Can you dance or are you a wallflower?
That was a very disappointing loss. No doubt. The majority of the blame is given to Sam Darnold for this loss and it is very hard to argue he was not the main culprit. But there were other culprits involved. KOC, the offensive line, the receivers, and the kicker (I do not agree with this one but whatevs).
Some argue that it is OK because nobody predicted this season out of the Vikings anyway. I do not totally agree with this because once they proved they were really good, the expectations changed. It was more than reasonable to expect a competitive performance. The team could not deliver and the only “silver lining” that I cling to is that they had won 9 straight and were probably overdue for a bad performance.
After reading the post game comments here it seems like a large percentage of the fans want to move on from Sam Darnold this offseason. This performance has seemingly cemented the preseason opinions of Darnold for many. The 14 wins he played a large part in orchestrating are meaningless in terms of the long term future of the team. I suppose that is fair and it certainly is an entitled opinion. I still think it is a hard sell to the team and it is taking a gamble that JJ McCarthy is going to be good and be good quickly. If it takes him two seasons to really be good then what can transpire in that time with the rest of the roster? Is there a legitimate Super Bowl window with Darnold leading the team or is it a waste of time?
Whatever the KAM and KOC decide, it will play a najor role in their long term future with the team. I expect both will and should get an extension but a second extension will laregly depend in this upcoming QB decision.
I think Darnold needs to play well this week. Period. If he does, then it makes their decision a bit harder.
Minnesota Vikings News and Links
Vikings QB Sam Darnold laments red-zone woes after dreadful night in blowout loss to Lions
“You can’t go out there and kick field goals in the red zone against a team like (the Lions),” Darnold said, via the Associated Press. “Our defense played great and kept us in the game, but we didn’t finish when we had the chance.”
“We didn’t do a lot of the things that we’ve consistently done all season long, and this game came down to finishing in the red zone, weighty downs, third downs, pitching and catching,” head coach Kevin O’Connell said.
Darnold airmailed throws all night, particularly missing in the red zone. Detroit squeezed the pocket, making the seventh-year quarterback visibly uncomfortable, and sped up his processing.
The Lions blitzed Darnold on over half of his dropbacks in both meetings this season (55.6% in Week 18), generating pressure on 48.9% of his dropbacks overall (his third-highest rate faced this season), per Next Gen Stats. The Lions played more Cover 0 (all-out blitz) than any other defense in a game this season (14 times), allowing just five completions on those dropbacks.
The loss wasn’t all on Darnold, as the defense got pulverized by Jahmyr Gibbs down the stretch, and O’Connell made some questionable calls and was slow to adjust to how Glenn was calling the game.
The coach noted that one bad night doesn’t undo all the good the Vikings had accomplished coming into Week 18.
“It doesn’t change anything about what this team is made up of,” O’Connell said. “You can’t win nine in a row, and then we lose one, and allow that to change how we operate. But that also doesn’t mean you can’t improve and have late-season improvement when you have been playing really good football in the month of December — sometimes you get hit in the mouth a little bit and you’ve got to respond. I know we’ve built this thing in a way that we’re going to do that.”
“Losing sucks, but it is what it is,” Darnold said. “We did a lot of great things this season and now we have an opportunity to go to the playoffs and play another really good team in Los Angeles. That’s the story now.”
Matthew Coller: Detroit was the Darnold game everyone feared
In Sam Darnold’s entire career, he only had three games with a lower completion percentage than the mark that he posted on Sunday night against the Detroit Lions. Coincidentally, those games were memorable.
One was against the New England Patriots, where he was caught saying that he was “seeing ghosts” — a phrase that continues to be associated with him every time he struggles. Another was against the Vikings in 2018. The third was a game that his team won in Carolina despite him going 5-for-15 with two interceptions.
Those three ugly performances represented different points in Darnold’s career. The game against the Vikings was in his rookie year, where the uber-talented quarterback was coming off back-to-back wins and then regressed hard. The “seeing ghosts” game was a year later. It also followed a tremendous game the previous week. People in New York started to wonder if anything was different in Year 2. And in Carolina, it was the last game of the season following a really good run of five starts. It was a wind-out-of-the-sails type showing.
How much of that sounded like what we saw on Sunday night?
While the major difference is that Darnold had been on a long streak of excellent play, he was still coming off one of his best career games versus the Green Bay Packers and much of the world had begun to accept that this version of Darnold was the reality. Cold water, meet face.
“Just got to hit the throws, it’s as simple as that,” Darnold said in his postgame comments.
