Sports
Sam Darnold coming up short in loss to Rams has major implications for Vikings’ future at QB
GLENDALE, Ariz. — The look on Zygi Wilf’s face said it all. It was as if the Minnesota Vikings owner and chairman had just watched a horror movie with a gutting ending. He exited the locker room, stood for a few seconds and stared blankly at the crowd of people in front of him. His son, Jonathan, pointed him toward a long hallway. And off he went slowly into another offseason.
How did this end so abruptly? How did a 14-win Vikings team oscillate so quickly from being a potential No. 1 seed to losing in the wild-card round? Wilf’s mind turned with questions such as these.
None of them, though, were as confounding as this one: What happened to quarterback Sam Darnold?
Two weeks ago, Darnold’s Vikings teammates were dousing him with water bottles as part of a locker-room celebration following a win at U.S. Bank Stadium. Now, here they were Monday night at State Farm Stadium, zipping up their suitcases and heading for the buses after a brutal 27-9 loss to the underdog Los Angeles Rams.
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The dichotomy between the two scenes was as stark as it was disorienting. In the first snapshot, the 27-year-old Darnold seemed to have completed a career transformation and galvanized an organization in the process. In the second, it felt fair to wonder how much of Darnold’s impressive play this season was a mirage.
“I think it’s very important we all think about Sam’s body of work,” Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell said postgame. “It did not work out in the end, and I think Sam would be the first one to tell you (he could have played better).”
After a loss like this one, there are typically multiple culprits. The offensive line is another obvious one for Minnesota. The Rams sacked Darnold nine times, tying an NFL playoff record. Furthermore, 12 Rams defenders generated at least one pressure, according to Next Gen Stats, their most in a game since Week 6 in 2021.
Hoecht throws up the “LA” after the Rams latest sack
📺: #MINvsLAR on ESPN/ABC
📱: Stream on @NFLPlus and ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/iWM1Pofp0U— NFL (@NFL) January 14, 2025
Allocating cap space and draft capital to interior offensive linemen will be a priority this offseason. O’Connell suggested as much Monday night.
Still, that concern pales in comparison to the importance of what happens at quarterback — and what that means for everything else — which is why Darnold’s drop-off over the last two weeks is so jarring.
After playing well enough over the first 16 games to lead the Vikings to a 14-2 record and legitimately be in the conversation for NFL MVP, Darnold struggled mightily in the regular-season finale, a 31-9 loss in Detroit. Against the Lions, he completed just 18 of 41 passes for 166 yards, posting his third-worst passer rating (55.5) and his highest bad-throw percentage of the season (34.2).
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Did Vikings’ struggles against Lions show a blueprint for how to slow down Sam Darnold?
Those troubles continued against the Rams. His numbers — 25-for-40 passing for 245 yards, a touchdown and an interception — belied Darnold’s level of comfort. He misplaced multiple throws. Darnold, who so often this season had been pinpoint accurate, threw behind his receivers. He spun out of the pocket but failed to get the ball off. His eyes often scanned from right to left too quickly. His feet swiveled back and forth constantly. He tried to evade pass rushers, who engulfed him almost every time.
Darnold’s system malfunctioned in almost every regard. When it wasn’t his vision, it was his footwork. When it wasn’t his vision or his footwork, it was his arm.
“Left too many throws out there that I would usually make,” he said afterward.
Had he said that earlier in his career in New York or Carolina, some might have laughed. But this season, while entrusted in O’Connell’s scheme and developmental process, he proved over a meaningful sample size that he could progress in rhythm, deliver the football accurately and withstand pressure.
Darnold had also displayed resilience, navigating a difficult midseason stretch against the Colts and Jaguars during which he threw five interceptions. The way he responded to those tough film sessions, throwing 18 touchdowns and two interceptions in the ensuing seven games, showed just what he was capable of.
In late December, The Athletic’s Dianna Russini reported, “After conversations with a team source, one thing is clear: The Vikings want Darnold back in Minnesota for 2025.” Separately, another Vikings staffer texted, “I hope we can keep him.” Darnold’s MVP odds climbed. Against the Packers in the team’s final home game of the season, he completed 33 of 43 passes for 377 yards, three touchdowns and an interception and was soaked by teammates afterward in the locker room.
The Sam Darnold experience continues. pic.twitter.com/k5db9DYdtp
— Alec Lewis (@alec_lewis) December 30, 2024
This 2024 Vikings season, billed as a transition year toward a more flexible future around rookie quarterback J.J. McCarthy, had exceeded even the rosiest expectations.
“Outside of these walls, nobody really believed in him,” running back Aaron Jones said of Darnold at the time. “Nobody gave him a chance. But he’s proving everybody wrong.”
That was the crescendo, a byproduct of an infrastructure optimized in Darnold’s image. At the time, the Vikings staff reiterated the role that rhythm and timing played in Darnold’s success and how important it was for his feet and eyes to sync.
Buried in the jargon was an important reality: Darnold trusted the play calls and reads so much that it was more about sticking to a specific timing than observing the field and making decisions based on what he saw. The best way to sum up his struggles in Detroit and Arizona was an interruption in timing. Both the Lions and Rams affected Darnold’s ability to climb up in the pocket, and both teams mixed in countless stunts and exotic pressures to keep Darnold from being comfortable, assessing the picture downfield and throwing.
There were numerous examples from Monday night. Early in the second quarter, Darnold dropped back and eyed the right sideline. Rams defensive lineman Braden Fiske pushed Vikings left guard Blake Brandel toward Darnold, who side-stepped and kept his eyes on receiver Jordan Addison, while receiver Jalen Nailor was open crossing the field. Darnold hurled a pass in Addison’s direction. But the ball was late and behind Addison, and it was intercepted by Rams cornerback Cobie Durant.
