When the Minnesota Vikings decided to let former quarterback Kirk Cousins walk in the offseason and sign with the Atlanta Falcons in free agency, many questioned what the Vikings were going to do at the position going forward. When the Vikings signed journeyman quarterback Sam Darnold, a famous NFL Draft bust, those questions turned to question the sanity of the Vikings’ front office.
No one expected Darnold to be anything more than a bridge quarterback to whomever the Vikings would draft in the 2024 NFL Draft – if he’d even be able to beat that player out in camp at all. That player wound up being former Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy, and from the outset, the Vikings had a plan with McCarthy. He would be the backup quarterback and learn from Darnold, but he would likely eventually take over. It was just a matter of when.
Then, a preseason knee injury altered the plan, as McCarthy would be declared out for the season. The Vikings were looking at Darnold as their starting quarterback for the foreseeable future, and most saw that as a recipe for disaster. But, as the 2024 season has gotten underway, the results have been anything but a disaster for Darnold and the Vikings.
So much so that Darnold is playing like arguably one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, which is making some question whether the Vikings should further change their plans at quarterback and sign Darnold long-term.
With his performance on Sunday in a victory over the Green Bay Packers, Darnold set a number of team or NFL records. The 28-0 lead Darnold led the Vikings to became the largest lead over the Packers the Vikings have had in team history.
Darnold threw for 275 yards and three touchdowns on the day and finished the game with a quarterback rating of 123.4. With those numbers, Darnold became the first quarterback in team history to post a quarterback rating over 100 in four straight games and tied an NFL record dating back to 1970.
With his three touchdowns on the day, Darnold moved to 11 touchdowns on the season, making him just the second quarterback in NFL history to go 4-0 and throw 10 or more touchdowns in his first four starts with a team – the other being Patrick Mahomes.
Obviously, there is a ton of season left to be played and a lot of time for Sam Darnold’s Cinderella season to come crashing down around him. But for right now, Darnold is playing the best football of his career, and if he keeps it up throughout the season, he may have Vikings’ brass making some difficult decisions at the end of the year.