Sam Darnold's performance — and health scare — cements role in Vikings' stellar start

MINNEAPOLIS — He tumbled to the turf and immediately reached for his left knee. It wasn’t obvious at first. Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold had dumped off a pass, and most eyes moved with the football to running back Aaron Jones, who caught the screen and cut toward the middle of the field. Once Jones was tackled, you couldn’t help but notice. There Darnold was, lying on the ground behind the play.

Almost everything had gone right for the Vikings until this moment late in the third quarter. They were well on their way to handing the Houston Texans a 34-7 humbling on Sunday, but now the familiar feeling returned. That pit in the stomach, the one people in these parts have felt so many times when they’ve begun to believe and then had their hopes dashed.

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“I always get nervous on stuff like that,” said superstar wide receiver Justin Jefferson.

Left tackle Christian Darrisaw watched as Darnold climbed to his feet, put his hands on his hips and started limping. Jones heard Darnold’s agonized grunts and wondered what had happened. Jefferson walked toward Darnold and listened as trainers ran him through tests. Head coach Kevin O’Connell knelt nearby. The fans were silent. You could almost hear their internal monologue: No way, not after this start to the season. Come on!

Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold after going down with an apparent injury during the third quarter Sunday against the Texans. He would bounce back in a big way.

In March, the Vikings signed Darnold to a one-year contract in free agency, and while he was always in line to begin the season as Minnesota’s starting quarterback, most of the team’s fans looked forward to the point when Darnold would take a backseat to rookie J.J. McCarthy. Then McCarthy tore his meniscus, putting Darnold in the driver’s seat for the entire season. His teammates believed the team could compete — and even contend — with him at the helm. Externally, many were skeptical.

Three quarters into Sunday’s game, having already gotten off to a 2-0 start and beaten a respected San Francisco 49ers team, so much had changed. National pundits had been raving about Darnold, whose performance had become one of the major talking points around the NFL. Paired with Brian Flores’ Rubik’s Cube defense, Darnold and the Vikings were well on their way to being considered contenders in the NFC. But that reality seemed fleeting as Darnold was helped off the field and ushered into the blue medical tent.

In the huddle, Jefferson hyped up backup QB Nick Mullens. The uncertainty surrounding Mullens, however, said a lot about Darnold’s altered narrative. The 27-year-old had not been a superhero in the Vikings’ first two games, though his statistics were solid. His 97-yard touchdown pass to Jefferson against the 49ers was a highlight. Mostly, though, he had done what all good quarterbacks do: operate calmly from the pocket, progress from receiver to receiver in rhythm and place the ball accurately down the field.

That’s what Darnold was doing again Sunday against the Texans. On the team’s first possession, he escaped the pocket and found Jefferson in the red zone for a touchdown pass.

Cashed in early.@JJettas2

📺: @NFLonCBS pic.twitter.com/bMjR0BC1UZ

— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) September 22, 2024

“Sam’s athletic ability to create off-schedule is a huge weapon,” O’Connell said.

Later in the first quarter during another red zone sequence, Darnold moved quickly to the line of scrimmage and snapped the ball swiftly as O’Connell had planned. The hope? To catch the Texans defense off-guard.

It was third-and-2, and the Vikings had Jefferson lined up in the backfield with Jones out wide at receiver. The play called for Jefferson to float up the left sideline, while Jones crossed over the middle of the field and into Darnold’s field of vision. Darnold recognized double coverage on Jefferson, checked to Jones and dished the ball in stride for another passing touchdown.

.@Showtyme_33 leaps in for the #Vikings 2nd TD of the afternoon.

📺: @NFLonCBS pic.twitter.com/CTCPAStHjj

— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) September 22, 2024

Early in the third quarter, leading 14-0, the Vikings had reached the red zone again. Darnold dropped back on second-and-4, looked right, didn’t see an open receiver, shifted back to the middle of the field and lasered another short touchdown pass to receiver Jalen Nailor.

“That’s a total reset on the back side of the formation,” O’Connell said. “Feet, eyes, ball location, a thing of beauty.”

Darnold was a quarterback with all of the necessary physical attributes playing efficiently within O’Connell’s offense. It was the epitome of who Darnold has been since he arrived from San Francisco, a place and a situation that removed the weight of the world from the quarterback’s shoulders. It was the culmination of film sessions with O’Connell, where the head coach deftly plucked the preferences of his new quarterback in the form of schemes, concepts and plays. A touchdown like this was the perfect concoction of talent at receiver and on the offensive line combined with supportive voices in the quarterback room.

The potential of losing that explained the stadium’s reaction to Darnold’s injury. Regaining that explained the reaction when Darnold emerged from the blue tent, grabbed his helmet and darted back and forth on the sideline before trotting back onto the field. The U.S. Bank Stadium crowd had effectively yelled its lungs out for Flores’ defense all afternoon, but this cheer — the one celebrating Darnold’s return — may have been the loudest of them all.

Faintly, you could even hear a chant: “MVP! MVP! MVP!”

“The fans’ reaction meant everything to me,” Darnold said. “Not only that (one moment), but also my entire time here in Minnesota.”

Give it up for Mr. Sam Darnold. pic.twitter.com/oS5ThwGwPx

— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) September 22, 2024

The return allowed him to punctuate his 17-for-28, 181-yard, four-touchdown outing. The fourth quarter brought along another red zone trip and another third-and-2 situation. Throughout the week, O’Connell and Darnold had discussed what to look for amid the play’s pre-snap motion. Darnold identified that the Texans were playing zone coverage and zipped a pass to tight end Johnny Mundt between two defenders.

“You’re going to get zone coverage with a lot of bodies in there,” O’Connell said. “You’ve got to be disciplined and detailed to be accurate away from defenders. He was.”

O’Connell summed up this touchdown and the others as “the full spectrum” of “really good quarterback play.”

Right tackle Brian O’Neill said, “He’s playing like that, and our defense is making plays, and this is all pretty fun to be a part of.”

Fun is one word for it, but special might be another. Jones said he recently told his mother this Vikings team was different in a way he could not put his finger on. Safety Harrison Smith even pulled Jefferson aside on the sideline to share his belief that, to use his words, “We got a little something.”

Sunday further validated that opinion. The Vikings dominated a popular Super Bowl pick. But Sunday afternoon also cemented Darnold’s role on a ride that is only beginning.