After getting embarrassed by the Los Angeles Rams when he was a member of the Minnesota Vikings last season, Sam Darnold took the field on Sunday with the hope of conquering old demons and leading the Seattle Seahawks to an impressive victory.
Instead, all Darnold did was prove that the Vikings made the right decision to let him walk in free agency back in March, as he, once again, failed to help his team defeat the Rams.
Seattle only lost the matchup by two points, but the former Minnesota quarterback played a large role in the disappointing result as he finished the game with 279 passing yards, no touchdowns, and a whopping four interceptions.
Sam Darnold vindicates the Minnesota Vikings in Seattle Seahawks' Week 11 loss to Los Angeles Rams
In 2024, Darnold put together the best season of his career during his lone year with the Vikings. The former No. 3 overall draft pick threw for 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns in a Minnesota uniform last season.
Despite it seeming like Darnold was finally living up to the potential he was given when he entered the NFL in 2018, some of his bad habits from the past wound up re-emerging when the lights shined the brightest in the 2024 campaign.
The Vikings had a great chance to enter last season's playoffs as the No. 1 seed in the NFC, and all they needed to do was defeat the Detroit Lions in a big Week 18 showdown. But Minnesota ended up suffering a loss in the contest, and a big reason why had to do with the fact that Darnold only completed 43.9 percent of his passes for 166 yards and no touchdowns.
Then came the first round of the 2024 postseason when a 14-win Vikings team took on a 10-win Rams team on a neutral field in Arizona. This time, Darnold was able to throw for 245 yards and a touchdown, but he was also sacked nine times, and it resulted in Minnesota's season ending sooner than most expected.
So, when the former Vikings quarterback tossed four picks in Seattle's loss to Los Angeles on Sunday, no one was shocked.
Minnesota has its own issues to figure out this year after their 2025 record dropped to 4-6 on Sunday with a loss to the Chicago Bears. But at least the Vikings can feel good about their decision not to pay Darnold a bunch of money to return and just be a more expensive version of the pumpkin that he was before he even joined Minnesota in 2024.