On Sun, Nov 30, the Minnesota Vikings took on the Seattle Seahawks, who were coming in at 8-3 with Sam Darnold as their QB. An almost similar record through nine games in his only season in Minnesota(9-2), Darnold was coming off a great offensive performance against the Tennessee Titans and looked to do well against his old team in helping his current team’s odds of making the playoffs. As for the Vikings, they would be without J.J McCarthy for this game as the struggling young QB was out with a concussion that he suffered in the fourth quarter of the Week 12 game against the Green Bay Packers. So, Max Brosmer took all the first-team reps as McCarthy was ruled out for this game in Seattle. Brosmer had previous appearances in games in Weeks 3 and 8, with him being the first starting quarterback to be an alumnus from the University of Minnesota in NFL history. This game was a rematch of a Week 16 matchup that the Vikings won by a score of 27-24 last season when Darnold was the starting QB. That was the 13th win of the season for Minnesota and usually that many wins gives you a division title. But unfortunately the Vikings did not win the NFC North and Darnold ended up losing in a Wild Card game against the Los Angeles Rams. Despite having a chance to franchise-tag him and keep him as a backup behind McCarthy, the Vikings did not re-sign Darnold and decided to bank on the redshirt QB with far less years of experience. Now, Darnold would have a chance to beat the team whom he had a career resurrection with and help clinch a “winning season” for his new team.

For the Vikings, they were without both of their starters on the left side of the offensive line as Christian Darrisaw was ruled out with a foot and knee injury right before kickoff in joining Donovan Jackson with an ankle injury on the inactive list. Some good news was that Jonathan Greenard was back after missing two straight games with a shoulder injury, making the defensive pass rush more dangerous. Brian Flores was definitely going to bring the blitz on Darnold on a lot of play calls in this game. This was potentially a last chance for the Vikings to keep their very slim playoff chances alive in a top-tiered NFC, as the other three teams in the division played on Thanksgiving and Black Friday. The Green Bay Packers beat the Detroit Lions for the second time this season, while the Chicago Bears got an amazing road win over the Philadelphia Eagles to remain in first in the NFC North. Being light years away from the division lead and a potential Wild Card was a rough predicament to deal with for Minnesota, which is usually in the thick of the playoff hunt through 12 weeks in a season for this past decade of seasons. If they somehow pulled off this road win, the Vikings could at least be a couple of games back of the teams closest to the Wild Card spots. Let’s see how this Week 13 game played out.

The Vikings received the ball to start out the game, meaning that Brosmer would get a chance to show what he had been working on for his first real action in an NFL game. After the kickoff return by Myles Price, Aaron Jones carried the ball for four yards and then he caught a short pass from Brosmer that went for no gain. On third down, Brosmer got sacked but there was a flag on the field for defensive holding on Seattle cornerback Josh Jobe. A good-luck foul gave the Vikings a first down at their 42-yard line. Jones had a short one-yard run and then made another catch from Brosmer, but he advanced six yards this time. On third down, Brosmer dropped back to pass but got sacked by Leonard Williams and this time there was no flag to bail him out. The ensuing punt by Ryan Wright was caught by Rasheed Shaheed(who was acquired via a trade from the New Orleans Saints) at the four-yard line, with some unfavorable field position for Sam Darnold’s first drive of the day.

Before getting into this offensive drive, a comparison between the offensive assets Darnold had to work with in Minnesota in 2024 and who he has currently as his skill players in Seattle must be examined. Darnold had Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison and Jalen Nailor as his main wideouts for the Vikings, while with the Seahawks his main targets are Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Cooper Kupp. At running back, Darnold had Aaron Jones and a couple other runners to rely on in Minnesota, but in Seattle he has a 1-2 punch of Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet to hand off the ball to. At tight end, Darnold had T.J Hockenson, Josh Oliver and the offseason-departed Johnny Mundt on the Vikings, whereas for the Seahawks he has A.J Barner and Elijah Arroyo as his tight ends. As for the offensive line makeup, it’s really hard to compare with offseason changes and in-season shifts, but in spite of 14 turnovers(10 INT, four fumbles lost) entering Week 13, Darnold has continued to keep his offensive numbers near the levels that he had as a Viking with some improvements at QBR and completion percentage.

