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 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 DARNOLD IS MISSING HIS BRAIN TODAY… THE LAST POSSIBLE THING IN THE WORLD HE COULD DO IS TAKE A SACK.

It took the Rams over six seconds to get to him and he still just didn’t throw the ball.

Pathetic showing.pic.twitter.com/k2y6LBnhi7

— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) January 14, 2025

What is this throw?
I want to say he was trying to slow WR down so he doesn’t take a big hit on the defender in front of him… but not sure what this is… Sam Darnold looks like the blitz & speed has gotten to him. The #Vikings have to run quicker plays & go no huddle… pic.twitter.com/EssoRchDHd

— Ron Johnson (@3RonJohnson) January 14, 2025

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.

Troy Aikman and Joe Buck on Sam Darnold/Vikings QB situation.

"That conversation's a different conversation today than it was 2 weeks ago."

"Not to be simplistic…But the way the Vikings have played over the last couple of weeks. He's at least cost himself some money." pic.twitter.com/MnWi4d446J

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 14, 2025

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.

Kyren Williams ran the fake and still got the TD from Matthew Stafford 😱 @OmahaProd pic.twitter.com/oe7PG4iWmD

— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) January 14, 2025

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.

I laughed out loud when I saw this yesterday. A lot has changed in the game of football over the last 20 years. It used to be the ultimate “tough-guy” sport (and still probably is, let me explain). Before you start yelling at me, I don’t mean that these players are “less-tough” than players past, although some might make that argument.

Like most popular sports, as time has gone by, football has been looked at from many different angles. It’s been studied from all angles and 100’s of analytical stat categories have been created to try and help compare and rate players beyond what the human eye can see. Every sport gets more and more analytical as we go through time. The “eye test” means less and less, to many people’s dismay.

Well, it’s now 2017 (days away from 2018) and the Los Angelas Rams have surprised many by, not only making the playoffs, but actually earning a home game in the Wild Card Round. They are led by Sean McVay who is younger than some of the players he is coaching (3 on roster at, or older than, he is), at the ripe age of 31.

Every coach, no matter the record or status of their team, faces challenges in Week 17. For some coaches, it’s getting their players focused and into a gameplan, when they know their season is over once the week ends. Their players are looking forward to golf courses and months with family. Meanwhile, your job is getting them prepared to put that all in jeopardy for one last, now-meaningless, football game. A broken leg, or a variety of other injuries that could happen in that game, would put a big damper into those offseason plans.

Meanwhile, some teams live at the other end of the spectrum, where they have their playoff spot locked in and they need to decide if it is worth playing star players. You dread a big injury, but you also don’t want players to get rusty after a week, or possibly even 3 weeks. (Ex. If the Vikings sat Keenum this week, and they still get their bye in the first round, he would sit from Dec 25 (day after Packers win) through Jan 13-14 (Div. Round). That’s a risk.

Well, McVay isn’t going to get a bye. The Rams have been cemented into the WildCard round of the playoffs, as either the 3rd or 4th seed. But, McVay seems to be taking what some would call the “safe route” by sitting most of his key players in their Week 17 battle against the 49ers, at home. Here is the list of those that will not see the Coliseum playing field this Sunday (See all the details by Alden Gonzalez – Rams ESPN Beat Writer):

DT Aaron Donald also will not play. Jared Goff and Todd Gurley not playing also means LT Andrew Whitworth and C John Sullivan will not play. Sean Mannion is Goff’s backup; Malcolm Brown would be in line to get the bulk of the carries in Gurley’s place.

— Alden Gonzalez (@Alden_Gonzalez) December 27, 2017

Here is what McVay had to say about his decision (NFL.com):

“Being locked into that third or fourth seed — every single game is important — but I think it will provide an opportunity for us to potentially get some guys healthier, rest them, give some other guys a chance to step up.”

“That’s a luxury that we want to take advantage of. And everything that we do is what we think is best for our football team.”

“I think we’ve got the right types of guys who can handle that the right way and understand how we need to practice and what we need to do in the meantime if it is a situation where they’re not going to play this coming week.”

McVay is trying to sell us on keeping his guys rested and injury-free. I’m sure that’s part of it. But, what does it tell me?

Sean McVay and the LA Rams are AFRAID of the Minnesota Vikings. Why, you ask? Well, If the Rams lose this week, it locks them into the NFC 4-seed, as long as New Orleans can take care of business against Tampa Bay. That puts the Rams in the top of the playoff bracket along with the 1, 8, and 5 seeds. That means the team to beat, on their way to the NFC Championship, is Philadelphia.

Do you know who isn’t in the top bracket? You guessed it, the two-seed, Minnesota Vikings. I’m not sure how, and I don’t really care because it isn’t going to happen, but the Vikings could fall as far as the 3 seed, in some weird world where the Panthers would gain the 2 seed. Don’t worry about it. We play the Bears. We win OR 1 out of 5 other things happen in other games, and we’re the two-seed. Nonetheless, there is a 0% chance they would play the Rams until the NFC Championship, if the Rams lose.

So, lose and avoid the Vikings, if you’re the Rams. And then, they sit their best players. That leads many to believe there are alternative motives to McVay’s decision to sit these guys. He shouldn’t take this personally (because I’m sure he will read this……). I mean, can you blame him? You are going on the road no matter what. Sure, Philadelphia might be cold, but there is something brewing in Minnesota that is MUCH SCARIER than the cold that you might encounter in the “City of Brotherly Love”.

The Vikings have been DOMINANT at home. REALLY DOMINANT. The Vikings are currently 6-1 at The Bank this season, with the only loss being against the Lions. The big difference isn’t offensively, though they do seem to be a little more efficient at the Bank. The big advantage comes defensively. Look at the splits on defense, according to pro-footballreference.com. Focus on the rushing attempts, which are VASTLY down at home, since the Vikings are usually winning, making their opponent more throw-happy. This also leads to a 9% drop in completion percentages, for offenses the Vikings have played against at home, vs playing away. It’s pretty incredible.

McVay is picking smarts over his “tough-guy” complex. I’m not going to hate on someone for that. I wouldn’t want to go into US Bank Stadium, as a road team, where it’s win or go home. He is much better off going to Philly and playing against a Wentz-less Eagles, no matter how cold it is. He isn’t guaranteed to make it to the Conference Championship, by taking this route. However, he is increasing his odds. And, if you’re a betting man/woman, you always respect that. Because, until the game starts, that’s all you can do.

But, it isn’t going to matter. Because, you are coming to Minnesota eventually, unless you’re the Eagles (without Wentz… good luck). 

#SKOL

Eric Strack (Boss, Partner, Founder, Site Tweeter, etc.)
Minnesota Sports Fan @RealMNSportsFan