Darnold entered the game having the highest completion percentage in the NFL inside the red zone. That evaporated inside the 20 over and over. The Vikings finished 0-for-4 and only came away with two field goals.
“I thought we had some opportunities and then some other times they did some good things in man coverage and got us off our first or second reads and just didn’t put the ball in the end zone at a level that we’ve been doing,” O’Connell said. “We’ve been at a pretty strong clip down there finishing with touchdowns over the last six, seven weeks or so and that did not happen tonight. We have to take a look at it and be ready to try to improve immediately and know a challenge that we have going to L.A.”
“This came down to our ability to put seven on the board in the first half and take advantage of a short field turnover, take advantage of getting the ball on the 50-yard line and you have to turn those things into some real points against a team like that,” O’Connell said. “If we’re kicking field goals all day against that offense, we’re going to have to score some touchdowns eventually to give ourselves a chance to win the game.”
Now come the hard questions.
In a world built for over reaction, is it too much to wonder if Darnold is going to let them down again in the playoffs and turn this 14-3 magic carpet ride into a quick playoff exit? Is it unfair following a near-MVP season from Darnold to start talking about the Vikings shaping their future plays by what the well-traveled quarterback does in the postseason?
Is it an over reaction to say that we went from trusting Darnold to consistently bring the Vikings strong QB play from thinking he’s the biggest wild card going into the 5 vs. 4 matchup?
The answer to all of that is probably yes. Despite the misery of Sunday night, he’s going to finish with a 102.5 QB rating for the season, 35 touchdowns and 4,319 yards. Quarterbacks across the league have bad games, sometimes in big contests. Josh Allen had a 9-for-30 box score in a loss to Houston.
This wasn’t a routine loss. This was for the No. 1 seed. And the penalty for a loss was extremely harsh, sending a 14-win team on the road.
Off the Sam Darnold bandwagon? No QB would’ve handled Detroit’s pressure
What Sam Darnold experienced Sunday night against the Lions was worse than what Daniel Jones experienced in his Week 1 start against the Vikings when he played for the Giants.
If you’ll recall, that Week 1 game at MetLife Stadium had Jonathan Greenard and the Vikings feeling sorry for Jones while New York fans booed him on a day in which the Giants offensive line failed to protect him from a ferocious Minnesota defense.
Jones was sacked five times, hit another eight times and hurried on 13 other pass plays. Add ‘em all up and it’s 26 pressures that the Vikings put on Jones in Week 1. It was a lot — and no quarterback would’ve fared well under similar circumstances.
Well, Darnold had it worse in Detroit as the Lions pummeled the Vikings 31-9 to win the NFC North and claim the No. 1 seed in the playoffs. Detroit pressured Darnold a whopping 33 times, comprised of 22 hurries, two sacks and nine hits.
The 33 pressures were the most Darnold has faced all season. In the previous 16 games, he was pressured more than 20 times in only six games and no team topped 24.
It took opposing teams five weeks to start the season to hit Darnold as many times as Detroit did in 60 minutes.
What can we take away from this? Tom Brady could’ve been standing in that pocket Sunday night and probably would’ve struggled against that type of pressure.
When the Patriots sacked Caleb Williams nine times — a high mark in an NFL game this season — in Week 10, it came from 23 total pressures. The Lions had 10 more pressures against Minnesota.
Detroit pressured Geno Smith a season-high 37 times in Week 4. They sacked him four times and hit him four more times, so even though Smith was under constant pressure, he wasn’t getting hit as frequently as Darnold was.
Darnold was not good. That’s a fact. He missed a lot of open receivers. He also contributed to the pressure totals by holding onto the ball too long at times. Still, Minnesota’s game plan, lack of adjustments, and the guys blocking for Darnold all share some of the blame.
The two other players who deserve the most blame, according to the PFF stats, are left tackle Cam Robinson and left guard Blake Brandel, who allowed nine and eight pressures, respectively.
Loudest voices have big opinions on Vikings, Sam Darnold after Detroit disaster
While the loss was bad and key performers failed to step up, national pundits don’t appear to be completely out on the Vikings as the playoffs get started. Not all of them anyway.
“Are we ready to write off the Vikings after that game as a real contender? Because I am not,” said The Ringer’s Bill Simmons on his podcast. “I actually think they just had a bad game, where a bunch of s*** went wrong, and I’m not ready to be like, ‘Nope, that’s who they are.’ I just think it was one of those games. If anything, I want to buy in on them now in the playoffs, because now I think everybody’s off now, saying, ‘Oh Sam Darnold, there he is. The Lions kicked their a**. Oh you just have to rush them.’ I’ve watched them all year. I’m not ready to sell on them yet. I think they just sucked tonight.”