The opening drive for Seattle started with Darnold finding Walker for a first down pass of seven yards, then a tight-end tush push by Barner garnered another first down. Darnold threw a couple of incomplete passes as he felt the pressure from early blitzes by the Brian Flores defense. A run for a one-yard loss by Walker was followed by a sack of Darnold by Eric Wilson, who was doing a great job putting pressure on a passer that he was never teammates with. The Seahawks’ punting unit came on and Michael Dickson delivered a good boot of 56 yards that was downed at the Vikings’ 13-yard line.

The next drive for Minnesota started with a Brosmer short pass to Jones that gained 13 yards and a first down. A short run by Jones was followed by a Brosmer pass to Addison that was incomplete due to Addison being unable to catch the ball with his hands. On third down, Brosmer found Addison again and the ball was caught, but Addison was short of the line to gain. Another good punt by Wright had the Seattle offense start inside their 20-yard line. A three-and-out drive occurred as Darnold was pressured again and had to scramble outside the pocket while throwing a couple of incomplete passes. The Vikings had a holding penalty on the ensuing punt and were backed up ten yards from the fair catch spot by Price. Subsequently, Brosmer threw two incomplete passes to Addison that led to a three-and-out for the Vikings. This was a low-scoring game early on without a doubt. The first quarter ended with a Darnold pass on third down to Barner for 11 yards and a first down near midfield.

The second quarter started with a Darnold pass to Kupp for six yards and after that play, Darnold got sacked on the next one by Dallas Turner, who also forced the ball out as a strip sack. The ball was loose and somehow it was recovered by Kupp. The Vikings’ defense had a golden opportunity for an early turnover and couldn’t grab hold of the ball. The next play made them regret that, as on third down Darnold found receiver Cody White for a short pass and White ran all the way for a 21-yard gain into Minnesota territory. A big first down there as a couple of carries by Charbonnet gave Seattle another first down at the 20-yard line. The Seahawks achieved another first down on a five-yard run by Charbonnet and then a couple of good tackles on him by Turner and Wilson occurred. On third and goal, Darnold stepped back to pass but he got sacked by Andrew Van Ginkel. Having three sacks on Darnold early on was good for the defense, but Seattle got three points on a made 33-yard field goal by Jason Myers.

The next Vikings’ drive at least produced a first down as Brosmer found Hockenson for a 13-yard gain to start out the drive. But then Brosmer threw two incomplete passes to Jefferson along with a five-yard gain to Addison paired in between those incompletions. Another punt ensued as another Minnesota drive failed to go into opposing territory. But on the first play of the next Seahawks’ drive, an awesome thing happened as Turner got to Darnold again and forced the ball out on a strip sack. This time the Vikings got the ball as Jalen Redmond landed on the pigskin at the 13-yard line of Seattle. This had touchdown or points off a fumble written all over for the Vikings’ offense. But the red zone has been a weak spot for this team all season long, no matter who the QB has been. Last week, Minnesota had bad playcalling from Kevin O’Connell in their only red zone sequence in Green Bay and a failed fourth and short conversion came back to haunt them as they didn’t score a single touchdown in that game. This drive had to have a different result to give the Vikings much needed confidence and a lead.

The first play was a short one as Jones only got one yard running behind a weak offensive line. On second down, Brosmer passed the ball to Hockenson for a measly gain of three yards. On third down, Brosmer threw a short pass to Addison, who caught the ball and got both feet in bounds but was ruled a little short of the line to gain. On fourth down, O’Connell kept the offense on the field in spite of a logical decision to take a chip shot field goal by Will Reichard. The “analytics” would say to any coach in a fourth and short decision within the red zone to go for it. So, the offense got into formation and C.J Ham was in the backfield along with Jordan Mason. Instead of handing the ball off to run one yard for the first down, Brosmer dropped back to pass but was immediately pressured by DeMarcus Lawrence, who grabbed ahold of Brosmer’s feet eventually. Instead of surrendering and going down for the sack to end the drive, Brosmer desperately chucked the ball forward in an underhand motion and the ball was intercepted by linebacker Ernest Jones IV, who ran back with it all the way to the other end zone for an 87-yard interception return touchdown for the Seahawks. It was a devastating play that basically drained the spirit out of the Vikings early in the game. Brosmer could not have made a more boneheaded, senseless play that led to a massive point swing. The defense was doing such a good job early on and after forcing a strip sack on the “bridge QB” from last season and the O’Connell-coordinated offense totally blew it. The PAT by Myers was good and Seattle had a 10-0 lead with their third defensive TD in their last two home games at Lumen Field.

