INGLEWOOD, CALIF. – For the second time in five days, the Vikings lost to a NFC team that made the playoffs a year ago. Their 30-20 loss to the Rams on Thursday night, Minnesota’s seventh straight loss in West Coast night games, came with issues that are becoming themes after they fell to the Lions, and it might have come with a major loss on the offensive line.
Vikings fall to Rams 30-20 as Matthew Stafford picks apart the defense
The Vikings lost for the second time in five days to drop to 5-2 on the season as the Rams quarterback threw four TD passes.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
October 25, 2024 at 3:39AM
What appeared initially to be a chance for the Vikings to reassert themselves after their first loss of the season on Sunday turned instead into a second straight loss. The Rams finished two drives for touchdowns in the second half, pulling ahead of the Vikings as their two scoring drives stalled in the red zone and ended with field goals.
The Vikings played the second half without left tackle Christian Darrisaw, who went down grabbing his left knee at the end of the first half. Darrisaw did not need to be carted off the field, but did not re-emerge from the locker room after halftime.
Quarterback Matthew Stafford, who’d won a Super Bowl three years ago with Kevin O’Connell as his offensive coordinator and showed up on MVP ballots last year, was intercepted once by Byron Murphy Jr. (who also caught up to Stafford’s throw for Tutu Atwell to save a touchdown). Otherwise, Stafford reaped dividends from testing the Vikings’ secondary, mixing downfield shots with intermediate throws to the middle of the field.
He completed 12 of his 16 passes for 174 yards in the second half, beating the Vikings’ man coverage for a 25-yard touchdown to Demarcus Robinson on a play where Shaq Griffin was flagged for pass interference. Stafford later found Robinson for another 10-yard score in the fourth quarter.
Stafford finished 25 of 34 for 279 yards and four touchdowns and wasn’t sacked. Puka Nacua, who returned to the lineup for the first time since suffering a knee injury in Week 1, caught seven passes for 106 yards.
The Vikings got the ball first after the Rams won the coin toss and decided to defer, and started the game in clinical fashion.
Quarterback Sam Darnold went 8 of 8 for 97 yards and two touchdowns in the first quarter, hitting Josh Oliver and Trent Sherfield Sr. for scores after the Vikings otherwise leaned on Justin Jefferson and Aaron Jones to gain a 14-7 lead.
Jefferson and Jones touched the ball on 13 of the Vikings’ 18 first-quarter plays; the Vikings came out confident they could move the ball on the Rams’ 30th-ranked run defense, while Darnold found Jefferson with several darts off play action. On a 17-yard completion that set up the Vikings’ first touchdown, Jefferson was the third read on the backside of the play, and Darnold found him over the middle as the Vikings’ offensive line gave him plenty of time.
But after the Lions had attacked the middle of the field with Vikings linebacker Blake Cashman out because of turf toe on Sunday, the Rams also went after Minnesota’s linebackers in pass coverage early. It was slightly reminiscent of the Rams’ 38-31 win over the Vikings on a Thursday night in 2018, when Sean McVay picked on Anthony Barr in coverage. On Thursday, it was Ivan Pace Jr. who got beat on an angle route from Kyren Williams for the Rams’ first score after he was flagged for a face mask.
Stafford’s mobility, which burned the Vikings at times during his days with Detroit, led to the Rams’ game-tying score early in the second quarter. It appeared the Vikings had him dead to rights when he slipped past a spin move from Jonathan Greenard, ducked a tackle attempt from Harrison Phillips and popped up in time to hit Cooper Kupp, who like Nacua was also activated for the game, for a 7-yard TD. It was the second of four Rams drives that covered 70 yards; they were helped by Murphy Jr.’s third-down holding penalty and got another first down on Stephon Gilmore’s third-down pass interference penalty against Kupp.
O’Connell decided not to take a knee on the last drive of the half, trying to put together a scoring drive with 43 seconds and three timeouts after a Rams punt and a holding penalty started the Vikings at their own 3. After one play, the decision became costly.
On Jones’ first-down run, Darrisaw was still engaged with a pass rusher while Rams safety Jaylen McCollough rolled over the back of his leg. Darrisaw was helped off by Tyler Williams, team vice president of player health and performance, and team doctor Chris Larson. Darrisaw was ruled out with a knee injury after halftime.
Darnold kneeled out the half, on the Vikings’ eighth play of a second quarter where they netted just 6 yards after gaining 140 in the first quarter.
The Rams were starting to get pressure on Darnold before Darrisaw’s injury, and their pass rush affected the game more in the second half. They hit Darnold four times in the first 25 minutes of the second half, sacking him for a 13-yard loss when he tried to spin away from pressure and forcing a Vikings punt.
The Vikings would get the ball back at their own 5 with less than two minutes to go and no timeouts. On their first play, Darnold threw incomplete downfield for Jordan Addison while the Rams declined an illegal formation penalty on Justin Jefferson. On the second play, Byron Young tackled Darnold by his facemask, twisting the quarterback’s helmet around as he took him down in the end zone.
Young put his hands on his head in shame after the tackle, expecting a 15-yard penalty for grabbing Darnold’s facemask. But none came, as referee Tra Blake’s crew signaled for a safety, making the score 30-20, and the Rams were able to kneel out the clock.
The Rams offense got healthy while the Vikings suffered a big injury to their offensive line in another penalty-filled game.
