Minnesota has to be the quietest 13-2 team in NFL history. Lurking in the NFC shadows all season, the Vikings now have a path to the conference’s No. 1 seed after their most exciting win of the year, a Griddy 27-24 victory at Seattle on Sunday.
That path is brutal, however. The Vikings’ final two games are home to Green Bay (10-4, playing Monday night) and at Detroit (13-2). Their path to victory on Sunday was through Justin Jefferson.
Down 24-20 with under four minutes left in regulation, Sam Darnold climbed the pocket, used his eyes to pull Jefferson away from safety Julian Love, and hit his twisting All-Pro receiver for a game-winning, 39-yard touchdown. Even more remarkable, Darnold drove the Vikings down the field without consistent headset communication from head coach Kevin O’Connell. The quarterback had to call his own play at least once on the game-winning drive.
“Sam has had some huge plays this year,” head coach Kevin O’Connell said after the game, “considering the circumstances. And kind of how that play came to life, for him to move up and throw the ball, really on the move there with that kind of accuracy and to know where Justin was going to be in the moment, was a remarkable play. It doesn’t get better than that.”
It hasn’t been better for Jefferson this season after his best 2024 game. He also caught a 14-yard touchdown to break a second-quarter tie and finished with 10 receptions for 144 yards. Darnold was 22 of 35 for 246 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.
On the day’s first possession, Darnold converted a fourth-and-3 from the Seattle 40 with a short pass to tight end T.J. Hockenson. Six plays later, he found Jordan Addison on a 5-yard touchdown pass. Darnold’s 32 touchdown passes this year are sixth-most in NFL history for a quarterback in his first season with a team.
“Sam Darnold would be my quarterback of the future if I’m the Minnesota Vikings,” said Booger McFarland Sunday night on NFL PrimeTime. “He unlocks the offense. Addison, Jefferson, Hockenson, how they play on the offensive side of the football, they have a chance to be the No. 1 overall seed in the NFC and win a championship.”
But don’t think O’Connell has the Vikings thinking about championships. They’re thinking about the Packers on Sunday afternoon at U.S. Bank Stadium.
“We have to have hundred-percent focus on another playoff-caliber team, playing back at U.S. Bank, which will be huge, playing in front of our fans and we’ll worry about what’s in front of us then,” O’Connell said. “I know it’s fun to laugh about but it is very critical and I think this team understands how we got to this point. It’s a mature team that can be dangerous, I do believe, if we continue to just understand what got us to this moment from the first day we got to training camp through each and every one of our 15 opportunities so far. That’s just what we are going to do.”
Seattle, meanwhile, is in a tough spot. The Seahawks (8-7) fell out of first place after the Rams (9-6) beat the Jets on Sunday. The good news for Seattle, which finished 3-6 at home with its most losses at Lumen Field since 2008, is they get to go on the road. They also don’t have time to think about their loss to the Vikings because they play at Chicago (4-11) on Thursday Night Football (8:15 p.m. ET, Prime Video). If the Seahawks can survive the Bears, they might have a shot at the NFC West title because they travel to SoFi Stadium to meet the Rams in the season finale.
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