The Minnesota Vikings are reliving the ghosts of their past after stumbling to the No. 5 seed in the NFC playoffs following a 31-9 loss to the Detroit Lions to end the regular season.
The Vikings must go on the road to face the No. 4-seeded Los Angeles Rams in the first round of the postseason; a retread of a stretch during the regular season where they lost to the Lions in Week 7 and fell to the Rams just four days later on “Thursday Night Football.”
Minnesota went on to win nine straight games after that two-game skid. However, the Vikings do not have the luxury to lose another game going forward.
Vikings Face Rough Road to Super Bowl, Starting With Rams
Last time in Los Angeles was ugly.
Facing his former team, head coach Kevin O’Connell was outclassed by his mentor Sean McVay, whose familiarity with O’Connell’s offensive scheme led to an off night for the Vikings offense.
After scoring 14 points in the first quarter, Minnesota did not score another touchdown the rest of the game in a 30-20 loss.
Sam Darnold started hot, going 8-for-8 for 97 yards and two touchdowns in the first quarter but completed just 10 more passes for 147 yards the rest of the game. The Vikings offense converted just 2-of-7 third downs in a game marred by inefficiency offensively.
Meanwhile, Matthew Stafford threw four touchdowns and the Rams offense totaled 386 yards.
Minnesota’s offense has evolved since then as O’Connell leaned on Darnold to lead the team through their nine-game winning streak.
However, Darnold’s final performance of the regular season leaves only concern entering the postseason.
Sam Darnold Must Shake Off Lions Loss
GettySam Darnold #14 of the Minnesota Vikings warms up before a game against the Arizona Cardinals.
Entering Week 18, the Vikings-Lions matchup was billed as arguably the biggest regular-season game in league history.
No game had featured two teams with 14 wins each, and no game had a top seed on the line in over 30 years.
That led to a raucous atmosphere at Ford Field, and Darnold seemed to feel the stakes. He sailed several passes early in the game and struggled to settle in. Darnold completed just 18-of-41 pass attempts for a season-low 166 yards and a 43.9% completion rate against the Lions on Sunday.
According to ESPN, Darnold was credited with eight overthrows in a shaky first half where the Vikings settled for two field goals and failed to convert on fourth down twice in that half.
While Darnold wouldn’t admit he was rattled, his 34% off-target rate is the second-worst mark of his career.
The one game where he was worse?
“The only game of his career in which [Darnold] exceeded a 34% off-target rate was when he played for the New York Jets in 2019, in a matchup with the New England Patriots in which NFL Films recorded him saying that he was ‘seeing ghosts’ on the sideline,” ESPN’s Kevin Seifert wrote.
A mark of Darnold’s success this season was his ability to come back from bad games. He failed to throw a single touchdown against the New York Jets and Jacksonville Jaguars but bounced back the following weeks.
He’ll have to once again if the Vikings hope to secure their first playoff win since 2019.
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