How Sam Darnold describes his disastrous final game with Vikings 

Not all stories have a happy ending. For a long time Sam Darnold’s story was a happy one in his only year with Minnesota. It didn’t end that way for him or the Vikings in their playoff game against the Los Angeles Rams, but he’s in a new city, on a new team and he has a new deal.

Rebirth of Darnold

For as bad as it looked in the Vikings final game of the season, you can’t say it was all bad for their quarterback, Sam Darnold, who had a renaissance year in Minnesota. After years of searching for his place and his role on an NFL team he finally flourished with the Vikings. That led to him signing a three-year, $100 million deal with he Seattle Seahawks.

Last year the Vikings, who lost their rookie QB J.J. McCarthy in the preseason, had a lot of questions surrounding the quarterback position. They were relying on their first year QB to be their No. 1 under center, but his torn ACL thrust Darnold into the spotlight and he took his opportunity and ran with it. He had a career year, throwing for 4.319 yards, 35 TDs and just 12 INTs while leadings the Vikings to a 14-3 record.

They had a crack at the one seed in the NFC but their division rival, the Detroit Lions, beat them in the final week of the regular season and that’s when the trouble started. Darnold was under constant pressure all game and went 18/41 for just 166 yards as the Vikings failed to get into the end zone. They went from the one seed to the Wild Card in the final four quarters of the season.

Vikes “laid an egg” in season finale

Then in the Wild Card round of the playoffs he was sacked nine times went 25/40 for 245 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT. He ended the game with a QBR of 13.6. Minnesota got spanked 27-9 and their dream season turned into a nightmare all too soon. It was a disastrous end to a fabulous year for Darnold, and the way he finished the year threw a cloud of doubt over him this season.

“For lack of a better term, we laid an egg as an offense,” said Darnold about the way the Vikings ended the year. His final couple of performances made a lot of people wonder who would want to pick him up in the offseason, and how much they would want to pay him. He found his team and he got his deal, but he is still looking back on that terrible end to last season.

“I feel like I could have played way better, to be completely honest with you. I feel I didn’t play up to my standard. I truly feel that way. I feel like if I would have just played better, I would’ve been able to give the team a chance.”