With the interception being returned for a touchdown, Brosmer had the benefit of returning onto the field right away instead of ruing his mistake on the bench. The drive started with a two-yard run by Mason, then before second down Ryan Kelly was called for a false start. On the ensuing play, Brosmer threw a short pass to Mason, who lost control of the ball and then recovered it. The two-minute warning came and on third down, Brosmer got sacked by Lawrence for a loss of six yards. Oddly enough, Mike MacDonald did not call a timeout to preserve time for his team’s offense. The clock ran down and Wright punted the ball 50 yards and Shaheed caught it, then had a solid return to his team’s 45-yard line. With less than a minute left, the Seahawks were looking for a score before the end of the half and a solid run by Charbonnet for nine yards got them into Vikings’ territory. After a Darnold incomplete pass towards Smith-Njigba stopped the clock, on third and short Charbonnet ran for a first down and Seattle called timeout with 23 seconds left. On the next play, Darnold passed it to Shaheed for a gain of seven yards out of bounds. Darnold then threw two consecutive incomplete passes on second and third downs, leading to the Seattle field goal unit coming out to have Myers attempt a long kick from 56 yards out. Myers made the kick and the Seahawks would hold a 13-0 lead at halftime.

The Vikings were struggling big time offensively in having a drought of six quarters without a touchdown and only six points had been scored in that period. Max Brosmer was having a hard time completing any passes and getting a rhythm. The running game wasn’t doing him any favors due to the lack of run blocking against the strong Seattle defense. Speaking of defense, the Brian Flores defense was playing very well and did well to force a couple of fumbles, including one that was recovered in the red zone. And yet Brosmer literally threw the ball away on fourth and goal. A bad play call by O’Connell regardless, but still an even worse decision by Brosmer to throw the ball underhanded in thinking that an eligible receiver would come back to potentially catch it. Ernest Jones read that perfectly and sprinted with it for the pick-6. Something had to change or else this would be an even more nasty game than the one at Lambeau Field was.

The Seahawks would start the second half with the ball and their drive started from the 20-yard line, where Kenneth Walker had a strong run of 24 yards to start things out swell for Seattle. After a couple of inefficient plays involving Walker, the Seahawks got a free play on third down that was an incomplete pass by Darnold but an offsides foul on Jonathan Allen gave them a second chance. The third and short play was a Darnold pass to Walker for four yards and a first down. A five-yard run by Walker and an incomplete pass to him that was deflected by Turner forced a third down. Jonathan Greenard would make a dumb mistake in running unabated to Darnold and the five-yard penalty made this a one-yard margin on the down. Darnold threw an incomplete pass towards Elijah Arroyo, and on fourth and short a shocking thing happened. Something that used to be more common when analytical thinking and offensive playcalling greed didn’t dominate the NFL. The field goal unit for Seattle came onto the field and Myers attempted a 54-yard field goal, which he made to give the Seahawks a 16-0 lead. Having a good kicker and playing against an offense with a backup QB with no starting experience in the professional ranks prompted that decision from Mike MacDonald, who in his second year as a head coach looked more like a throwback coach in overseeing an offense that has the lowest rate of going for it on fourth down of any team in the league so far this season.

The ensuing kickoff for the Vikings was returned to the 32-yard line by Myles Price and a big deep pass by Brosmer to Hockenson gave the Vikings a first down in Seattle territory. But a run by Jones that went for a loss of four yards and a Brosmer incomplete pass to Jefferson made this a third and long situation. On third down, Brosmer dumped the ball off to Jones, who tried to pick up enough yards to get into comfortable field goal position for Reichard. But from behind him, Jones got hit hard by Lawrence, who forced the ball out of his grip and the fumble was recovered by a Seahawks safety named Ty Okada. Another turnover was another nail in the coffin for Minnesota’s offensive momentum in this game.

