Sam Darnold is arriving at Super Bowl LX much like Jim Plunkett arrived at Super Bowl XV many moons ago. A 1st round draft pick who was a bust & the team that drafted him jettisoned him off like garbage. He had become a punchline with his “seeing ghosts” comment while being interviewed after a game in New York. Had stops at Carolina and San Fran before taking the Vikings to a 14-3 season last year and then dumped for unproven JJ McCarthy. The Vikings opting for #9 unstated told us they believed Darnold’s last 2 games in ’24 over the first 16.

Minnesota had their best record dating back to their 2009 NFC Championship Game run with Brett Favre at the helm. However all year long fans (and quietly the Vikings brass) waited for the shoe to drop & the jittery knock kneed Darnold of old would show up. He didn’t until a winner take all for the NFC Championship Game against Detroit where he had his worst game of the season. On a Sunday Night with the nation watching he went 18 of 41 for 166 yards in a 31-9 undressing in a game that didn’t appear that close.

It all fell apart with a 27-9 loss in the wildcard round to Los Angeles. Darnold was sacked 9 times and never had his team in the game. They were down 24-3 at the half and the Vikings had seen enough. In the offseason they gave him a low ball 1 year contract and Darnold left for Seattle. Had he really turned his career around? Was the ’24 season he had in Minnesota a mirage??

• ’24 Vikings season: 361 of 545 – 4,319 yds 35TDs 12 ints. (7.92 yds per att.)
• ’25 Seahawks season: 323 of 477 -4,048 yds 4,048 yds 25TDs 14ints. (8.48 yds per att.)

The truth of the matter is that gaudy 8.48 yards per attempt is 2nd in the league to Drake Maye. If you’re new here I wrote out on Dec 9th “The Lie Behind Quarterback Passer Rating & Several Useless Statistics” where I told you yards per attempt is the statistic that equates to team success not passer rating… well #1 and #2 in yards per attempt are facing off in LX or 1st vs 11th in passer rating … yet I digress

The truth of the matter we kept holding our breath waiting for Darnold to falter in the end like he did last year, check it… how he has dating back to the 2018 draft. Its not that he rode the coat tails of his team to make it to Santa Clara, he outgunned Matthew Stafford in a career defining NFC Championship Game. Throwing for 346 yards going 25 of 36 with 3TDs. When he came out and hit Rasheed Shehee with that 51 yard bomb 0n the first drive you knew he came to play. He was laughed out of Sofi Stadium losing to the Rams and ultimately his job and came back to excorcise several demons.

To see him stay the course, make the adjustments in his career when he could have slunked away as the draft bust he came to be known for, its impossible to not pull for him. He just stared down his bully in the NFC Championship Game and carved a Ram defense up that gave him nightmares in ’24. He is one game away from validating his 3rd pick in the NFL draft status with his performance in LX.

LOL Now he is in a Super Bowl where fellow draftees who have won NFL MVPs in Lamar Jackson & Josh Allen have to sit and watch and neither have made it this far. Neither has 1st pick in the draft Baker Mayfield. He wins this game and you have to call him an elite quarterback. Period. With new information we have to change our perspectives.

You’re one game away. San Darnold… Your mission, should you choose to accept it…