Zulgad: Reason to smile: Sam Darnold delivers career-best performance going against quarterback he replaced

Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell dials up near perfect game plan as his quarterback throws five touchdown passes in 21-point victory over the Atlanta Falcons and struggling Kirk Cousins.

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Coach Kevin O’Connell and quarterback Sam Darnold weren’t going to gloat in the aftermath of the Vikings’ 42-21 victory over the Falcons on Sunday, but it would be silly to think they didn’t take satisfaction in sending former Vikings QB Kirk Cousins back to Atlanta with a loss.

O’Connell has frequently made it clear, and did so again Sunday, how much he respects Cousins both as a player and a person. But when the now-struggling Cousins took the money and bolted for Atlanta last March (four years, $100 million guaranteed), O’Connell had to hear from those who felt Cousins had made his team competitive and that the loss of the veteran spelled trouble. (You think the Vikings’ win total would have been placed at 6.5 by Las Vegas with Cousins starting at QB?)

The reality was that O’Connell had spent two seasons in Minnesota transforming Cousins from being the king of the box score to a far-more effective quarterback who began to understand that his position required taking some risks in order to achieve success. It was again reported over the weekend that O’Connell would have liked to have kept Cousins, but the front office was only willing to pay him so much, especially since he was coming off a torn Achilles’ that ended his 2023 season.

Cousins departed Minnesota having earned $185 million over six seasons. The return: one playoff win. He was replaced by Darnold, who signed a one-year, $10 million contract that drew eye rolls and guffaws from a fan base who knew him as one of the biggest busts among highly drafted quarterbacks.

But as the usually reserved Darnold broke character by waving a towel in his right hand late in Sunday’s game to thunderous applause from those in U.S. Bank Stadium, it became clear this was something special. Not only because the Vikings had won, but because Darnold had established career-highs by throwing for 347 yards and posting a 157.9 passer rating (158.3 is perfect). He also became the first Vikings quarterback to have five touchdown passes in a game since Daunte Culpepper on Oct. 17, 2004.

“That was a lot of emotion for me,” Darnold said of his reaction that was shown on the Vikings’ videoboard. “I was just excited. I feel like I couldn’t just sit there just kind of stoic and just straight-faced. I feel like I had to show a little bit of emotion for the fans and give them what they wanted. So that was a special moment for me.”

It was the Vikings’ sixth consecutive victory and put their record to 11-2, keeping them a game behind Detroit (12-1) in the NFC North with four games remaining in the regular season.

The Vikings’ victory over Cousins seemed like the latest chapter in a feel-good season in which so much has gone right. But the reality is there have been bumps in the road for Darnold and Sunday was another display of his resilience.

Darnold, 27, got off to a phenomenal start, throwing 11 touchdowns and only three interceptions as the Vikings beat the Giants, 49ers, Texans and Packers to open the season. He had 14 touchdowns and five interceptions through seven games, including back-to-back losses to the Lions and Rams, but then went through a two-game stretch in which he became a turnover machine. Darnold threw three touchdowns and five picks in wins over the Colts and Jaguars.

The Vikings needed four Parker Romo field goals in Week 10 to beat the Jaguars, 12-7, and there were moments in the game were you wondered if O’Connell would consider sitting Darnold. O’Connell reflected on that situation on Sunday.

“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. “They didn’t score a touchdown. I think that’s why I was so excited that day to win the game and have such a teachable moment where, in a lot of ways, Sam’s going back in Monday morning based upon a lot of things that (assistant coaches) Josh (McCown), Grant (Udinski), and myself talked to him about. Almost self-coaching in a lot of ways. ‘If I just have better feet there or I don’t know why my eyes were there.’ 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.”

Darnold has stacked a four-game stretch in which he’s thrown 11 touchdowns and no interceptions. Of his five touchdowns on Sunday, three went to Jordan Addison and two to Justin Jefferson. Addison caught eight passes for 133 yards and Jefferson seven for 132 yards.

“The performance that he had … getting over 300 (yards), five touchdowns, that’s something that is very hard to do,” Jefferson said. “Especially in this league. And for him to go out there with the composure that he had, the leadership that he had and just taking us down the field, being that leader, it was phenomenal to see. This is something that we want to do and we can do every single week.”

Cousins, meanwhile, completed 23 of 37 passes for 344 yards with no touchdowns, two interceptions and a 70.1 passer rating. Never the most mobile quarterback during his time in Minnesota, Cousins appears even less mobile after tearing his right Achilles’ in Week 8 of 2023.

Darnold’s mobility was one reason he was so successful on Sunday. Exhibit A came in the third quarter with the Vikings leading by one. On third-and-8 from the Minnesota 48, Darnold dropped back and came under immediate pressure. Justin Simmons was unimpeded as he came at Darnold on a safety blitz and the pocket soon became uninhabitable.

The quarterback evaded the chaos by scrambling to his left, then reversing direction to his right. He finally launched a jump pass from his own 46-yard line that found Jefferson wide open at the Falcons 13. Jefferson walked into the end zone.

When Jefferson finally got a chance to watch the play, he realized how much work Darnold had done.

“Just his mobility,” Jefferson said. “Just being able to dodge that sack and being able to move in the pocket and scramble around and still having his eyes down field to find me. That’s special. That’s something that can’t really be taught. That’s Sam. That’s something we saw early on in training camp and we had the confidence to give him the starting job. For him to come out and do what he’s been doing for this season, especially today, it’s unbelievable.”

Two thoughts came to mind watching that throw: 1) No way Cousins would have had the ability to escape that pressure. 2) The Jets didn’t make a mistake by drafting Darnold No. 3 in the 2018 draft, they made a mistake by not having a coaching staff or organization that had any idea how to develop him.

“I’m just proud of him,” O’Connell said of Darnold.

No one could have blamed O’Connell if he also was proud of himself for not only getting far more out of Darnold than others had, but also watching Darnold outduel another guy O’Connell had invested a lot into.