Feb. 12, 2026, 9:47 p.m. CT

During his lone season as the Minnesota Vikings‘ starting quarterback, Sam Darnold was exceptional, throwing for 4,319 yards, a 35-to-12 TD-to-INT ratio, and a 66.2% completion percentage. Darnold led the Vikings to a 14-3 record, but fell in the Wild Card to the Los Angeles Rams. While many believed Minnesota would be competitive in keeping Darnold long term, even with J.J. McCarthy in the quarterback room, he would ultimately leave for Seattle, where he would win a Super Bowl in his first year.

This begs the question: could Darnold have won a Super Bowl this year with Minnesota? 

The answer is both not easy and easy. The short answer is yes, this Vikings roster, even with the injuries on both sides of the ball, still managed to rattle off five straight wins to close the year at 9-8. The quarterback play was atrocious this year, and with Darnold at the helm for a second year, there is no reason to believe this couldn’t have been a special team. The team could have gotten much more out of the run game, freeing up Darnold and the weapons this franchise has, making for another stellar year on offense. 

However, the flip side of the coin is can we trust that Sam Darnold wasn’t going to have a similar playoff meltdown as he did in 2024? In that Wild Card game, he threw for 245 yards on 40 attempts, one interception, and was sacked nine times. I think a change of environment matters, and the belief from his front office in Seattle instilled confidence in him that changed his self-belief. During his playoff run leading up to the Super Bowl, Darnold played very well. While he did not have his best showing on Sunday, he still played at a level well above Drake Maye’s, showing his growth since the playoff catastrophe in 2024. 

Hindsight may be 20/20, but the decision to let Darnold walk in free agency last offseason has set the franchise back a number of years, as they now have to watch the Seahawks be the favorites in the NFC for years to come, while Minnesota is stuck figuring out its quarterback situation. 

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