Sep 8, 2024; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold (14) warms up before the game against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images.
It’s a great sign for the Vikings that Sam Darnold returned to his early season fine form in Sunday’s 23-13 win over the Titans in Nashville.
After throwing five interceptions over the prior two games, Darnold threw no interceptions on Sunday. He was charged with one turnover on the fumbled pitch to Aaron Jones, but that play was on Jones since the ball hit him in the hands.
Darnold played an excellent game as he showed his athletic ability by scrambling away from pressure many times against Tennessee’s top-ranked defense with a talented front seven. Darnold passed for 246 yards and two TDs, and he converted three QB sneaks for first downs, including the second-quarter TD that provided the winning 10-point margin. And Darnold would’ve had another 46 passing yards and a third TD pass if Jalen Nailor hadn’t dropped a perfect deep throw in the fourth quarter.
The Vikings defense had an up-and-down day, but the edge rushers were terrific. Andrew Van Ginkel and Pat Jones contributed two sacks each, with Van Ginkel’s second sack keeping the Vikings in control at 16-3 late in the first half. Jones’ second sack of Will Levis on 4th-and-4 from the Vikings 43 midway through the fourth quarter stopped a drive that could’ve made it a one-score game with plenty of time remaining. Blake Cashman had the Vikings’ fifth sack on the day.
Playing in his home state (he grew up in Knoxville), Harrison Smith’s interception with 1:57 left sealed the win. It was the Vikings’ league-leading 16th interception and 21st takeaway, partially compensating for a shaky day of coverage by the secondary that allowed too many long pass plays, including the 98-yard third-quarter TD pass on 3rd-and-10 from Levis to Nick Westbrook-Ikhine that got the Titans back in the game.
The Vikings should have won this game by more than 10 points but as Smith said postgame, “There’s no easy buckets.” Indeed, nothing comes easy in the NFL, especially on the road and it will be impressive if the Vikings can win the last away game of three in a row at Chicago on Sunday.
That’s when the 8-2 Vikings — still one game back of Detroit and one game ahead of Green Bay in the NFC North race — meet the 4-6 Bears, who have lost four straight after their promising 4-2 start. Their latest defeat was another gut-wrencher: the Packers blocked a 46-yard field goal attempt by Cairo Santos as time expired in a 20-19 defeat.
Here are my other reactions to the Vikings victory at Tennessee:
1. Darnold led the key drive of the game after the 98-yard TD by the Titans made it a six-point game. The drive started with a 25-yard completion from Darnold to Justin Jefferson (who passed Torry Holt on Sunday as the player with the most receiving yards over his first five seasons —6,811 with seven games left in the regular season).
Other key plays on the drive were an illegal contact penalty that Jefferson drew on 3rd-and-11 and a 10-yard stretching catch by Jefferson to the Tennessee 3-yard line. This was followed by a nice Darnold bootleg pass for a 3-yard TD to Cam Akers, who is proving to be a valuable trade acquisition for a swap of late-round picks. The Vikings regained their 10-point lead, and the defense finished the job.
2. Darnold made a great throw to Jordan Addison on his crossing route for a 47-yard first-quarter TD. Perhaps his best play was the 16-yard completion to Trent Sherfield when he escaped pressure on 3rd-and-6 from the Vikings 15 that jumpstarted the 16-play, 89-yard drive that ended with Darnold’s QB sneak TD for a 13-3 second-quarter lead.
3. It was interesting to see the Vikings coaches switch to Dalton Risner as the starter at right guard in place of third-year man Ed Ingram. Risner had a couple of rough moments, as did all of the Vikings interior linemen against the tough Titans front, but overall, O’Connell said he played OK, so we’ll see if he remains the starter for the rest of the season.
The Vikings allowed only two sacks, but Darnold had to scramble a lot. The Vikings had only 82 rushing yards on 33 carries, for a 2.5-yard average.
The offense did struggle a bit in the second half, with only 126 yards and seven points after a good first half with 192 yards and 16 points, but then they were facing the league’s top defense in yards allowed.
4. The Vikings were due for some help from the officials, who missed key calls on a face mask against Darnold, which resulted in a sack/safety on the final drive of the Rams’ loss and a missed hit to Darnold’s head on the Colts’ sack/fumble return TD.
The undisciplined Titans had an awful game penalty-wise (13 for 91 yards), including seven penalties that gave the Vikings first downs (most by a team this season). On the 16-play drive for the 13-3 lead, Darnold was stopped on a fourth down QB sneak but rookie DT T’Vondre Sweat was called for offsides to extend the drive. I thought the Titans got a bad call on the end zone hit by Mike Brown on Jordan Addison, who also came on a fourth-down play prior to Darnold’s TD sneak. Brown hit Addison in the chest to dislodge the ball, not in the head area. Tennessee Coach Brian Callahan went berserk on the officials after that bad call.
