Vikings Air It Out

Up 42-21 on the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, the Vikings had pulled most of their starters for Kirk Cousins’ final series in his return to Minnesota. Brian Asamoah II was flagged for offside on a first-and-15 play in which Cousins hit Kyle Pitts for a gain of 6 yards with 2:33 left.

The crowd of 67,008 — the second-largest in U.S. Bank Stadium’s nine seasons — crescendoed for reasons that had nothing to do with the penalty. The stadium’s video operators showed the NFL statistical leaders for the day, with Sam Darnold at the top of the league in passing yards and Jordan Addison and Justin Jefferson running 1-2 in receiving yards.

Cameras cut to shots of Darnold, then Jefferson and Addison, giving all three their curtain calls as coach Kevin O’Connell looked up at the video board and tried to stifle a smile. Jefferson stood on the Vikings’ bench, his head nodding and his grills gleaming with a wide smile, as Darnold turned to the crowd and whipped his towel overhead like Larry Bird in a playoff game.

Cousins handed off to Bijan Robinson on the next play, the clock ticked down toward the two-minute warning, and the revelry turned to “M-V-P” chants for Darnold.

“That was a lot of emotion for me,” said Darnold, who was 22-for-28 for 347 yards in what was a 42-21 Vikings victory that extended their winning streak to six. “I was just excited, man. I feel like I couldn’t just sit there, kind of stoic and straight-faced. I feel like I had to show a little bit of emotion for the fans and give them what they wanted. So that was a special moment for me.”

Who would have predicted it? Would the Vikings, even in their rosiest projections, have envisioned a scenario in which Darnold, the quarterback they had signed to a one-year deal hours after Cousins had left for Atlanta, was the central figure in the most celebratory moment of the season?

“That was one of the coolest end-of-game environments in a stadium I’ve been in,” right tackle Brian O’Neill said. “Looking around, everybody’s having a good time. It was cool.”