Darnold’s poor night — 18 of 41 for 144 yards and a 55.5 passer rating — has been a particular focal point for the national media in the hours since the loss on national television.
“Sam Darnold hasn’t missed that all season long. I thought he missed five touchdowns last night,” ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky said on Get Up. “I do think this is more attributed to him getting hit so much that his eyes started to go all over the place and get sped up, rather than playing in a calmer sense.”
“Let me tell you this, Aaron Glenn was in his bag last night defensively. The way he mixed up coverages. The way he brought pressure made Sam Darnold speed up,” said ESPN’s Marcus Spears on Get Up. “Sam Darnold has had an absolutely tremendous year, but Sam Darnold was uncomfortable all night long.”
As is the case though, not every opinion is as positive after such an embarrassing loss. None other than ESPN’s loudest voice, Stephen A. Smith, who notably got Darnold’s numbers completely wrong in the wake of the win over Green Bay in Week 17, says he can’t trust the Vikings QB in the playoffs.
“We’re not discrediting anything about Detroit, what we’re saying is, when you got 13 dudes on the injured list on the defensive side of the ball alone, that’s not supposed to happen. It’s not about Minnesota losing, it’s about them being held to nine points. It’s about them being denied a touchdown,” said Smith. “It’s about Sam Darnold being in the red zone and throwing six straight incompletions, two of them touchdown misses to Justin Jefferson, who by the way was open. It’s talking about that. He clearly has had a great season, nobody’s denying that Sam Darnold is having a great season. … Yeah Sam Darnold has the capability to win playoff games, to do some things. The question is do you trust him? Hell no. You can’t say that you trust him with his history and last night, you can’t say the word trust.”
Suddenly riddled with doubt: Can Sam Darnold exorcise the decades-old demons in Minnesota?
It’s great that he owned the loss, but who wants a QB searching for proper footwork heading into the playoffs? In a calm world, everyone would exhale and remember this team won 14 games this season. This is the NFL, though, overreaction is a way of life and Vikings fans have been burned too many times to ignore what they saw.
“Early on in the game, it seemed the misses were a little high, so we’ve got to take a look at it, fundamentals, techniques, and take a look at the plays that things happened on,” O’Connell said. “Having the Monday night game, we’ll be able to do — we’ll be able to have a real full kind of debrief and understanding of what took place because clearly it starts with me …
“Sam has hit a lot of those plays all year and I have every bit of confidence that he will hit it the next time,” O’Connell continued.
O’Connell’s stated confidence may be rewarded. Maybe the Sam Darnold that was among the NFL’s best stories this season returns to that form. Or maybe this is the inevitable regression to the mean for a 27-year-old on his fourth team.
Only Darnold can determine that, but across 60 minutes on Sunday night in Detroit, the Vikings went from dreaming of everything to shaking off the nightmares of seasons’ past.
All while wondering which Sam Darnold will show up in the playoffs.
Vikings snap counts and notable PFF grades from tough loss to Lions
Top 5 PFF grades on offense (min. 20 snaps)
1. Akers — 70.5
2. Jones — 69.9
3. O’Neill — 67.5
4. Oliver — 66.8
5. Nailor — 65.6
And the bottom 5… (min. 20 snaps)
1. Brandel — 42.0
2. Darnold — 45.8
3. Jefferson — 46.4
4. Addison — 50.2
5. Robinson — 53.4
Darnold obviously had a very bad game, but he wasn’t alone. Neither of his top two receivers played well, either. Nor did Hockenson, who barely missed this list. Throw in a rough day from the left side of Minnesota’s offensive line, and there was just too much to overcome. Brandel and Robinson combined to allow 17 pressures, per PFF.
Top 5 PFF grades on defense (min. 20 snaps)
1. Greenard — 77.6
2. Pace — 76.2
3. Jihad Ward —71.2
4. Gilmore — 70.9
5. Smith — 66.0
Even with 31 points allowed, it’s difficult to blame the Vikings’ defense for this game. They held one of the NFL’s elite offenses to just ten points on its first seven possessions, coming away with two interceptions and a turnover on downs. Eventually, because the offense kept putting them on the field, the dam broke and Jahmyr Gibbs had a career night. Greenard and Pace were standouts in this one, while Smith recorded his 37th career interception.
