Dane Mizutani: Vikings need to consider a future with Sam Darnold

There’s something special happening in Minnesota right now with veteran quarterback Sam Darnold. It has gotten to the point that the Vikings need to start considering a future with him at the forefront.

That’s how impressive Darnold has been as he rewrites the narrative on his career.

The latest signature moment for Darnold came on Sunday afternoon at Lumen Field in Seattle, where he led the Vikings to a thrilling 27-24 win over the Seahawks.

After leading for most of the game, the Vikings found themselves trailing with with 4 minutes, 21 seconds left on the clock.

There was no flinch from Darnold as he stepped into the huddle in a hostile road environment.

He completed a short pass to Justin Jefferson to get the ball rolling, then used his legs to move the chains after momentarily losing contact with head coach Kevin O’Connell due to some technological issues on the sideline.

“My headset went out,” O’Connell said. “The last part he heard was the formation.”

There was no panic from Darnold as he got everybody on the same page at the line of scrimmage.

“Just called a play and did my best to make it work,” he explained. “I felt a little bit of room on the left side and was able to scramble out for a solid gain.”

The mental fortitude he displayed during that sequence was completely overshadowed a few plays later when Darnold climbed the pocket and delivered a perfectly placed ball to Jefferson for a touchdown that proved to be the difference.

“I felt like I just needed to give him a shot,” Darnold said. “I put it on his back hip and let him do the rest.”

That simple explanation doesn’t come close to summing up the degree of difficultly when looking back on the play itself. Only a handful of players in the NFL are capable of making a throw like that while under pressure. The list includes stars such as Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes, Buffalo’s Josh Allen and Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson.

The fact that Darnold is being mentioned in the same sentence with those quarterbacks is why the Vikings suddenly have a tough decision on their hands.

After signing Darnold to a 1-year, $10 million contract with the understanding that he would be a bridge to rookie quarterback J.J. McCarthy, the Vikings would be wise to start thinking about altering their plans. The calculus has changed because the Super Bowl window has opened.

Why would the Vikings go out of their way to close it on themselves?

“We’re coming together,” Jefferson said. “We’re finding different ways to overcome adversity every single game.”

That’s largely because Darnold has been playing quarterback at an elite level. The growth he has displayed this season has him looking more and more like somebody worth building around.

Those saying this is a fluke season simply haven’t been paying attention. Darnold was the No. 3 pick in the 2018 draft for a reason. He has always possessed generational talent, despite his struggles with the New York Jets and Carolina Panthers.

All he needed was a support system to help unlock his true potential.

That’s exactly what Darnold has found in his current situation, and in return, the Vikings might have serendipitously found somebody who can take them to places the franchise hasn’t been since their last Super Bowl appearance in the 1976 season.

There’s no sense in romanticizing what McCarthy could become down the road, not when Darnold has the guided the Vikings to a 13-2 record and helped turn them into a legitimate Super Bowl contender.

You can’t let somebody like that walk out the door.