Kevin O’Connell didn’t want to focus on the last eight days. There was more, the Minnesota Vikings’ head coach contended, to quarterback Sam Darnold’s breakout season than the lopsided losses to the Detroit Lions in Week 18 and to the Los Angeles Rams in Monday night’s playoff game. “I think it’s very important we all think about Sam’s body of work, what he was able to do this year, when not many people thought he would be able to lead a team to 14 wins,” O’Connell said after being eliminated by the Rams, 27-9, in the Wild-Card round. “Could he have played better tonight? I’m sure that he would tell you he could have.” Indeed, Darnold accepted much of the blame after completing 25-of-40 pass attempts for 245 yards, a touchdown and an interception against a swarming Los Angeles defense. He was sacked nine times, which tied a playoff record, and lost a fumble that Rams rookie Jared Verse returned for a 57-yard touchdown. “I felt like there were a lot of sacks that I was responsible for, where I was just holding onto the football and taking sacks where I could have either dirted it at someone’s feet or simply thrown it over someone’s head,” Darnold admitted. It was an all-too-familiar sight for long-suffering Jets fans who once dreamed Darnold would be their team’s savior when it drafted him No. 3 overall in 2018. Monday’s ugly performance delivered a sobering end to a Cinderella season for Darnold and cast serious doubt about his future in Minnesota. Still just 27, Darnold played 2024 on a one-year, $10 million contract with the Vikings, his fourth team in seven NFL seasons. Less than two months after he signed with Minnesota, the Vikings traded up to No. 10 in April’s draft and selected J.J. McCarthy to be their quarterback of the future. But McCarthy suffered a season-ending knee injury during the preseason, clearing the season-long starting job for Darnold. Darnold delivered a career-best campaign in O’Connell’s quarterback-friendly system, passing for 4,319 yards, 35 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He completed 66.2% of his passes and led the Vikings to a 14-3 record. He finally looked the part of the franchise quarterback the Jets envisioned him to be before he fizzled to a 13-25 record over three seasons in the Meadowlands. But in the biggest games, Darnold faltered. He went just 18-for-41 for 166 yards in last week’s 31-9 loss in Detroit, failing to score a touchdown in a game that would have clinched an NFC North title and first round bye for the Vikings had they won. Instead, Minnesota had to open the postseason on the road — it ended up being a neutral site at Arizona’s State Farm Stadium due to the wildfires in Los Angeles — and was badly outplayed by a Rams team that won four fewer games in the regular season. And that started with Darnold. He made 23 off-target throws between the losses to Detroit and Los Angeles, according to ESPN Research. “All that matters is, when you have a good season, what do you do in the playoffs?” Darnold said. “We didn’t get it done today, and that’s all that matters.” Before the back-to-back clunkers, many speculated the Vikings would bring Darnold back, either on the $41 million franchise tag or with a long-term extension. Last month, The Athletic’s Dianna Russini reported the Vikings wanted to retain Darnold, while ESPN’s Adam Schefter said he expected teams to call about McCarthy, who could fetch more than a first-round pick in a trade. The Jets and Giants are among the teams that could be in the market for a quarterback and don’t have a top-two pick in a draft considered weak at the position. Following Monday’s loss, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported the teams he spoke with envisioned Darnold receiving a contract in the Geno Smith (three years, $75 million) or Baker Mayfield (three years, $100 million) range. Whether that comes from Minnesota remains to be seen. The Vikings could stick with their original plan and turn the offense over to McCarthy, who was a very good, but not elite, prospect coming out of Michigan. McCarthy’s affordable rookie contract — he carries a $4.97 million cap hit in 2025 — would allow the Vikings to further bolster their roster. O’Connell has a successful track record with multiple quarterbacks, having also won 13 games with Kirk Cousins in 2022. The Vikings rostered an established backup in Daniel Jones, whom they signed after the Giants released him in November, and could bring him back in a similar role. “I’ll always say that I’m confident in myself to go out there and still perform the same way I’ve been performing,” said Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson, who led Minnesota with 103 receptions, 1,533 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2024. “But it’s not my job to say who’s going to be the quarterback, who I want to be the quarterback. At the end of the day, they’re going to figure it out, and whoever they decide to go with, we can work with that.” There’s no denying Darnold’s value is much higher than it was this time last year, but his finish to the season renewed the concerns that followed him early in his career. He was notoriously turnover-prone with the Jets, throwing 39 interceptions compared to 45 touchdowns, and was famously caught on a hot microphone admitting he was “seeing ghosts” during a 2019 loss to the New England Patriots. For his part, Darnold said Monday he wasn’t yet focusing on his future. “Right now, I’m thinking about what I could have done better today and just really spending time with the guys in the locker room,” Darnold said. “That’s really all I’m focused on right now. … I’ll think about whatever the future holds after that.”