Despite a great effort and one of the most gusty performances of his career, former USC Trojans quarterback Sam Darnold and the Minnesota Vikings fell short against the Detroit Lions in a 31-29 barnburner. The Vikings are no longer undefeated, but Darnold is looking forward, as confident as ever.
The Minnesota Vikings entered Sunday’s division contest against the Detroit Lions undefeated with a 5-0 record. After a hard-fought, four-quarter battle, the Detroit Lions handed the Vikings their first loss of the season in a 31-29 slugfest. Despite the loss, former USC Trojans quarterback Sam Darnold had one of his most resilient outings after overcoming an early interception.
“Yeah. That’s just kind of the team that we have. You know? No matter what the score is, no matter what’s happening, we’re going to continue to be resilient,” said Darnold in the post-game press conference.
Darnold finished the game completing 22 of 27 passes for 259 yards with one touchdown and one interception. In a surprising turn of events, Darnold was also the Vikings’ second-leading rusher with 39 rushing yards on four attempts. The Viking’s offense was mostly boom or bust, but they’ve done a great job of capitalizing on the second half this season, outscoring the Lions 19-10 in the last two quarters.
Oct 20, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold (14) looks on during the first quarter against the Detroit Lions at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images / Matt Krohn-Imagn Images
Minnesota’s comeback fell short, losing to Detroit on a late field goal. After the game, Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell reiterated the confidence he has in his team.
O’Connell said, “Make no mistake about it, I got a lot of confidence in the guys in the locker room. I got a lot of confidence in the coaching staff. What happened today means absolutely nothing moving forward other than we got to go back to work and continue to improve as a football team.”
Darnold now has 12 passing touchdowns on the season, which ranks fourth best in the NFL. He’s also completing 66.5% of his passes and has a 104.0 quarterback rating with only five interceptions. Darnold hasn’t been perfect, but he’s greatly out-performing the expectations and giving the Vikings a chance to win every game they’ve played in so far.
“Yeah, it’s still early in the season. Obviously, Detroit [Lions] is a good football team. Green Bay [Packers] is a really good football team. Chicago [Bears] is a good football team. So, we’re just going to continue to put our heads down and work. That’s all we know how to do. Obviously, we have a short week this week, so we have a lot of guys in there already recovering and getting ready for Thursday.” Darnold continued.
The Vikings are 5-1 and still sit amongst the NFL’s few one-loss teams. They’re in the driver’s seat for a playoff spot and have a chance to win the incredibly competitive NFC North division. They’ll quickly get a chance to get this bad taste out of their mouths when they take on the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday Night Football.