Vikings QB Did the Thing — Again
Sam Darnold evidently cannot be stopped in crunchtime.
Vikings QB Did the Thing — Again
In back-to-back weeks, the Minnesota Vikings have called on Darnold to help win a game late in the 4th Quarter and overtime — and the 27-year-old has delivered.
Sunday served as the latest installment, as the Vikings curiously found no offensive rhythm in the 1st Half but turned on the jets when it mattered the most. Darnold led the charge. He completed 21 of 31 passes for 235 passing yards, 2 touchdowns, no interceptions or fumbles, and chipped in 22 rushing yards, which led the team.
Darnold, too, has not produced a genuine turnover — those plagued him — since a disastrous Week 10 game at the Jacksonville Jaguars when he provided 3 interceptions to the opposition.
Minnesota trailed 19-6 with about four minutes left in the 3rd Quarter on Sunday and seemingly pressed a “go time” button on the controller to march back for a win over Arizona. Darnold connected on touchdown passes to tight end Johnny Mundt and running back Aaron Jones in the game’s final 19 minutes, and the Vikings scooted out of Week 13 with a narrow 23-22 win. The club is now separated from a playoff spot by about one win. It could wrap up a postseason spot as early as next weekend.
The remarkable part about Darnold is the clutch gene. The Vikings started the 2024 campaign otherworldly hot, winning five games and losing zero. Onlookers spent so much time wondering if the team would maintain the spicy pace — or regress like it did in 2016.
Very little thought was given to Darnold’s would-be clutch acumen because most simply wanted Minnesota to avoid a team collapse.
Now, though, with the playoffs about six weeks away, Darnold has offered the masses a sample of his late-game heroics. When everything had broken bad eight days ago at the Chicago Bears, Darnold bellied up the bar and authored a game-winning drive. The Vikings needed a sequel at home against the Cardinals, and Darnold green-lit the replica.
Darnold said after the win, “It’s nice to be able to get that 10th win in December, especially early. But you know, we’ve still got a long way to go to be the team we want to be. That first half wasn’t our brand of football, and we’re going to continue to learn – watch it and grow as a team.”
By the numbers, Darnold is now classified as the league’s ninth-best quarterback through 13 weeks per EPA+CPOE, an efficiency metric measuring expected wins added.
Minnesota will need his clutch antics in the middle of January, and the last two wins have uplifted proof that Darnold is more than capable of game-winning drives. It might even be an unforeseen strength in his toolkit.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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