And the bottom 5… (min. 20 snaps)
1. Tillery — 35.3
2. Redmond — 38.4
3. Turner — 47.5
4. Cashman — 53.0
5. Bynum — 53.4
Kevin O’Connell Emphasizes Confidence in Sam Darnold, Self-Scouting & Prepping to ‘Compete Like Crazy’
If there’s anything we’ve learned this season, it’s to trust in Sam Darnold’s ability to bounce back.
Vikings Head Coach Kevin O’Connell noted Monday that Darnold’s mindset and mechanics can intertwine, and the power of negative outcomes may expand into subsequent plays if the high-level pitch-and-catch that’s occurred all season doesn’t come to fruition – like on Sunday Night Football.
After tossing three interceptions in the win at Jacksonville in Week 10, he went on a spree of four straight games without a pick and capped that run with five touchdowns in Week 14 against Atlanta.
Perhaps there’s one more four-game splurge of such a caliber in Darnold’s tank.
It’s a process that begins with brutal honesty in film review sessions Monday and channeling negative energy toward positive reactions. Plus, the setting at Detroit provided a playoff feel and a chance for Minnesota to study the man in the mirror, then extract ways to become an even better version of itself.
“We’ve gotta prepare our team. Get our guys turned over, get them tactically ready to go and go compete like crazy,” O’Connell remarked. “By the time we leave here today, it’s full steam ahead on the Los Angeles Rams and how we’re going to go do whatever it takes to win a game.”
1. O’Connell reflects on his play-calling
“I think from a standpoint of, at different times when maybe we didn’t make a play that could have changed the game, sometimes, I’ve got to make sure I don’t let that previous play affect the way that I’m calling the game, and attempt to try to find [an explosive outcome] on the next play, or two or three plays later, whatever it is,” O’Connell said, adding a lack of overall execution hurt the Vikings efforts to discourage Detroit’s balancing of pressure and focused coverage on Justin Jefferson in specific situations. “There’s no question, there’s certain circumstances in that game where I’ve got to do a much better job.
“The smallest little things, the one play here or there, could maybe change the outcome of the whole day, or at least the feel of it, all the way down to the very end,” he continued. “And [we] just didn’t make any of those plays, really, when you go back and look at it, and I certainly didn’t do enough to help our guys, and that’s where I’m starting today, is making sure that I am much more involved in the positive aspects of the plays we do make, but also taking a taking a deep look at the plays we didn’t figure out.”
2. Prepping for playoffs after playoff atmosphere
Going strictly off the environment at Ford Field Sunday night, one might forget it was the regular-season finale and not a postseason contest.
O’Connell said the Vikings can utilize that experience as it pivots to prepare for a playoff game on the road.
“That’s what every game in the tournament will be. We know we’re going on the road for one game to start off the Wild Card round and playing a team we went on the road on a short week and played against earlier this year, and they got the best of us,” O’Connell reminded. “So, there’s a lot of aspects from yesterday, going into this game, that — I think we’ve got the type of people and type of [work] environment and team here that we’re gonna accept the challenge and go compete like crazy. Try to get this thing done against, like I said, a really good team that gets to play at home, [they rested] some of their guys … All these things that can be evaluated as how this game is going to go, in my opinion, don’t really matter.”
3. Evaluating Hockenson against former team
Tight end T.J. Hockenson struggled to get into a rhythm at Detroit, recording just two catches on eight targets during the contest. A couple of the passes from Darnold were over-throws and at least one — an attempt over the middle — against Alex Anzalone appeared to be a no-call by the officials; but regardless, the connection wasn’t there for the former Lion.
O’Connell said he’d expected some opportunities for Hockenson in the game and noted “some really competitive plays” between him and Lions defenders. He specifically pointed to the Vikings second third-down attempt, an incompletion that ended the drive.
“You know, I’d be willing to bet that’s pretty close to the 9-out-of-10 completion right there and we’ve got a new set of downs in [Detroit territory] with our defense getting a stop early,” he said. “Those are the plays in a game like that that you’ve got to find a way to make, one way or the other. And maybe that gets T.J. going. And then we had a chance on a third-and-long. They were backed up on a very similar play to [the] massive explosive [play] to start the 2-minute drive against Green Bay, and we just don’t connect. And that’s kind of how the game was.
“What we’ve got to do is figure out, it’s OK to say, ‘Hey, it wasn’t our day’ or, ‘That’s not us.’ But we’ve got to figure out what caused those things — technique, fundamentals, scheme, presentation of plays, player, understanding of intent. That’s our job,” O’Connell continued. “I will never rest on ‘It just wasn’t our day.’ Although, I do think that our guys have demonstrated over the course of 17 games now that we should — and will — have a lot of confidence that our execution level will be better.”
