What We Learned About the Minnesota Vikings in Nail-Biting Victory Over Jaguars

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Sam Darnold, Minnesota Vikings
Credit: Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Minnesota Vikings went to Jacksonville Sunday to play against the Jaguars. While the schedule and location tabbed this as an away game, the crowd at EverBank Stadium told a different story.

No matter what happens to the Vikings this year, or 10 years from now, let’s be thankful that following sports in Minnesota will never be like it is in Florida, where nobody really cares. But, Sunday was a great reminder that crowds do not win football games, the players on the field do.

And while some Vikings players had really good days, individually, and the defense played lights out… all of that was nearly negated by Sam Darnold’s propensity to throw balls to the other team. Every single time Minnesota threatened to score, it seemed their 27-year-old bridge QB would throw an interception.

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Sam Darnold is who we thought he once was

Let’s start there. Sam Darnold had his worst game as a Minnesota Viking today. The offense held possession for 2/3 of the contest, and the defense was absolutely dominant. Yet, the purple trailed for almost this entire game, because Sam Darnold made poor decisions late in drives… over and over and over again.

In total, Sam finished 24-of-38 for 241 yards, 0 TD and 3 INT (48.2 QB rating), on the day. It’s hard to say that he got into a groove during the 4th quarter, because he completed 63% of his passes and drove the offense down the field repeatedly throughout the afternoon.

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But Minnesota Vikings fans found out Sunday just how steep the drops can be, when riding the Sam Darnold roller coaster. As well as Sam played for most of the game, the guy just makes braindead decisions, at the worst possible times.

What we learned today about Sam Darnold is something that he has taught us at times throughout the 2024 season. That he cannot be trusted. Who knows, maybe Sam will get better and better, as he gains more experience. But at this point of his career, he is not a trustworthy, Super Bowl winning QB… which is problematic for a 7-2 team with championship aspirations.

Minnesota Vikings defense returns to dominance

We’ve seen the Minnesota Vikings defense play extremely well throughout the 2024 regular season. But in recent weeks, they’ve started to reveal major chinks in their armor. Much of that, as it turns out, was probably the run of veteran quarterbacks that they played against during the first half of the season.

Mac Jones is not a veteran quarterback, and the Vikings defense made that very apparent on Sunday. Not only did the Jags manage manage under 150 yards of total offense (56 rush yds, 87 pass yds), but they were forced to punt the ball five times, and ran just 43 total plays, gaining only 10 first downs. For context, the Vikings gained 28 first downs on Sunday.

NFL: Minnesota Vikings defense at Jacksonville Jaguars
Morgan Tencza-Imagn Images

Brian Flores’ defense forced two Jags turnovers, and both came late in the 4th quarter. The first was a huge fumble recovery inside the Jacksonville’s 20 yard line. On the day, Mac Jones went 14-of-22 for 111 yards and two interceptions.

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He did stay interception free, for most of the contest, though. That was until there was just a few minutes left in the 4th quarter, when he threw one to Vikings CB Byron Murphy Jr that should have allowed the Minnesota offense to seal the game. Instead, they went three-and-out, putting it back on Flores’ crew to hold Jacksonville yet again.

The Jags’ moved the ball better on that final drive, than they did at any point since their second drive of the game, when they scored the only touchdown from either team all day. Fortunately, that final push ended the same way as the two drives before it. With a Jags turnover. This time, it was a game-sealing interception at the one-yard line by safety, Cam Bynum.

Football is a funny game

The yardage totals between the Vikings and Jaguars on Sunday is astounding. Minnesota finished with 402 NET yards of total offense. Jacksonville managed just 143. The Minnesota Vikings actually ran more plays in Jaguars territory than the Jags ran all game. Think about that…

Without looking at today’s final score, you’d think the Vikings absolutely destroyed the Jacksonville Jaguars in week 10, 2024. But that’s not how Sunday played out. Instead, Minnesota trailed from 3:44 remaining in the 2nd quarter, when the Jaguars went up 7-3, until the 7:14 mark of the 4th quarter, when Parker Romo kicked in his third field goal of the game, to put the Vikings up 9-7.

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Minnesota would score one more time, as previously noted in this article, but it wasn’t via paydirt. That’s right, all four Vikings’ scores vs the Jaguars came via Parker Romo field goals (45, 34, 33, 29). Against any other team, the Minnesota Vikings probably lose today… but football is a funny game.

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