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Kevin Seifert, ESPN editor
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Sam Darnold’s dream season came to a halt over the past two weeks. It happened so quickly that Darnold seemed unwilling to understand the implications in the moments following the Minnesota Vikings’ 27-9 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Monday night.
“Obviously,” Darnold said, “at the end of the day, all that matters when you have a good season is, ‘What do you do in the playoffs?’ We didn’t achieve it today, and that’s all that matters.”
Darnold appears to have resurrected his career this season after signing a one-year deal with the Vikings and leading them to 14 wins, while throwing for a career-high 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns. After the Vikings’ Week 17 victory over the visiting Green Bay Packers, his teammates hoisted him onto their shoulders in a symbolic celebration of his campaign.
Since that point, however, Darnold has regressed to some of the levels that cost him his jobs with the New York Jets in 2020 and the Carolina Panthers in 2022. In losses over the past eight days to the Rams and the Detroit Lions, he pitched a combined game. 23 throws off target, according to ESPN Research, and had a total of 11 sacks, including nine on Monday night.
Where he once seemed on track for the Vikings to re-sign him or at least use their franchise tag to keep him until 2025, Darnold now heads into free agency with his future as uncertain as ever.
“I’ll have a lot of time after this to think about what the season entailed,” Darnold said. “But to be honest, I just think about today and what I could have done better.”
Vikings All-Pro wide receiver Justin Jefferson acknowledged the uncertainty and declined Monday night to weigh in on the team’s impending decision. Jefferson compared the situation to what the Vikings faced last season with Kirk Cousins, although in that case, Jefferson approved of Cousins returning.
“I didn’t know who my quarterback was going to be (after last season), and I didn’t really care,” Jefferson said. “At the end of the day, I will always say I have the confidence in myself to perform the same way I did. But it’s not my job to say who the quarterback is going to be or who I want .be the quarterback at the end of the day, they’re going to figure it out, and whoever they decide to go with, we can work with that.”
Darnold seemed particularly disappointed with Monday’s sack total, which tied an NFL postseason record. The 82 yards he lost on those sacks was a playoff record. He held the ball for an average of 4.73 seconds on those plays, including eight against a four-man rush.
“It’s up to me to be able to feel that and either step up, move, go run for a first down or just throw it away,” he said. “I felt like there were a lot of sacks that I was responsible for, where I was just holding the ball and taking sacks where I could have soiled it at someone’s feet or just thrown it by- over someone’s head.”
When asked why he didn’t do it, Darnold said, “Just a snap decision, trying to run away and couldn’t get the ball out.”
Minnesota coach Kevin O’Connell offered some mild criticism, noting that “there were a few completions to be had.”
“You have to find a way to control the ball and keep moving it forward,” he added. “Completions have a negative effect on defenses. That’s just the case. Those moments when you’re holding that ball and your reaction is to try to make a play.”
The organization will lean on O’Connell to make a final decision on Darnold’s future and whether the coach is willing to hand the offense over to 2024 draft pick JJ McCarthy, or if O’Connell prefers to recruit another veteran. Speaking on Monday night, O’Connell went out of his way to say it was “very important that we all think about Sam’s work” during the season.
“What he was able to do this year, when not many people thought he would be able to lead a team to 14 wins, which is rare,” O’Connell said. “The way he came in, engaged in a daily process to be the best version of himself. It ultimately didn’t work. I think Sam would be the first to tell you that. Could he have play better tonight? I’m sure he would have told you he could have. and there to stay tight?
