The 2024 Minnesota Vikings, led by third-year head coach Kevin O’Connell, were relatively successful. The purple team won 14 games before losing to the Los Angeles Rams in the Wildcard Round.

In the immediate aftermath of the loss, most people decided the 2024 Vikings didn’t do much of anything, mainly because the postseason loss jolted them so abruptly. It’s a reasonable opinion.

2024 Vikings Autopsy: The Cause of Death

So, with an equal assortment of good and bad, this is the Vikings 2024 autopsy.

The Good

1. Regular Season Sam Darnold

Playing on a one-year, $10 million contract, Sam Darnold absolutely bedazzled Vikings fans and the NFL viewing community for 94% of the regular season.

Once the third overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, the journeyman passer delivered 36 total touchdowns, with 4,319 passing yards and 12 interceptions.

The guy couldn’t miss in the regular season. In fact, when he suffered minor in-game injuries, onlookers held their breath because Minnesota just couldn’t afford to lose him. He was the special sauce for a 14-win Vikings season.

2. The Defense, in General

Thanks to Brian Flores and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s offseason free-agent brilliance, Minnesota’s defense markedly improved from 2023 to 2024, ranking second in the business per EPA/Play.

The Vikings produced a takeaway in every single regular season game, as opportunistic as a defense can be, keeping the enterprise afloat when the offense would sputter.

Unfortunately, the unit forced no turnovers in the season’s most important game, and the Vikings lost against the Rams.

3. Kevin O’Connell’s Evolution

Minnesota’s young skipper will probably win Coach of the Year. And for months, it became commonly accepted that Kevin O’Connell is one of the NFL’s best coaches, especially per quarterback development.

Until the playoffs, fans developed the utmost confidence in O’Connell, enough to earn a fat extension from the Vikings’ brass in the coming weeks or months.

O’Connell still needs a playoff dub to establish full credibility, but his approval rating remains sky-high.

Causes of Death

1. Playoff Sam Darnold

In Week 18 and the Wildcard Round of the postseason, Darnold’s shine from the regular season completely disappeared. It vanished. He looked like an undrafted quarterback with no business playing in an NFL game.

Darnold overthrew receivers, threw the ball way above pass catchers’ heads, and held the ball dreadfully long in the pocket.

His performance against the Lions and Rams almost singlehandedly prevented Minnesota from visiting the Divisional Round of the postseason.

The purple team needed regular season Darnold. He stayed in December.

2. Interior Offensive Line Pass Protection

Believe it or not, Minnesota’s offensive line did not perform poorly on the whole in 2024. The group used OT juice from the aforementioned Darrisaw, Brian O’Neill, and Cam Robinson to enhance overall efficiency.

But the pass protection of the line floundered via the interior.

O’Connell mentioned the problem after the playoff loss, so iOL change should be on the way.

3. Rushing Offense

Here’s the Vikings’ rushing efficiency per DVOA from the last three seasons, dating back to the dawn of the O’Connell era:

• 2022: 27th
• 2023: 27th
• 2024: 20th

This must climb into the Top 15 for Minnesota’s offense to cook. It’s probably the only thing that can make O’Connell an unsuccessful head coach — never fixing the ground game.

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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.