The Detroit Lions swept the Minnesota Vikings this season. Although their first meeting was competitive, when the NFC division and top seed were on the line in Game 2, it was a one-sided affair.
The Vikings may have finished the season with a 14-3 record, but they played their worst football against the Lions and Rams this season. Los Angeles and Detroit were both playoff teams, which softened those blows a bit.
While the Rams face the Eagles on Sunday, the Lions were stunned Saturday night by a Washington Commanders team that couldn’t be stopped offensively and forced Detroit to make plenty of mistakes.
Lions give Vikings more evidence to move on from Sam Darnold in 2025
Against the Lions in Minnesota season finalethe Vikings couldn’t find the end zone. They were 3 of 16 on third and fourth downs against their division opponent and gained just 262 yards of offense in the game.
So what does that have to do with Sam Darnold? Well, the Minnesota quarterback was 18 for 41 passes. gaining 166 yards through the air and earning a QBR of 17.4. When the stage was biggest for Darnold, his room became small.
On the other hand, Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels made the game against the Lions look easy. He completed 22 of 31 passes for 299 yards and two touchdowns without taking a single sack and adding 52 rushing yards to his production.
This raises the question of what action to take for Sam Darnold and the Minnesota Vikings. A playoff berth shouldn’t be enough to be satisfied. Even expecting Darnold to be Jayden Daniels isn’t realistic, seeing other teams have success against Detroit should add a little extra punch to the argument for moving on from him this offseason.
Perhaps the craziest thing about this whole situation is that the Vikings, Lions and Packers combined for three playoff berths and combined for 40 wins this season, but none of them were able to achieve a playoff victory.
Mediocrity is a part of the Minnesota Vikings’ history, but it’s time to expect more from this team moving forward. Sam Darnold is not the guy to take this team to the next level and that became even clearer when Washington was able to create five takeaways while losing 45 points to Detroit while Minnesota couldn’t go squat.
