What We Learned About the Minnesota Vikings in Yet Another Demoralizing Playoff Loss

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Sam Darnold - NFC Wild Card Round-Minnesota Vikings at Los Angeles Rams
Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

The Minnesota Vikings finished 14-3 in the 2024 NFL regular season. It was only the second time in franchise history that they reached 14 or more victories. The last time, Randy Moss and Randall Cunningham led them to the 1998 NFC Championship Game.

Thus, Vikings fans entered Monday night’s Wild Card contest vs the Los Angeles Rams with skeptical optimism. Sure, we’ve been hurt before, but most of those teams were not nearly as prolific in the regular season as this Vikings team was… right?

Sure, but it didn’t matter. Tonight, the Vikings fell behind the Rams early and never mustered a counterpunch. By the time halftime rolled in, Minnesota was already down 24-3. When the slaughter in Glendale, AZ was over, the scoreboard showed a final score of Rams 27, Vikings 9.

What We Learned: Minnesota Vikings vs Los Angeles Rams (Wild Card Round)

Sam Darnold - Minnesota Vikings vs Los Angeles Rams
Credit: Joseph Rondone/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Sam Darnold continued his regression back to the 1st round bust we thought he had evolved from, up until week 18, Kevin O’Connell and Brian Flores were both desperately outcoached by his mentor Sean McVay and many of his former colleagues in LA.

Here is what we learned about the Vikings during an all around brutal playoff performance that raises all sorts of offseason questions that now need answered.

Sam Darnold lost a lot of money vs the Los Angeles Rams

There is one thing NFL pundits and doubters can never take away from Sam Darnold. In 2024, the USC product had an unbelievable regular season with the Minnesota Vikings, throwing for over 4,300 yards, 39 touchdowns and only 12 interceptions, earning his spot as a Pro Bowler and even a legitimate MVP candidate.

But over the past two weeks, when the pressure got heavier, he crumbled and reverted back to the 1st round bust that Jets and Panthers fan long ago gave up on and chased West. Vs the Rams, Darnold again looked like he didn’t know where pressure was going to come from or what to do with the football once it did.

And when he did have time, the 27-year-old didn’t know where he was supposed to go with the football. If his first or second reads weren’t available, Sam Darnold struggled to move on to his next receiver or find his outlet option. Then… there were throws that were so bad they cannot be logically explained.

Sam’s stats in Monday’s loss — 25/40 (62.5%) | 245 Yards | 1 TD | 1 INT — weren’t as bad as last week vs the Detroit Lions (18/41, 166 Yds). But most of the night Monday, Darnold looked like a deer in headlights, who didn’t understand that standing in the middle of the road too long would result in him being turned into venison hamburger.

Related: Daniel Jones is Emergency Use Only for Vikings vs Rams

Suddenly, a quarterback that many believed would get upwards of $50 million per season now has a much different reality in his future. Sure, Sam will still get a multi-year deal as a starter in the league… but it won’t total $150 to $200 million. Maybe $100, and it won’t be fully guaranteed.

Kevin O’Connell, Brian Flores were put in their place by Sean McVay

Once upon a time, Sean McVay was the up-and-coming hot-shot head coach that was taking the world by storm and reinventing the offensive side of football. Back then, Kevin O’Connell was working under him as an assistant and Brian Flores was working through what would wind up as a failed head coaching stint with the Miami Dolphins.

Entering the 2024 Wildcard round, the narrative was much different. Sean McVay and the Rams went all-in for a Super Bowl a couple years ago, and it worked. But they’ve been a team that is lucky it plays in a bad division ever since.

So while McVay’s Rams were struggling to make the Playoffs this year, NFL pundits and oddsmakers were focused on his former underling, Kevin O’Connell and an overqualified defensive coordinator that was being held back by a lawsuit he has against his own employer.

Related: Harrison Smith Planning to Retire; Vikings to Re-Sign Young Talented DBs

O’Connell will likely win NFL coach of the year and Brian Flores has finally earned his way back into head coaching interviews, solely based on how he has turned the Minnesota Vikings defense from a weakness to strength in just two seasons.

But Monday night, Sean McVay put his former assistant and his former assistant’s assistant back in their place. Even in a week where the Rams had to give up a home game while they worried about family/friends who were back home dealing with out of control wildfires, McVay was able to focus his group to a point where they looked head and shoulders more prepared than O’Connell’s Vikings.

As for Brian Flores’ defense, which has been one of the best in the league all season in the red zone, Matt Stafford made McVay’s offense look like a hot knife cutting through warm butter.

Stafford finished with just 209 yards, but he spread the wealth around to 8 different receivers and made the Minnesota Vikings defense pay no matter how they tried to play him. If Flores called for a blitz, he picked them apart 5-15 yards at a time.

If they played coverage, he sat back and found open receivers downfield. Really, this game was over before the Minnesota Vikings offense even got going because the LA Rams scored 24 points in their first six drives of the game and the Vikings scored none.

Related: Vikings Insider Warns: Do Not Discount Kevin O’Connell Trade Rumors…

How? Obviously, you need the Jimmy’s and the Joe’s… but today, it was like McVay knew exactly what the Vikings were trying to do against them on both sides of the football. Is that because he and O’Connell are best friends, or because he is a better coach? Who knows… but he was certainly the better coach tonight.

Will it cost Kevin O’Connell his massive contract extension? Probably not. Will it cost Brian Flores a head coaching job? No, because he probably wasn’t going to get one from any of his interviews anyway. But without a doubt, McVay reminded the NFL world that he is still the gold standard of coaches in this league.

The Minnesota Vikings will always disappoint you

To wrap this up, tonight was an important reminder for those of us who have been here before and an early learning lesson for those who have not. If you are committing your football fanhood to the Minnesota Vikings then you are setting yourself up for year-in and year-out heartbreak.

It doesn’t matter how well they play in the regular season or how different this coaching staff is, than those of Vikings’ past. But at the end of the day, we cannot have nice things. And until proven otherwise, this is always how it ends. In heartbreak.

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