MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Vikings were ready to start their postgame ritual in honor of a ninth consecutive victory before realizing Sam Darnold was still missing from the raucous locker room because he was finishing his interview with the TV broadcasting crew.

He was well worth the wait, on so many levels.

Darnold added another exploit to his career-altering season, passing for a personal-best 377 yards and three touchdowns as the Vikings hung on to beat the Green Bay Packers 27-25 on Sunday and moved tantalizingly close to the NFC’s top seed for the playoffs.

“Just to see how he’s ultimately been able to maximize everything about his opportunity, our football team loves him for it,” coach Kevin O’Connell said. “I’ve had an absolute blast coaching him.”

The Vikings (14-2) set up a final-week showdown in Detroit for both the NFC North title and the first-round-bye-plus-home-field-advantage package that comes with the best record in the conference, finishing 7-1 at U.S. Bank Stadium where their blitz-fueled defense has fed well off the deafening crowd.

“Playing here, our opponents feel that,” said linebacker Blake Cashman, who had a team-leading 11 tackles and 1½ sacks to help keep Packers quarterback Jordan Love from ever finding a rhythm.

Darnold hit Jalen Nailor, Jordan Addison and Cam Akers for scores to raise his passing touchdown total to 35, the fourth-most in NFL history by a player in his debut season with a team.

When Darnold jogged into the locker room after his interview with, of all people, Tom Brady, the seven-time Super Bowl champion and now the lead analyst on Fox, he was doused in water by his teammates and hoisted in the air.

“It was just mayhem,” Darnold said, smiling wide. “I think I blacked out when Aaron Jones grabbed me and lifted me up.” 

“It’s been an unexpected year, supposed to be a building year,” Nusbaum says. “I didn’t know what we were going to get from Darnold, but I couldn’t be happier with the season and fourteen wins.”

Love’s only touchdown pass for the Packers (11-5) came with 2:18 left, a 3-yard toss to Malik Heath that trimmed their deficit to two points and reignited the “Go Pack Go!” chants from the green-clad fans mixed in among the purple in another classic edition of this divisional rivalry.

Despite another fierce climb out of a gaping hole against Minnesota this season, following a 31-29 loss in Green Bay on Sept. 29 that started with a 28-0 deficit, the Packers fell to a troubling 0-5 against the top three teams in the NFC.

“We know what type of team we are,” Love said. “There’s just a lot of stuff to clean up.”

The Packers were swept by the Lions, too, and lost their opener in Brazil to the Eagles.

“I can’t sit up here and say, ‘Yeah, we’re on the same level,’ if we ain’t beat them,” safety Xavier McKinney said. “We’ve got to be more on our details. We’ve got to play cleaner. We’ve got to start faster.”

Josh Jacobs and Emanuel Wilson rushed for second-half touchdowns to fuel the late surge by the Packers after Will Reichard’s second missed field goal of the game for the Vikings with 9:18 remaining prevented them from pushing the lead to 20.

But with the score too close for comfort and the Packers holding all their timeouts before the two-minute warning, O’Connell didn’t hesitate to trust Darnold to win it.

Darnold ran bootlegs for completions for two vital first downs, one to fullback C.J. Ham and one on third-and-2 that Akers snagged just before it hit the turf to force the Packers to use their final timeout. On the play before that, Darnold hit Justin Jefferson in tight coverage for 9 yards on another rollout.

“We can be aggressive, but he’s still going to be a great decision-maker,” O’Connell said. “He’s playing quarterback at a very, very high level.”

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS spoke to fans outside the U.S. Bank Stadium. Spencer Nusbaum, a fan from Maple Grove, said, “[I] Got a little nervous toward the end, but we believe in the Viks, and we’re happy to see them close it out there.”

“It was awesome. We’re 2 and 0 on the Packers this season which is impressive,” added Jeremy Bemis, a Vikings fan from Milwaukee.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS also spoke to Skyler Euclide and Jared Polzin — both from Appleton, Wis., but opposites in the fan spectrum.

“He’s a Vikings fan, and I’m not,” she laughed.

But can there be peaceful co-existence between a couple supporting opposing teams?

“There can be,” Euclide smiled. “With a lot of patience, a lot of patience.”

Each side was predicting victory.

“Cos it’s the Vikings, and look how good we’re doing; we’re going to win our Superbowl, we’re going to win our Superbowl”, said Polzin.

There was a lot of crossover fans — like Khyah Harper, who is from Minnesota but likes the Packers. “My dad grew up in Wisconsin,” she explained. “So, I kind of grew up being a Packer fan.”

The tight win was frustrating for Green Bay fans, though.

“Close game, you know,” explains Scott Nelson. “Unfortunate result, however, similar to the last game. We didn’t bring our best A game in the first half, put us way behind.”

“The Packers really had to get it going earlier, and I’m actually zero and three for Green Bay-Minnesota games here,” adds Bob Prijic. “Maybe bad luck, but we got to hang with family.”

But this night, the bragging rights belong to the Vikings and their fans.

Good company

Darnold went 33 for 43 with one interception as the Vikings ran 70 plays for 441 yards, their second-highest total of the season.

He passed Brett Favre (33, Vikings, 2009) and Vinny Testaverde (33, Ravens, 1996) for fourth place in touchdown passes in a debut season. The third overall pick in the 2018 draft by the Jets trails only Matthew Stafford (41, Rams, 2021), Brady (40, Buccaneers, 2020) and Peyton Manning (37, Broncos, 2012). Stafford and Brady won the Super Bowl those years. Manning is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Injury report

Packers: WR Christian Watson (knee) was inactive. LB Quay Walker (ankle) missed his second straight game and CB Jaire Alexander (knee) was sidelined for the sixth consecutive game and the ninth time this season. … Two backups, FS Zayne Anderson and DE Brenton Cox, entered the concussion protocol during the game and did not return.

Vikings: Jones (quadriceps) was pulled in the fourth quarter as a precaution, O’Connell said. … OLB Patrick Jones (knee) limped off after Packers TE Tucker Kraft delivered a low, diving block that drew loud boos after the replay was shown on the video board but no penalty.

Up next

The Packers host Chicago to finish the regular season next weekend, when the Vikings visit Detroit.

___

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.