Sam Darnold And His Ghosts
What a year for Sam Darnold and the Vikings.
We all know the Vikings are performance art masquerading as an NFL team. No other team in NFL history has achieved the level of consistent success they have without winning it all. With the Vikings, you always know you are getting one of three things: A forgotten waste of a season, a slightly above-average season, and a vintage full-blown MINNESOTA VIKINGS season. In 2022 the Vikings had a full-blown MINNESOTA VIKINGS season for the ages, achieving 13 wins despite a negative point differential and losing to Daniel Jones at home in the playoffs. In 2023 they had a forgotten waste of a year when Kirk went down and JJ missed most of the games. This year was shaping up to be another waste of a season. Their big rookie JJ McCarthy tore his knee up in camp before playing a snap and the team was forced to start Sam Darnold. That Sam Darnold. The mononucleosis guy. The massive draft bust QB. The Sam Darnold who saw ghosts. Most pegged the Vikings as a mid-level team at best.
The Vikings responded with a 14-win season. Sam Darnold responded by looking like the player he was always supposed to be. He looked like a stud in the opener against the Giants but most people wrote it off as the Giants being horrendous (fair, tbh, I did too). But then he kept doing it. And kept doing it. He beat the 49ers. The Texans. The Packers! After a short two week struggle against the Lions and Rams the Vikings ripped off 9 straight wins! Darnold was getting MVP consideration. Darnold did it. He resuscitated his career. How the Jets must have ruined this man to hold him back when he was capable of this the whole time. The Vikings went from starting the season with no QB to the dreaded QB controversy: do they keep this sudden stud bridge QB or stay the course with the rookie they drafted to replace him? Sam Darnold was a damn hero.
You’d think Vikings fans would have learned not to allow themselves this hope. Hell, this isn’t even the first year that worked out like this, Case Keenum and the Minneapolis Miracle year wasn’t that long ago. But hope they did as the Vikings entered week 18 in a winner-take-all all royal rumble hell in a cell match with Detroit for the #1 seed. In an instant, all of those good vibes were washed out to sea. The Vikings were terrible against the Lions, and it was mostly on Sam Darnold. The poised and confident star that has existed for most of the year was gone. In his place was the Jets QB we spent years cracking jokes about. He held the ball too long. He airmailed passes to wide-open guys. He took horrible sacks. He threw terrible picks. He saw ghosts. Sam was done. His performance in Arizona against the Rams was no better. The Minnesota Vikings had completed another MINNESOTA VIKINGS season. 14 wins, the highest win total of a wild card team ever. A team that only lost to two teams all year: the Rams and the Lions. Art. The Vikings are art. I could spend the rest of my life honing my craft and never paint a masterpiece as beautiful as the Minnesota Vikings paint every 4 years or so.
In retrospect the Vikings season is less impressive. They feasted on a weak schedule: the AFC South, the two failures in New Jersey, the Bears twice, the middling Cardinals and Falcons both in Minnesota. The 49ers turned out to be pretty mid this year, and Seattle didn’t impress either. The Vikings only played 4 playoff teams (Lions(2x), Packers(2x), Texans, Rams) and ultimately went 3-3, 3-4 if you count the playoff loss. They frequently struggled to truly put opponents away and games would end up closer than they should have been. It wasn’t the fraudulence of the 2022 season but when they played the Lions in week 18, it felt like the correct team won.
At least the Vikings decision is easier now. They have a few options, but McCarthy is clearly the future. They are not trading him. They can let Darnold walk to test a market that will have significantly cooled off, but I doubt they do. I think the obvious route is the franchise tag. That way the Vikings can keep him as the Bridge backup they initially signed him to be, or then shop him out to other teams and see if they can get any good compensation for him. If Darnold is traded, then they can sign Daniel Jones to be the backup instead. It probably sucks knowing you played yourself out of 10+ million dollars these last two weeks but Darnold still more or less saved his career. I’m excited to see where he ends up.
Also tell me this comic isn’t a good premise for an anime. Sam is just a high school kid haunted by ghosts only he can see as a magnet for the spirit realm. He finds solace in sports and friendship, his only way to tune out the spirit world. He loves football, and he goes on to use it as his escape. His dad wants him to study the occult, to go into the family business of religion and worship, but he cannot face these fears. It drives him mad. He gets worse. The ghost become more oppressive. But in his struggle, he finally accepts his faith into his heart and learns from it. But in this process, after taking on a plucky young kōhai, his ego gets the better of him and the young man becomes his rival and enemy. HOW WILL IT TURN OUT? You’ll love the arc where he teams up with his old rival Baker Mayfield. Kevin O’Connell is obviously best girl.
“You’d think Vikings fans would have learned not to allow themselves this hope.” Oh, I didn’t. 57 years of being a Vikings fan has taught me not to hope. Instead, I simply enjoy occasional unexpected wins and screwing over teams I hate like the Packers, Cowboys, Packers and the Packers. If every other team died in a 31-team combined mid-air collision with the pilots of the Packers and Cowboys planes being at fault and the Vikings won the Super Bowl by default, I still wouldn’t believe it.
I had this season pegged at 6-11 or maybe 7-10. 14-3 was a gift but I never expected to go deep in the playoffs and when we played in Arizona, I knew the gods were against us simply due to emotional reasons trumping all. It’s been a fun season, but I’m grateful to Darnold for not only some fun in what should have been a shit year after JJ went down, but for committing seppuku twice in 8 days and making the quarterback situation for next season much easier.
Nah; Flores is the best girl. #Fish
“Also tell me this comic isn’t a good premise for an anime.”
I was going to make a Dandadan joke, but the premise you came up with is literally Mieruko-chan With Football.
I saw someone (it could have even been Dave) summarize the Vikings season like this: They won five straight games, then lost to the Lions and Rams. They proceeded to win their next nine games, then lost to the Lions and Rams again, ending their season. Wild.
He should have known, when his hair was the same color as the arch he went under, that his archenemy was always there, lying in wait.
Sexy Rexy rides again! How long has it been?
I miss those waldo like hunts in the old comics.
Same Old Vikings. (Or should I say “SAMe (Darn)old Vikings”?)
I already said what I needed to in the earlier comments, so I won’t repeat myself.
*sigh* I just want Jefferson to win a playoff game with us before he inevitably leaves us to go play for a team that’s *actually* serious about winning.