On the next possession for Seattle, Darnold completed a couple of passes to Barner to get into Vikings’ territory and a couple of defensive fouls got them into more comfortable range. The defense held its ground and forced the Seahawks into another kicking situation, where Myers made another kick for his fourth made field goal of the day to push the lead to 19-0. With only a few minutes in the third quarter, the Vikings were simply looking not to be shut out for a fifth straight quarter dating back to last week. A good completion by Brosmer to Hockenson for six yards picked up a first down and another first down was picked up after Seattle safety Nick Enmanwori body-slammed Jefferson to the turf after tackling him for a loss of four yards. The unnecessary roughness foul put the Vikings back into Seattle territory, but Brosmer made another critical error as he airmailed a pass to Nailor that was intercepted by cornerback Coby Bryant. The third turnover of the game and the second interception thrown by Brosmer, who continued the trend of multiple interceptions thrown by Vikings’ QBs for four straight weeks. The game went into the fourth quarter after Darnold completed a solid 17-yard pass to Smith-Njigba. The Vikings actually forced a punt that went into the end zone for a touchback. Time was running short for the offense in trying to make something good happen.

On the second play of the next drive, Brosmer threw a pass to Jefferson that was deflected by Josh Jobe and intercepted by Ernest Jones, who had his second interception of the game. Brosmer had three interceptions in joining a group of Vikings’ QBs who have achieved that ghastly stat over the past few seasons. Ironically in that group is Sam Darnold, who threw three picks in a nasty Week 10 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars last season that the Vikings ironically won by a score of 12-7. The Seahawks actually went for it on fourth and short on the drive and Darnold passed the ball to Barner for a short two-yard gain and a first down. A couple of plays later, Charbonnet ran the ball into the end zone for a massive 17-yard touchdown. The first offensive score of the day for Seattle basically put a bow on this game, although there was one last mistake by Brosmer in throwing his fourth interception of the game, which was ironically fumbled by Tariq Woolen and recovered by Nailor, who stood in the way of Woolen. The reset of downs didn’t do much to help Minnesota though as the ensuing drive was a turnover on downs.

In the end, the Vikings lost 26-0 in being shut out for the first time since the 2007 season(a 305-game streak ending right there) and having another embarrassing performance. Looking all the part like a last place team, Minnesota is now 4-8 and their playoff hopes are virtually dead at this point. Max Brosmer had an uninspiring line of 19-30 passing for 126 passing yards and four interceptions thrown. His main targets were T.J Hockenson and Jordan Addison as Jefferson only had two catches for four yards on six targets. J.J McCarthy might have been in a rough stretch before his concussion, but even he could do better to get Jefferson the ball. Making matters worse were a couple of extra injuries on the offensive end for the Vikings, as Aaron Jones was hurt on that play when he fumbled the ball with his shoulder being banged up again. That injury forced him to miss four games earlier this season and should he miss more time, Jordan Mason will be the main running back. But the running game suffered due to a lack of offensive line blocking and that problem might worsen if Ryan Kelly misses any time with a hip flexor injury he suffered in the second half. The only bright spots from this game were the spirit that the defense played with in not allowing a passing touchdown by Sam Darnold, who anticipated that Brian Flores would bring an aggressive blitz package his way. Completing 14 of 26 passes for 128 yards(almost the same amount as Brosmer), while getting sacked four times and having no scrambling attempts, Darnold was flustered but he at least had a good running game to lean on. Also, the special teams unit didn’t make any mistakes, which wasn’t hard to do considering the lack of opportunities for punt returns and no field goals attempted in this game. It was all on the offense and Kevin O’Connell will need to go back to the drawing board big time.

For the final five weeks of the regular season, the Vikings will play two teams with bad records similar to their own, including the Washington Commanders at home next week. The Commanders are 3-9 and have struggled offensively while their star quarterback Jayden Daniels has been out with a couple of different injuries this season. Three straight games against NFC East opponents will begin starting next week, with the hardest of those games being a road game in Week 15 against the Dallas Cowboys, who are on a three-game winning streak and are seeking to sneak into the playoffs in the NFC. Whether McCarthy is back for next week or not is currently unclear, but he needs more in-game reps to potentially improve his offensive stats and game tape. J.J will at least have a shot to look better than Brosmer did on Sunday and that is an extremely low bar for him to meet or pass over. One thing is for sure- this 2025 season might be one of the most disappointing ones in Minnesota Vikings history. More embarrassing losses like this shutout in Seattle will only enrage the fan base and force ownership to make some tough decisions. For now, five games remain and this team is likely to finish in last place in one of the strongest divisions in the league this season. There might be nothing the Vikings can do to change that fate at this point. At least Darnold didn’t light the world on fire against them. He didn’t need to and the way the Vikings’ offense looked showed exactly why he didn’t.