5. Kudos to the Vikings defense for their game-ending takeaway (on Smith’s pick), the five sacks, nine QB hits, and 10 tackles-for-loss as they stuffed the Titans’ run game (33 yards on 19 carries, 1.7 average).
Brian Flores’ defense now ranks 10th in yards allowed, No. 1 against the run, first in interceptions and takeaways, and fourth in sacks (35). But they do need to clean up some of the coverage mistakes made by the secondary that led to several big plays. Josh Metellus took a bad angle on the 98-yard TD, and on the last play of the third quarter, Shaq Griffin was beaten by Bryce Oliver on a 33-yard go route on 3rd-and-11 to set up a field goal.
6. Van Ginkel continued his Pro Bowl-caliber season with an outstanding game worthy of strong consideration for NFC Defensive Player of the Week honors. He had two sacks, two QB hits, three tackles-for-loss, and eight tackles to lead the D. Van Ginkel’s eight sacks this season are a career-high, lead the team, and rank fifth in the league.
7. It was good to see a big kickoff return from Ty Chandler (35 yards after the 98-yard TD by the Titans to give good field position for the ensuing TD drive). Brandon Powell had a nice 10-yard punt return after his lackluster showing in Jacksonville, with a couple of fair catches when he had room to run. Parker Romo’s missed extra point in the second quarter was not so good, but he made his other two extra points and a 40-yard field goal.
8. The win in Tennessee gave the Vikings an impressive sweep of their four games against the AFC South after previous wins over Houston, Indianapolis, and Jacksonville. The last seven games are all against NFC opponents, including four more NFC North matchups, plus Arizona and Atlanta at home and at Seattle. I think it’s a schedule that sets up for at least 12 wins and the first or second wild card that should avoid a first-round matchup at Detroit or Philly.
Around the NFL in Week 11 & a look ahead to Week 12:
1. In the NFC North, the Lions crushed the Jaguars 52-6. They were led by Jared Goff’s 412 passing yards and four TDs. Detroit’s 645 total yards on offense was a franchise record, as the Jags obviously packed it in after playing the Vikings close last week.
Green Bay’s victory was their 11th straight over the Bears.
2. Buffalo ended Kansas City’s unbeaten season and the Chiefs’ 15-game winning streak dating back to last season with a 30-21 win at home. Josh Allen’s 26-yard TD run with 2:27 remaining clinched the game for the Bills.
It’s the fourth straight regular-season win for the Bills over the Chiefs, but the tables have been turned in the postseason with three wins for K.C. in the last four years. There’s a good chance the teams will meet again in the AFC playoffs, and the 8-2 Bills stayed in the hunt for the No. 1 seed and home-field advantage (although the Chiefs did win in Buffalo last January on their way to their second straight Super Bowl title).
3. In other games, the Steelers pulled off their eighth win in the last nine meetings with Baltimore with their 18-16 win in Pittsburgh to now lead the AFC North by 1 ½ games over the Ravens. The game came down to a failed two-point conversion attempt on a rollout by Lamar Jackson.
Denver boosted their AFC wildcard hopes by ripping NFC South leader Atlanta 38-6 as rookie Bo Nix threw four TD passes. He outplayed Kirk Cousins, who had only 173 passing yards, no TDs, and one pick.
The Chargers held off a big Bengals rally on Sunday night to win 34-27 in L.A. and improve to 7-3, now just two games back of the Chiefs in the AFC West. Justin Herbert led the game-winning rally in this exciting shootout of top QBs with Joe Burrow.
Defending NFC champion San Francisco fell to 5-5 and 1-3 in NFC West games with their 20-17 home loss to Seattle. QB Geno Smith scored the winning TD on a 13-yard run with 18 seconds left. It was the 49ers’ third divisional loss when leading in the last two minutes of regulation.
6-4 Arizona was on their bye and leads the tight division by one game over the 49ers, Seahawks, and Rams.
4. In big games upcoming in Week 11, the Cardinals are at Seattle, the 49ers visit Green Bay, and the Rams host the Eagles on Sunday night in a trio of games affecting the NFC West. Detroit plays at Indianapolis, with the 5-6 Colts needing a win to stay in the AFC playoff hunt. QB Anthony Richardson is coming off a fine performance in a 28-27 win at the Jets. He threw for 272 yards and one TD and rushed for 32 yards and two TDs.
Could Richardson lead Indy to an upset of Detroit? I highly doubt it, as the Lions are rolling with eight straight wins, but you never know in the NFL.
Jeff Diamond is a former Vikings GM, former Tennessee Titans President and was selected NFL Executive of the Year after the Vikings’ 15-1 season in 1998. He now works for the NFL agent group IFA based in Minneapolis and does other sports consulting and media work along with college/corporate speaking. Follow him and direct message him on Twitter– @jeffdiamondnfl