Ghost of Darnold Past
The story of a quarterback that invalidated an impressive season in the last two contests of the season.
When Sam Darnold exited the playoffs after Monday’s disastrous team performance by the Minnesota Vikings he immediately met with the media and reflected on how grateful he was to have been afforded the opportunity to quarterback the Minnesota Vikings this season. What I saw from Sam Darnold in his last two contests was, no doubt about it, a monumental collapse that will end up costing the guy millions of dollars in the offseason, but one thing stood out to me in a glaring manner. Darnold beat himself. Missing basic reads, constantly shy to pull the trigger on passes that were layups, commanding the pocket with happy feet, and having some of the worst body language I’ve seen a QB have in primetime. Dejected, defeated, mortified, and lost. The eyes never lie chico. This wasn’t the same Darnold the Vikings had seen all season and I thought to myself what had happened to the guy who made a career Renaissance in his first year with a real chance. The commonality between the Lions and Rams game with Darnold is that he was watched by a magnifying glass and was asked to be a superhero in order to earn a large contract he so desperately desires. With both games on the road and the lights getting increasingly brighter as the postseason has begun to unfold, he simply couldn’t do it. So how did a guy who was viewed as a career backup and bridge QB get to this point?
Heading into this season the Vikings were expected to be bottom feeders in the NFC North. I myself had projected the team to go 3-14 despite Minnesota acquiring some key pieces to address the team’s defensive woes. Andrew Van Ginkel, Jonathan Greenard, and Blake Cashman all joined the team in the offseason and would turn out to be significant gamechangers on that side of the ball. It was simple. Their new running back Aaron Jones had injury issues, Sam Darnold had no evidence of being a QB who could take a team over the top, and the NFC North is one of the most loaded divisions in all of football. So what happened next might have been the most surprising season from a team success standpoint the league had ever witnessed. Darnold led the Vikings to a 14-3 record and when watching him get comfortable with the offense he was making $40+ million a year throws like it was nothing. A fairytale season for a team that is anticipating the return of their young rookie quarterback out of Michigan, JJ McCarthy. That was the case until week 18. Darnold met the Lions in Ford Field as the Vikings would get dismantled with the NFC North and Conference’s one seed on the line. There were several plays, probably about five plus to be exact, where Darnold would overthrow open receivers or just not throw the ball to wide open targets. An unraveling on the road that hurt the stock he had built up for himself. What would happen next game against the Rams was possibly even worse.
Leading up to this game was the beginning of the narrative the media and fans would spin for the veteran 27 year old QB. Did he have the stones to get the job done on the game’s biggest stage or was this just a fluke season? He was given one more chance whether it was fair or not. He ultimately failed in their wild card playoff contest with one interception, a bad fumble returned by Jared Verse for a touchdown, and 9 sacks taken. A decent share of them were the result of Darnold holding onto the football for four plus seconds. The camera repeatedly panned on their head coach Kevin O’Connell who called a pretty piss poor gameplan for the Vikings offense and back to Darnold to further push the narrative that Sam Darnold doesn’t have it. Everyone knows Darnold played poorly, but why were expectations set so astronomically high for the one year bridge QB? Well the media played a large part in applying the pressure. Floating a projected $52.5 million a year figure for his expected contract value for next year in the waning weeks of this season (per Sportrac). It was just silly. I don’t even understand why the issue had to be discussed so heavily before the season ended, but why act like Darnold needed to win one of these last two games to have value? Let’s look at the Vikings organization when it comes to quarterbacks real quick.
So JJ McCarthy came into this year’s draft as one of the rawest QB prospects imaginable that probably needed about 2-3 years to wait under a veteran’s tutelage. Now people are saying throw him in there for 2025, which could hurt the track of his career significantly in my eyes. I didn’t necessarily view him highly coming out of this year's draft simply because at the University of Michigan he rarely was asked to do much. His national championship team relied on the run and he just didn’t have a sample size to warrant an early first round selection. Circling back to Darnold, what was different about this year and past Vikings teams? You had no problem paying Kirk Cousins millions of dollars over many seasons and he had no playoff success whatsoever, so why can’t you pay Darnold when he comes up short? Cousins even lost at home to the Daniel Jones led Giants in the playoffs. Somehow Cousins got paid substantially last offseason with much less in the tank than Sam Darnold, yet everyone has you thinking Sam has nothing special to give an organization. This is the first real year of football he has played. A real organization, a real coaching staff, and a real roster. Cousins never even took the team anywhere as it was Case Keenum that led them on their best run, which was a trip to the NFC Championship Game. That is my point. If Cousins deserves a big contract so does Darnold because he just matched Kirk’s accolades in one season of play. I am a Kirk Cousins fan too. This isn’t even from a place of hatred for Kirk. Darnold’s problems weren’t even due to a lack of talent, they were due to his mind.
What Darnold needs is a top notch sports psychologist to get him in a better headspace for those big moments that come about when you are playing like a top tier QB and leading a team with significant aspirations. He came into both of the final two Vikings contests of the season looking like a deer in headlights or to be more accurate a guy that was being held at gunpoint. He played like it was life and death being scared to make mistakes rather than just playing freely like he had been all season. His eyes moving all over the place, his face looking confuddled, and his head continually swaying back and forth. This lack of self confidence on top of his poor play is what tanked his contract this offseason despite the true potential he has displayed this year. People act like this was his last down, but the guy who was looking unreal last year for the Vikings before tearing his achilles, Kirk Cousins, never even got a shot as a starter till his AGE 27 season. And if you compare his stats as a first year starter with Darnold’s this year it isn’t really a question of who was the better player (it was Sam Darnold). My point is to tell you the reactionary element of the media has become outrageous when evaluating players. He most definitely is worth a real contract whatever that figure may be. It was only a few weeks ago where he was being branded as a potential franchise guy. Through seven weeks he was legitimately in the race for NFL MVP. Social media’s takes have you thinking this guy should be working at a Costco (no shame in that), while I’m telling you he is worth the cost though.
