Vikings will stick with him, but Sam Darnold's play has become a major concern

Darnold has thrown five interceptions in the last two games.

Nov 10, 2024; Jacksonville, Florida, USA; Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold (14) heads into the tunnel after the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at EverBank Stadium. / Morgan Tencza-Imagn Images

Sam Darnold's play has officially become a major concern for the Vikings, who have managed to pick up wins over the last two weeks in spite of their quarterback's inability to take care of the football.

Prior to last Sunday's win over the Colts, Darnold had thrown five interceptions in the first seven games of the season and hadn't had any outings with multiple picks. He's doubled that total with five interceptions over the last two games, including a season-high three in Sunday's 12-7 win over the Jaguars. The Vikings have made it very clear that Darnold isn't at risk of being benched, but the reality is that if he doesn't start to play a lot better, he could derail their promising season.

Against the Colts, Darnold made up for his two INTs with an otherwise-strong performance that included three passing touchdowns. That was not the case in Jacksonville. Sure, he helped the Vikings move the ball at times on their way to over 400 total yards, but the offense failed to get into the end zone even once. This was pretty clearly Darnold's worst performance of the season, topping a 14-for-31 outing against the Jets in London.

The location and timing of his interceptions is what has really hurt the Vikings this year, and especially over the last couple games. Seven of his ten picks have been caught inside the opponents' 30 yard-line, including three in the end zone (all in the last two weeks) and two more inside the 10. Those are turnovers that directly eliminate the opportunity to add 3-7 points to the scoreboard. They're the kind of mistakes that simply can't happen, which is why it's so concerning that they happened three more times on Sunday.

"When you're in the scoring zone —I think one of them was on a second down, and then we had one on a third down a little bit further out — as space shrinks, you either have to anticipate and put the ball in a place where you want to, or you've gotta protect the football and progress in rhythm," Kevin O'Connell said. "And he knows that. We'll go back to just emphasizing those things throughout."

Darnold's first interception came when he tried to force a ball into Justin Jefferson, who was blanketed in coverage. The pass was deflected and landed in the waiting arms of a linebacker. The second one was both a poor decision and an inaccurate throw, as he and Jefferson didn't seem to be on the same page (that it probably should've been overturned upon review doesn't negate the fact that it was an inexcusable error in the end zone). The third was another miss to Jefferson on the goal line that was again a combination of a bad decision and poor ball placement.

Darnell Savage brings in our third INT of the day!@darnellsavage_ | #MINvsJAX on FOX pic.twitter.com/Ch7HAtKn2h

— Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) November 10, 2024

"I gotta do a lot better job taking care of the football," Darnold said. "I think that's obvious. Just being situationally aware of kind of where we're at on the field, first and second down, just being able to put the ball in play and let our guys go run with it. I thought I could've done a lot better job with that today, but we'll look at the tape and learn from it that way."

The Vikings were fortunate that their defense helped them escape with an unusual kind of victory on Sunday, because Darnold's mistakes could've — and probably should've — led to a disastrous loss against a two-win team. They need him to figure things out quickly and get back to playing the way he did earlier this season, but the possibility that these mistakes are fundamentally part of his quarterbacking DNA is an undeniable concern moving forward.

Despite the mistakes, O'Connell said there was never a moment where he considered benching Darnold and turning to Nick Mullens.

"Not one. Not one all day long," he said. "In fact, I was looking at it as a great opportunity to see growth and continue to move the team. Because we're gonna check back in on this moment and use it the right way, and Sam's gonna be better off for it, I truly do believe that."

Mullens is a turnover-prone QB in his own right who doesn't have the same upside that Darnold possesses, so there's probably no world where the Vikings make a non-injury-related change this season. With rookie J.J. McCarthy out for the year, they're going to move forward with Darnold, for better or for worse. These last two weeks have reinforced that this will clearly be McCarthy's team next season, but whether or not Darnold can fix these mistakes and take care of the ball will determine how far this year's team can go.

"Sam Darnold's played a lot of football at a really high level this year," O'Connell said. "Huge reason why we're 7-2, and looking back on it, this can be a critical moment that we all absorb and understand that we're still 100 percent confident in Sam. It'd be craziness not to be. But at the same time, a great opportunity to figure out, as we after-action, exactly what happened and, as coaches and players, put it together in a way where we'll be able to use this as a very healthy win to also improve."