For the 2025 offseason, the biggest storyline surrounding the Minnesota Vikings was expected to be the team's decision to re-sign quarterback Sam Darnold or hand over the starting job to J.J. McCarthy. Well, after Darnold's abysmal performance in Minnesota's first-round playoff loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Monday, there will be no debate.
In what will likely end up being his final game in a Vikings uniform, Darnold failed to deliver when his team needed him the most in the loss to the Rams. The Minnesota quarterback held onto the ball too long, he turned the ball over, and he looked nothing like the player who helped lead the team to 14 wins during the 2024 regular season.
With Monday's loss, the Vikings' season is over, and now they can officially hand the reigns over to McCarthy. Minnesota traded up in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft to select him for a reason, and they will now move forward with him as the franchise's next starting signal-caller.
Minnesota Vikings choice between Sam Darnold and J.J. McCarthy is easy after playoff loss to Los Angeles Rams
If the Vikings' Week 18 contest against the Detroit Lions was viewed as the biggest game of Darnold's career, then Monday's playoff matchup against Los Angeles was likely the second-biggest of his career.
Unfortunately for Darnold, he delivered a disappointing performance in each of Minnesota's last two games, and now the team's hopes of making any sort of run in this season's playoffs have been crushed.
On Monday, Darnold only completed 62.5 percent of his passes for 245 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. He was also sacked a whopping nine times and he had a fumble returned by the Rams defense for a touchdown.
Against the Lions in Week 18 and in Monday's loss to Los Angeles, he completed a combined 53.1 percent of his passes, only threw one touchdown, and averaged 5.1 yards per pass attempt.
Darnold did a lot during the 2024 season to prove his doubters wrong and earn a nice chunk of change in free agency this year from another NFL team in need of a new quarterback.
But in big games, like the ones the Vikings have been in during the last two weeks, he proved that he isn't the right guy to help the franchise reach its goal of winning a Super Bowl for the first time ever.