The Los Angeles Rams defenders sacked Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold a whopping nine times in Monday night's wild-card game. It was a tough showing for the Vikings quarterback, who had led Minnesota to a 14–3 record in the regular season, but fell 27–9 to the Rams on Monday.
The nine sacks resulted in 82 lost yards, which is now the most in a single game in the NFL playoffs during the Super Bowl era, according to Josh Dubow of The Associated Press. Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow previously held the record with the 68 yards lost from sacks during the 2021 divisional round.
Six of the sacks came in the first half alone. Vikings fans were worried about Darnold in the first half, and things didn't get much better in the second half, even after T.J. Hockenson scored a touchdown in the third quarter to give the Vikings some life.
Darnold's ended the night completing 25-of-40 passes for 245 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He also had a fumble that was returned for a touchdown.
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It was definitely an unfortunate way for Darnold to end his heroic first season with the Vikings. He was the first NFL quarterback to ever lead a team to 14 wins in their first season with them. He finished the 2024 season with 4,319 passing yards, 35 touchdowns and a 67.5% completion percentage. He was sacked the fourth most in the NFL this past season, though, with a total of 48 times.
Darnold's future is up in the air as he will become a free agent after the season. It looked somewhat obvious that Minnesota would retain Darnold up until the last two games, when the Vikings lost 31–9 to NFC North rival the Detroit Lions, followed by this first-round exit in the playoffs. We'll see what happens to Darnold this offseason.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Sam Darnold's Poor Wild-Card Performance Results in Unfortunate NFL Playoff History.
