Souhan: For Darnold’s next challenge, it’s all about sustaining success

Sam Darnold is a good starter.

If you’re looking for clues as to how his first season with the Vikings will progress, start with this: For all of the problems he’s had in his career, Darnold is usually at his best when he debuts with a new team.

That was the case on Sunday, when he was accurate and efficient in the Vikings’ 28-6 victory over the Giants.

He made big plays. He made only one obvious, costly, mistake, and he was relieved to discover that mistakes against the Giants aren’t all that costly.

If you wanted to make any judgments based on one game, you would conclude that Darnold is talented, can read a defense, and is benefiting from working with a strong group of offensive coaches and a great receiver in Justin Jefferson.

As always, context and history complicate snap judgements.

Interestingly, or strangely, Darnold is often at his best in debuts.

He has been the quarterback of record in 57 games. He has produced a passer rating of 100 or better 13 times. Five of those 13 occasions occurred during his first start of a season, and three occurred during his first start with a franchise.

He is 3-0 when debuting with a franchise. He is 19-35 otherwise.

As a rookie, he debuted with the Jets with a 116.8 passer rating in a 48-17 victory over Detroit in 2018.

In 2021, he made his first start for Carolina and had a rating of 102.0 in a 19-14 victory over the Jets.

On Sunday, he made his first start for the Vikings and had a rating of 113.2 in the Vikings victory over the Giants.

Conclusion? Maybe that Darnold seems to like having lots of time to prepare.

Two of his other 100-plus rating performances occurred after he was injured or on the bench.

In 2019, he and the Jets lost the opener. He missed the next three weeks with an injury, then produced a rating of 113.8 in a 24-22 victory over Dallas.

After losing the starting job in Carolina in 2021, he rode the bench for most of the 2022 season. When called upon for his first start that season, he produced a 103.8 rating in a 23-10 victory over Denver.

If there is a common denominator among great NFL quarterbacks, it is the ability to solve problems presented by defensive coordinators week after week.

Darnold has proved capable of succeeding a few starts or a month at a time. This season may be his last opportunity to prove that he has staying power.

As a rookie, he was 3-3 in his first seven starts. He remained the starter all season and the Jets finished 4-12.

In 2019, Darnold was the Jets’ ray of hope. He went 7-6 as a starter; the Jets losing all three of the games he missed with an injury kept them out of the playoffs.

He couldn’t translate that relative success into longevity, losing his first nine starts in 2020, his last year with the Jets.

In 2021, he won his first three starts with Carolina, The Panthers would finish 5-12.

In 2022, he went 4-2 as a starter, after the Panthers were out of contention.

He made one start last year with San Francisco, compiling a 96.5 rating in a 21-20 loss to the Rams during the last week of the regular season.

Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell, when asked on Monday whether spending last year in San Francisco as a backup helped Darnold, said: “This week, it’ll be his first real feel of coming off a game with soreness [this season]. You know, obviously the mental fatigue that you can sometimes feel at the quarterback position coming off a Sunday, right along with and beside that soreness, you’re feeling that, as well. Now you’ve got to click right back in and turn the page and move on.”

Can Darnold start and finish a season well? That will tell the story of the 2024 Vikings.