GLENDALE, Ariz. — In a playoff game that was moved from SoFi Stadium because of the wildfires in Southern California, the Los Angeles Rams beat the Minnesota Vikings 27-9 on Monday night to advance to the divisional round.
It was an impressive performance for a young defense that has taken a giant step forward since the start of the season, which included a 41-10 drubbing at State Farm Stadium against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 2.
But on Monday night, the Rams got to Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold early and often, and Defensive Rookie of the Year candidate Jared Verse recovered a fumble and ran it in for a touchdown to give Los Angeles a 17-3 lead in the second quarter.
Darnold took a total of nine sacks on the night — tying an NFL playoff record — and Minnesota’s offense failed to gain much momentum.
The Rams’ playoff victory — their first since winning Super Bowl LVI during the 2021 season — came as players and coaches wore Los Angeles Fire Department hats and shirts on the sideline to honor the first responders fighting the fires in Los Angeles.
Next comes the divisional round of the playoffs, where the Rams will travel to Philadelphia to play the Eagles on Sunday.
Here are the most important things to know for both teams:
QB breakdown: Matthew Stafford completed 19 of 27 passes for 209 yards with two touchdowns and was sacked twice. He completed 12 passes for 113 yards and two touchdowns to running backs and tight ends. According to ESPN Research, that is his most such yards and passing touchdowns in a game this season.
Most surprising performance: The Rams’ hot start on offense. Los Angeles struggled to score early all season, but that wasn’t the case on Monday night as the Rams scored a touchdown on their opening drive for just the third time this season, according to ESPN Research. It was a seven-play, 70-yard drive. Stafford was 6-for-6 for 64 yards, including a 5-yard touchdown pass to running back Kyren Williams.
Pivotal play: Early in the second quarter, Stafford was hit by Vikings outside linebacker Jonathan Greenard. The play was initially ruled a fumble and a Vikings touchdown after Blake Cashman’s scoop and score. That would have tied the game at 10 pending an extra point, but the call was reversed to an incomplete pass, and the Rams kept the ball.
Describe the game in two words: Sack attack. The Rams sacked Darnold nine times, tying an NFL playoff record. Darnold was sacked six times in the first half, the most in any half in any game of his career. According to ESPN Research, the last team with six sacks in the first half of a playoff game was Washington in the January 1988 NFC Championship Game against Minnesota. — Sarah Barshop
Next game: at Eagles (Sunday, 3 p.m. ET)
The Vikings’ dream season came crashing down in their final — and most important — two games of the year. Now they’ll have the offseason to figure out why — and what to do about it.
At the center of the discussion will be Darnold, who put up a second consecutive shaky performance after seeming to resurrect his career during a magical regular season. He struggled Monday night to make decisions in the pocket, ultimately taking six sacks in the first half alone after holding the ball an average of 4.52 seconds on those dropbacks, per NFL Next Gen Stats. He lost a fumble on one of those sacks, which Rams linebacker Jared Verse returned for a touchdown, and he also threw an interception in the first half.
That outing came one week after he completed only 18 of 41 passes in a 31-9 loss to the Detroit Lions in Week 18, a game in which he misfired on at least three potential touchdown opportunities.
Darnold threw for 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns during the regular season, prompting the Vikings to consider whether they should bring him back next season and delay the coronation of rookie J.J. McCarthy. But the final two games of this season could make that discussion moot.
Eye-popping stat: In a testament to the struggles of Darnold — and the rest of the offense — the Vikings went 21 consecutive drives without a touchdown before tight end T.J. Hockenson scored on a 26-yard reception in the third quarter. The streak, dating back to their Week 17 victory over the Green Bay Packers, was their longest since coach Kevin O’Connell arrived to start the 2022 season.
Most surprising performance: O’Connell’s lack of adjustments. He has expressed extreme trust in Darnold throughout the season and said once again last week that he was confident Darnold would rebound from his performance in Detroit. But O’Connell had no substantive adjustments on hand if Darnold came up short. He made Daniel Jones his No. 3 quarterback, meaning he wasn’t eligible to replace Darnold for performance reasons, and O’Connell continued calling pass plays that left Darnold frazzled against a Rams pass rush that recorded sacks on six of the nine pressures it got in that first half.
Biggest hole in the game plan: After failing to get much pressure on Stafford in the teams’ regular-season matchup, the Vikings blitzed him on four of his first six dropbacks during the opening possession of Monday night’s game. It didn’t work. Stafford diced through those blitzes, marching the Rams on a touchdown drive that set the tone for the entire game. — Kevin Seifert