4. Remaining confident in Reichard
O’Connell was asked about his confidence in rookie kicker Will Reichard, both in regard to a missed 51-yard field goal attempt (after earlier making one from the same distance) and a second-quarter kickoff that went out of bounds. Due to the league’s kickoff rules, the ball was then placed at the 40, giving the Lions favorable field position.
“It was just a mis-hit ball,” O’Connell said of the kickoff.
He noted he has “a ton of confidence” in Reichard despite the two errors Sunday and pair of missed field goals (57 and 43 yards) against the Packers in Week 17.
“He’s come off that injury that he had, got healthy, and it’s just getting back into a flow of consistency,” O’Connell said. “I know Will is as confident as any kicker I’ve ever been around and holds himself to an incredibly high standard. So when results don’t happen for him as a young player, I think it shows sometimes — and that’s OK, because I know the team has confidence in him, and I have confidence in him, [as does Special Teams Coordinator] Matt Daniels, but I want to make sure that doesn’t waver. Because if we all have the confidence we do in Will, I know he’s not going to flinch, and he’s going to go out there and keep doing his job at a really high level.
“It was a 51-yard kick and he had just made one and then came back and missed one. And that’s going to happen, but we’re going to make sure he keeps swinging and makes the next one,” O’Connell added.
Explaining Vikings playoff path following brutal loss to Lions in Week 18
Scenario No. 1: Chalk
If the home teams win, Minnesota will be playing for a rematch with Detroit on Monday night.
If No. 2 Philadelphia beats the 7th-seeded Green Bay Packers, and the No. 3 Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the 6th-seeded Washington Commanders, a Vikings win would clinch a date back in Detroit for the divisional round, with the Eagles hosting Tampa Bay.
Scenario No. 2: Upsets
Minnesota’s path changes if either Green Bay or Washington win on Sunday night.
If Green Bay beats Philadelphia, the Packers automatically draw the Lions as the No. 7 seed. That result would allow Minnesota to miss both Detroit and Philly in the divisional round. If the Packers beat Philly, and the Bucs beat Washington, a Minnesota win would earn a trip to Raymond James Stadium to take on Tampa Bay.
If the Eagles beat Green Bay, but Washington upsets Tampa Bay on the road, Washington would head to Detroit and Minnesota would head to Philadelphia.
Scenario No. 3: Upheaval
Vikings fans should be rooting for both NFC road teams to win on Saturday.
If there’s complete upheaval in the NFC bracket — Green Bay beats Philadelphia and Washington beats Tampa Bay — the Vikings would be playing L.A. for the right to host a divisional round matchup at U.S. Bank Stadium.
In this more unlikely (but still entirely possible) scenario, Detroit would host Green Bay and Minnesota would host Washington.
Kevin O’Connell makes clear he wants to remain Vikings head coach
Kevin O’Connell made clear Monday that he wants to continue as the Minnesota Vikings’ head coach, even as his contract status has reportedly spurred interest from other NFL teams in acquiring his services via trade.
“I’m not really interested in kind of, I guess I should say, addressing the rumors or speculation,” O’Connell said. “What I can tell you is I love this team. I love everything about this organization. This is where I want to be. This is where I want to keep coaching and leading.”
But until a deal is reached, O’Connell would be on track to be a coaching free agent after the 2025 season. Sunday morning, Fox Sports reported that multiple NFL teams would be interested in acquiring O’Connell via trade if the Vikings were to make him available.
But multiple team sources said this weekend that the Wilfs have no interest in trading O’Connell, and O’Connell’s statement Monday demonstrated he had no interest in forcing his way out. He said his “sole focus at this point” is finding a way to move on from Sunday’s 31-9 loss to the Detroit Lions and start laying the foundation of a win against the Los Angeles Rams in next Monday’s wild-card playoff game at SoFi Stadium.
“[I’m not interested] in any conversations in my opinion at this point that really aren’t about the Rams and the task at hand,” O’Connell said, “and my personal responsibility to lead immediate improvement off of yesterday but also capitalizing on the opportunity to be in the tournament. [That’s] my sole focus at this point.”
5 reasons Rams should feel good about facing Vikings in wild-card round
Rams already beat Vikings once
Sam Darnold was awful on Sunday
Matthew Stafford is great against the blitz
Vikings’ run defense is trending down
Minnesota is below average in red zone
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