MINNEAPOLIS — The plan for the Minnesota Vikings was to bring in journeyman quarterback Sam Darnold as the bridge between departed veteran Kirk Cousins and first-round draft pick J.J. McCarthy, with team brass confident the 27-year-old’s strong arm and starting experience would sufficiently run a high-caliber offense until the rookie was deemed ready to play.
Darnold’s performance to date has been much closer to superstar than mere stopgap.
“He’s a baller,” Vikings safety Harrison Smith said. “He can make stuff happen when he needs to. I know with the outside narrative on him and his path and everything, you might not think that, but ever since he got here, it felt like that was going to happen.”
Having led the Vikings (10-2) to their fifth consecutive victory with the go-ahead touchdown pass against the Arizona Cardinals last week, one game after a stellar overtime drive to beat the Chicago Bears in an NFC North Division matchup, Darnold has become one of the darlings of the 2024 NFL season with his success in coach Kevin O’Connell’s system after the third overall pick in the 2018 draft started his career in rather bleak fashion.
His first year in Minnesota sure has been smoother than what Cousins, 36, has gone through in his debut with the Atlanta Falcons. In last week’s home loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, the 13th-year pro matched his career high with four interceptions.
“I don’t think anybody can put any more pressure on Kirk than he has for himself. He’s carried us through this season when we were figuring out a lot of things on defense,” Falcons defensive tackle Grady Jarrett said. “He’s just having a hard time right now. There’s nothing to say he can’t catch fire and light it up like he’s been doing.”
NFC South co-leader Atlanta (6-6) takes its three-game losing streak on the road to face the Vikings with division races for both teams in full swing. The quarterback contrasts have made this matchup all the more intriguing, with Cousins coming back to the place where he spent the previous six seasons.
Cousins has a $25 million salary cap hit this season, the 11th highest among quarterbacks in the NFL. Even if the Falcons were to move on in 2026 and swallow the dead money for two more years with Michael Penix Jr. — this year’s No. 8 overall pick — waiting in the wings, Cousins will carry a $40 million charge in 2025.
Darnold’s cap charge is $5 million this season, just 31st on the list. Though he will become a free agent in March, the Vikings structured his contract with void years to spread his cap hit into next season for another $5 million. McCarthy, the 10th overall pick, won’t be ready until next year after having surgery to repair the meniscus he tore in his right knee in his first preseason game after helping lead the Michigan Wolverines to last season’s College Football Playoff national championship.
Though Darnold has endured a couple of clunkers this year, the Vikings still won those games and he has bounced back strong without letting interceptions linger into future outings.
“He’s kind of found a little balance, at least the last few weeks, of ‘When is it too risky?’ and ‘When can I take my shot at something?'” offensive coordinator Wes Phillips said.
The Falcons have seen as much while studying game video.
“I think he’s playing free,” Atlanta safety Jessie Bates said. “It’s not a lot of complicated throws or anything that he’s doing. I just think that he’s finally able to feel comfortable in himself.”
Falcons first-year head coach Raheem Morris decided to address the significance of Cousins’ homecoming with the team, bracing for the type of crowd reaction that will only intensify the noise at U.S. Bank Stadium that’s already daunting for opponents.
Minnesota’s defense has thrived this season at home, using the fans to enhance the effectiveness of a disguise-based, aggressive scheme that leads the league with 18 interceptions and has also been adept at rushing the passer and stuffing the run.
“The environment they create up in Minnesota is absolutely outstanding,” Morris said.
Cousins isn’t the only key figure from the Falcons who’s well known to Vikings coaches. Morris was the defensive coordinator in 2021 with the Los Angeles Rams when O’Connell was the offensive coordinator and Phillips was the tight ends coach on that Super Bowl champion team.
Although Atlanta’s slide hasn’t been good for a franchise seeking its first winning record and playoff appearance since the 2017 season, there have been bright spots even in the rough stretch. Falcons running back Bijan Robinson set a career high last week with 26 carries. The second-year pro rushed for 102 yards rushing and was again a significant part of the passing attack with six catches against the Chargers.
“I just do whatever I can to help us as a team,” said Robinson, who’s fifth in the NFL with 1,277 yards from scrimmage. “I just trust whatever they have in the plan.”
Meanwhile, Vikings running back Aaron Jones has fumbled three times in the past two games, losing two of them, but he hasn’t lost the confidence of coaches or teammates — with the proof in the pass called for his go-ahead touchdown catch against the Cardinals.
Family is a strong support system for him, too, but sometimes that means tough love. His mother, Vurgess Jones, let him have it after the game when they talked about the turnovers.
“I was like, ‘I’ve got to learn from it,'” Jones said. “She was like, ‘You didn’t learn last week?'”
He has matched his career high in 2024 with five fumbles and three lost, a fact not lost on an Atlanta defense that’s aggressive with dislodging techniques despite only four recovered fumbles in 12 games.
“You can see it all over the tape: Those guys are coaching it,” Phillips said.
On the other side of the ball for the Vikings, outside linebacker Jonathan Greenard, who was named the NFC defensive player of the month after racking up eight tackles for loss in November, carried his pass-rushing mojo into December with a couple of clutch plays in the final minute to preserve the victory over Arizona. Greenard has 10 of the team’s 39 sacks this year.
“How many times this year has he affected the quarterback, drawn a penalty, sacked the quarterback, strip-sacked like last week in these critical moments where you need your best players to go make those plays?” O’Connell said. “He’s done it time and time again.”