darnold now has the opportunity to let his natural talents take over and lead the Minnesota offense with confidence.
This might be Sam Darnold’s only season in Minnesota, given that the team has J.J. McCarthy waiting in the wings to take over in 2025 when he comes back from his knee injury. If Darnold sustains his current level of play for the remainder of the season, the Vikings aren’t going to get him back for the $10 million he’s making this year. If that’s what ends up happening, it will be because Kevin O’Connell rolled the dice with him and gave him the opportunity to turn his career around.
Whether it’s Darnold’s only season in purple or not, I think we can appreciate that this is a totally different Sam Darnold than everyone had been used to, and it’s going to make this season a whole lot better than a lot of the experts thought it was going to be in Minnesota.
