Sam Darnold, Vikings’ ugly defeat broke radio voice Paul Allen

Monday night’s disappointment for the Vikings seemed to be felt viscerally by the team’s voice.

Paul Allen, the team’s iconic radio voice on KFXN, felt all the emotions of what became an ugly 27-9 loss that saw quarterback Sam Darnold get sacked nine times for 82 yards.

Allen, the voice of radio since 2002, has never been shy about showing his displeasure, anger and disappointment over the years, including memorable calls on Brett Favre’s late interception in the NFC title game 2010, Blair Walsh’s missed field goal in 2016. wild card round and when then-Cardinals quarterback – and now Vikings QB coach – Josh McCown knocked out Minnesota in the final seconds of the last regular season game in 2003.

And on Monday night, Darnold was at the center of Allen’s latest call.

With less than four minutes left in the second quarter and the Vikings already trailing 17-3, Darnold danced around the pocket and held onto the ball, hoping someone would get open downfield.

But that didn’t happen and Darnold was ultimately fired.

Allen wasn’t very happy.

“He’s holding it too long!” Throw it away, man! Allen said incredulously. “On the 25-yard line, he is sacked for the fifth time.

It was the story of the game for Darnold who was sacked six times after at least 4.4 seconds of the snap, according to Next Gen Stats.

At halftime, Allen shared his thoughts on X in what he called a “drunken” play.

“This game is drunk. Dumb call from Team Hussey negating a Cashman scoop and score, Rams rough up Ryan Wright in a punt, free first to Minnesota, then Sam throws a pick,” Allen wrote. “It’s the second quarter of the Rams 10-3.”

By the time Darnold was sacked for the ninth time late in the fourth quarter and the game was out of reach, the call from the radio booth was noticeably quieter, with the Vikings’ fortunes all but sealed at that point .

Darnold, headed to free agency, admitted his “mistakes” after the game, and head coach Kevin O’Connell told reporters the signal-caller had plenty of moments holding the ball for long periods didn’t help the team. .

“Those moments when you’re holding that ball, and your reaction is to try to make a play – we can’t talk out of both sides of the mouth because he’s definitely made a lot of plays doing that this year – but I think it’s part of growing up,” the coach said.