Sam Darnold’s play has officially become a serious problem for the Vikings, who have won two games in a row despite their quarterback’s inability to handle the football.
Prior to last Sunday’s victory over the Colts, Darnold had thrown five interceptions in the first seven games of the season and had not had a game with multiple picks. He’s quadrupled his total with five interceptions in the previous two games, including a season-high three in Sunday’s 12-7 victory over the Jaguars. The Vikings have made it clear that Darnold is not at risk of being benched, but the reality is that if he does not improve his play, he might wreck their potential season.
Darnold overcame his two interceptions against the Colts with an otherwise solid effort that included three passing touchdowns. This was not the situation in Jacksonville. Sure, he helped the Vikings move the ball at times on their way to more than 400 total yards, but the offence failed to score a single touchdown. This was arguably Darnold’s worst performance of the season, surpassing his 14-for-31 outing against the Jets in London.
The Vikings have suffered greatly this season, particularly in recent games, due to the position and timing of his interceptions. Seven of his ten picks have been caught inside the opponent’s 30-yard line, with three in the end zone (all in the last two weeks) and two more inside the 10. These are turnovers that directly remove the possibility to score 3-7 points on the scoreboard. They are the kinds of mistakes that simply cannot happen, which is why it is so frightening that they occurred three more times on Sunday.
“When you’re in the scoring zone —I think one of them was on a second down, and then we had one on a third down a little bit further out — as space shrinks, you either have to anticipate and put the ball in a place where you want to, or you’ve gotta protect the football and progress in rhythm,” Kevin O’Connell told the crowd. “And he understands that. We’ll go back to reinforcing those points throughout.
Darnold’s first interception occurred as he attempted to force a pass into Justin Jefferson, who was surrounded by coverage. The pass was deflected and fell into the waiting arms of a linebacker. The second was both a terrible judgment and an inaccurate throw, as he and Jefferson did not appear to be on the same page (the fact that it should have been overturned on review does not change the fact that it was an inexcusable error in the end zone). The third miss by Jefferson on the goal line was the result of a faulty decision and poor ball placement.
“I gotta do a lot better job taking care of the football,” he stated. “I believe that’s apparent. Just being situationally aware of where we are on the field, first and second down, and being able to put the ball in play and let our players run with it. I thought I could have done a much better job with it today, but we’ll watch the footage and learn from it that way.”
The Vikings were lucky that their defence let them escape with a strange type of victory on Sunday, since Darnold’s errors might have — and probably should have — resulted in a devastating loss against a two-win team. They need him to figure things out fast and get back to playing like he did earlier this season, but the notion that these errors are essentially part of his quarterbacking DNA is a legitimate issue going ahead.
Despite the mistakes, O’Connell said he never considered benching Darnold in favour of Nick Mullens.
“Not one.” “Not one all day long,” he stated. “In reality, I saw it as an excellent opportunity to expand and advance the team. Because we’re going to revisit this moment and make the best of it, and Sam will be better off as a result, I genuinely believe.”
Mullens is a turnover-prone quarterback with less promise than Darnold, so it’s unlikely the Vikings will make a non-injury-related move this season. With rookie J.J. McCarthy out for the season, they’re going to stick with Darnold, for better or worse. These previous two weeks have confirmed that this will undoubtedly be McCarthy’s club next season, but whether or not Darnold can correct these errors and take care of the ball will determine how far this year’s team can advance.
“Sam Darnold’s played a lot of football at a really high level this year,” he said. “There’s a big reason we’re 7-2, and looking back, this may be a significant time for us all to digest and understand that we’re still completely confidence in Sam. It would be crazy not to be. But, at the same time, it’s a tremendous opportunity to figure out exactly what happened after the game and, as coaches and players, put it together in a way that allows us to use this as a very healthy win to progress.”
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