The Minnesota Vikings cruised to a 14-2 start to the 2024 season. Their only losses came in October when they lost to the Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Rams in back-to-back weeks. It’s only fitting that their season ended with a Week 18 loss to the Lions and a 27-9 first-round playoff loss to the Rams.
It would be easy to put all the blame on Sam Darnold for the season-ending loss to the LA, but there were mistakes across the board. Brian Flores’ defense couldn’t stop the Rams in the first quarter, helping dig the Vikings into a 10-0 hole. When the defense finally adjusted, Darnold began to unravel, sending Minnesota to the locker room down 24-3 at halftime.
There will be questions regarding Darnold’s future in Minnesota, but it feels like he tanked his value. That’s only one position the team needs to address in the off-season. However, the Vikings will have abundant cap space to work with to address the interior offensive and defensive lines and re-tool the secondary. The last two weeks sent the Vikings home early, but it highlighted their weaknesses, which may finally be appropriately addressed beginning in March.