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Kevin Seifert, ESPN Staff Writer
MINNEAPOLIS — No one wanted to leave Sunday from U.S. Bank Stadium. A crowd of 67,008 stood cheering wildly as the clock wound down. Video of Minnesota Vikings receivers Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison appeared on the big screen as they celebrated a rare level of combined production. The camera then panned to Sam Darnold.
The decibel level rose for a quarterback who had just thrown for 347 yards and five touchdowns, and was awaiting the final whistle of the Vikings’ 42-21 victory over the Atlanta Falcons. A few “MVP” chants could be heard.
Finally, Darnold couldn’t resist. Normally quiet and reserved, he grabbed a towel and began waving it emphatically toward the crowd — a symbolic and powerful moment for a quarterback who has turned around his career during the past 3½ months.
“I just felt the buzz,” Darnold said. “That was pure, pure passion. Pure joy, man. Just the way that we were able to finish that game out.”
Darnold admitted that an emotional outburst even to that level happens “very rarely” for him.
“That was a lot of emotion for me,” he said. “I was just excited, man. I feel like I couldn’t just sit there, just kind of stoic and straight-faced. I felt like I had to show a little bit of emotion for the fans and gave them what they wanted. That was a special moment for me.”
Said right tackle Brian O’Neill: “If I was a quarterback and I threw for five touchdowns, I probably would stand up and wave a towel too. I might be acting crazier in that situation. He loves ball, he loves this team, and he loves being here.
“It was good to see the [fan] reaction, too. That was one of the coolest kind of end-of-game environments in the stadium that we’ve had. Looking around. Everybody having a good time.”
Darnold threw his fourth and fifth touchdown passes, both to Addison, in the fourth quarter as the Vikings pulled away from a game tied at 21. Addison finished with three scores, and Jefferson two, making them the second pair of teammates in Vikings history to each have a 100-yard performance and multiple touchdowns in a single game. (The others were receiver Hassan Jones and tight end Steve Jordan in 1986).
The Vikings benefitted from a Falcons defense that used more single-safety coverage schemes than Jefferson and Addison usually see. Addison said afterward that he was surprised by that approach, and predicted the Vikings won’t see much more of it in the coming games, but the big plays still required a level of poise from Darnold that few around the league believed he possessed when the season began.
On perhaps his most difficult play, Darnold spun away from a blitzing safety Justin Simmons on a third-and-8 play in the third quarter and found Jefferson alone for a 52-yard score. Darnold aggressively fired the ball downfield all game, including 13 passes that traveled at least 10 yards past the line of scrimmage. He completed 10 of them. Three traveled at least 30 yards in the air, and a fourth fell incomplete to Addison but resulted in a 47-yard pass interference penalty.
Days like Sunday can make it difficult to remember that Darnold was leading the NFL in turnovers after throwing three interceptions in an ugly 12-7 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 10. Immediately after that game, coach Kevin O’Connell reiterated his strong support for Darnold and then, along with quarterbacks coach Josh McCown, sent him on a mission to address some fundamental mistakes he had been making.
In the four games since then, Darnold has completed 68.8% of his passes for 1,158 yards and 11 touchdowns with no interceptions. The Vikings are 4-0 over that stretch, and at 11-2 they are tied for the second-best record in the NFL.
“I think there can be incredible growth in moments where maybe on the outside, it seemed leaving Jacksonville like there’s something really wrong,” O’Connell said. “I think that’s why I was so excited that day to win the game and have such a teachable moment. …
“What it was, in my opinion, was an incredible growth moment for him to just come back the next week and start stacking some things that are kind of leading into a layered kind of success type approach, which is what happened to a lot of quarterbacks in this league, especially the ones that their trajectory over the course of a season or their career is pointing sky high.”
The symbolism of Sunday’s game was lost on few in attendance. The Vikings were facing Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins, who turned down what was essentially a one-year offer in March from the Vikings to sign instead with the Falcons. Afterward, O’Connell was asked if the outcome brought any level of validation for the way the Vikings have handled the transition from Cousins to Darnold.
O’Connell smiled and said one word: “No.”
The endgame scene had said it all.