What Sam Darnold experienced Sunday night against the Lions was worse than what Daniel Jones experienced in his Week 1 start against the Vikings when he played for the Giants.

In Sunday night's huge matchup between the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions, Darnold struggled mightily in the first two-plus quarters, specifically in the red zone.

Sam Darnold looked like the Jets version of himself instead of the potential franchise quarterback he’s resembled for most of the season during an awful performance in the Vikings’ 31-9 loss to the Lions in the battle for the NFC’s No. 1 seed and the NFC North crown on “Sunday Night Football.”

Hoofnagle, who has been dating Darnold since at least June 2023, shared a post from fellow Vikings WAG (wives and girlfriends) Keely Grugier-Hill, who is the better half of Minnesota veteran linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill.

Detroit dominated in the most important game of the regular season, and the difference was a quarterback who looks ready for the challenges ahead.

Jahmyr Gibbs topped 100 yards rushing in all 3 games the Lions played without David Montgomery and fell just shy of 2,000 scrimmage yards.

Kevin O'Connell, the QB coaches and backups have Darnold playing at a high level. Can he bounce back from the Week 18 debacle in Detroit?

Sam Darnold was on an unbelievable run with the Minnesota Vikings this season. He led them to a 14-2 record going into the final NFL regular season game and even stirred up conversations about the Vikings keeping him long term and trading J.J. McCarthy to a quarterback-hungry team.

The Vikings opened this season predicted by both data and actual humans to finish with around seven victories. Even the more optimistic prognosticators looked at their roster and figured a 10-win year was about the ceiling of this team.

Which teams are in line to play for it all? Our writers and editors fill out their brackets and pick a champion, a final score and an MVP for the big game.