The Minnesota Vikings were as close as possible to not having to play in the Wild Card Round. A win in the last game of the season against the Detroit Lions would have secured the number one overall seed in the NFC and sent the Lions on the road in the Wild Card round.
Unfortunately for Minnesota, starting quarterback Sam Darnold turned in his worst game of the season and the Lions quickly pulled away in the second half. Darnold and the Vikings had a shot at redemption against the Los Angeles Rams in the Wild Card round on Monday, but Darnold wasn’t much better and the Rams dominated.
After the 27-9 defeat, head coach Kevin O’Connell addressed the play of his quarterback at the end of the season, and he didn’t mince his words.
“I just want to say it’s very important we all think about Sam’s body of work, what he was able to do this year, when not many people thought he would be able to lead a team to 14 wins,” O’Connell said, according to Pro Football Talk.
“It did not work out in the end, and I think Sam would be the first one to tell you, could he have played better tonight? I’m sure he would tell you he could have. Could I have coached better? I’m positive I could have.”
O’Connell told reporters there were too many negative plays throughout the game.
“Far too many negatives. Really, over the last two weeks, too many negative plays that set you behind.
“Very tough feeling in that locker room right now,” O’Connell said. “This team did a lot of special things this year, but we didn’t play well enough to win this football game.”
It’ll be interesting to see if the Vikings bring Darnold back or move to young quarterback JJ McCarthy who missed all of this season with a knee injury.
