The Minnesota Vikings faced off against the Jacksonville Jaguars this past Sunday and boy was it an ugly, ugly win for the Vikings… The Vikings ended up edging out a 12-7 win without scoring a touchdown. The big talk of the game amongst Vikings fans was Sam Darnold’s horrific play, going 24-of-38 for 241 yards and three interceptions. Sam just tried to force the ball to Justin Jefferson and his receivers, leading to ugly pickoffs. The Vikings relied on the strength of their defense again this season to come out with a win in this game holding the Jaguars to just 143 total yards.
After that performance, it left a lot of fans wondering whether the bottom would fall out for Sam Darnold because of how he started the season compared to the mistakes he’s currently making. The way he started was such an improvement from his first six years in the NFL it’s scary to see him regressing to the “Old” Sam we’re used to seeing, and after Sunday it’s harder to avoid the conclusion that regression is happening at the quarterback position. Through Minnesota’s first four games, Darnold threw for 932 yards, 11 touchdowns, and three interceptions with a 118.9 passer rating. In his last five starts, he has 1,209 yards six touchdowns, and seven interceptions with a quarterback rating of 85.7.
Minnesota Vikings Head Coach Kevin O’Connell’s Thoughts On Sams Performance And Moving Forward
With rookie J.J. McCarthy sidelined for the entire season, the Vikings are pretty much all in with Darnold. Nick Mullens would be next up at the quarterback position if O’Connell made a change for whatever reason, and it became clear last year that Mullens isn’t a viable starting option. The Vikings were/are 0-3 with Mullens at the starting position and he had eight interceptions in just five appearances. As much as Darnold is headed in a backward direction, he’s definitely still the best choice to lead the offense. Coach O’Connell even said in his postgame news conference, per ESPN, when addressing the possibility of benching Darnold:
“We’re still 100% confident in Sam” In fact, I was looking at it as a great opportunity to see growth and continue to move the team. We’re going to check back on this moment and use it the right way, and Sam is going to be better off for it. I truly do believe that.”
Coach O’Connell drove that point home in his locker room speech to the team, pivoting to Darnold after the high praise for the defense for carrying them to another victory.
“We will improve. We will put the ball in the end zone. Sam, everybody in this lock room knows, you are the F*cking guy that’s gonna take us there.”
Sam Darnold’s Thoughts On His Performance vs. the Jaguars
“I’ve got to do a lot better job taking care of the football. I think that’s obvious. Just being situationally aware of where we are at on the field, first and second down, just being able to put the ball in play and let our guys go run with it. I thought I should have done a lot better job of that today, but we’ll just look at the tape and learn from it that way.”
And let’s hope he’s right, as the Minnesota Vikings’ next game is on the road against the struggling Tennessee Titans, and boy would it be embarrassing to drop a game to a rebuilding Titans team with no quarterback. To follow more of what’s going on around the NFL go to GridIronHeroics.com and follow me on X(Twitter) @Crain_Sports1.