Later in the quarter, the Rams blitzed safety Quentin Lake from depth. He squeaked past right guard Dalton Risner, forcing Darnold to step up and move his vision from right to left. Uncertain with what he was seeing, he looked back to his right. But before he could release the ball, another blitzer, Rams cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon, speared him in the back. Darnold fumbled, and Rams edge rusher Jared Verse recovered and rumbled 57 yards for a touchdown, extending Los Angeles’ lead.
JARED VERSE SCOOP AND SCORE!
📺: #MINvsLAR on ESPN/ABC
📱: Stream on @NFLPlus and ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/bXLHmOUaQW— NFL (@NFL) January 14, 2025
“There are some examples where, when you go back and watch the tape in an air-conditioned room tomorrow, it’s going to feel like, ‘Man, why didn’t I just do this or that?’” O’Connell said. “But it’s hard in the moment. It’s hard with how fast things happen out there.”
Good quarterbacks have the arm and the athleticism, especially in the modern NFL, but the mind is what separates the top-tier QBs. Matthew Stafford’s operating capacity on the other side of the field validated this, and Monday night substantiated a popular opinion regarding the Vikings’ future: Franchise-tagging or extending Darnold, who is set to become a free agent, does not make sense with the team’s needs elsewhere, especially on the interior of the offensive line.
Moving on from Darnold would, of course, raise questions. How ready is McCarthy? Which veteran option might the Vikings pair with McCarthy? And how would O’Connell feel about having to build up an entirely new quarterback option?
These are vastly different questions from the ones on Wilf’s mind as he wound his way through the bowels of the stadium Monday night. But they’ll soon be on his plate following a wildly successful season that ended in a disappointing flash, a roller-coaster ride for a quarterback who could not polish off the progress he’d built.
(Photo: Christian Petersen / Getty Images)
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WWE will swing for the fences for the second straight year when it hosts one of its major premium live events of the year at a Major League Baseball ballpark.
The company announced on Monday that Survivor Series: WarGames will take place at Daikin Park in Houston – the home of the Astros – on Saturday, Nov. 28. It follows up the success of last year’s Survivor Series: WarGames event, which took place at Petco Park in San Diego – the home of the Padres.
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Roman Reigns lands a Superman Punch on Brock Lesnar during Survivor Series at Petco Park in San Diego, Calif., on Nov. 29, 2025. (Rich Freeda/WWE via Getty Images)
“Houston is the perfect host city to celebrate this milestone chapter in Survivor Series’ storied history, and we look forward to partnering with Houston First and the Houston Astros to deliver an unforgettable event,” WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque said in a news release.
WarGames is a highly anticipated match, which has taken place yearly among wrestlers on the WWE roster since 2022. The premium live event has also seen some dramatic returns.
Stephanie Vaquer enters the ring during Survivor Series at Petco Park in San Diego, Calif. (Georgiana Dallas/WWE via Getty Images)
In 2023, CM Punk came back to WWE at the end of the show and shocked the entire sports world. Randy Orton also made his in-ring return during the match. Last year, a mystery attacker interrupted the WarGames match and gave the win to The Vision and company.
It’s unclear what is in the cards right now for the 40th edition of the event.
“We are proud to be able to help bring one of the world’s premier entertainment brands to Houston for what promises to be an unforgettable holiday weekend,” said Michael Heckman, President and CEO of Houston First, which partnered with WWE to bring the event back to Houston.
Liv Morgan and Dominik Mysterio celebrate their win during Survivor Series at Petco Park in San Diego, Calif. (Rich Freeda/WWE via Getty Images)
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“Hosting WWE Survivor Series will bring thousands of passionate fans to our city and generate a significant economic impact for community. Houston has earned a reputation for delivering world-class entertainment events, and we look forward to welcoming the WWE Universe to our destination.”
How much would you pay for a pair of shoes? Someone else’s shoes, I mean.
Would you pay $7,000 for a chair on which Taylor Swift sat in a basketball arena — for an NBA playoff game, not for her wedding? Someone did.
There was one Swift chair up for bid. The Dodgers gave away 52,000 trading cards as part of a promotion for the Japanese animated series “One Piece” this month, and the current asking prices for one of those cards on eBay range from $784 to $15,656. Even at the low end … strike that, there is no apparent low end to the collectibles market these days.
Now add Shohei Ohtani to the mix. A pair of his cleats hit the auction block Monday, hyped by the promoter as “one of the most significant baseball artifacts ever” and “the greatest baseball footwear ever made available” and “the most culturally significant footwear ever worn on Japanese soil.”
In this case, the adjectives are more than breathless. Ohtani is the best player in baseball, the favorite to win his fifth most valuable player award in six years, an international tourist attraction, and a global pitchman making an estimated $125 million in sponsorships and endorsements this year.
So, the footwear: These are the cleats Ohtani wore when the Dodgers opened the 2025 season in Japan, decorated with art of his world-famous dog Decoy and signed by Ohtani with Asian kanji characters rather than English letters.
The cleats were purchased last year by Take to the Universe (TTU), a Japanese company that distributes beauty and wellness products in Japan and throughout Asia. State records show the company registered a subsidiary in Los Angeles two months ago.
The cleats Shohei Ohtani wore during the Dodgers’ 2025 season opener in Japan are on the auction block.
(The Realist)
“We thought, hey, we could actually use this to market our company and enter into the U.S. market,” said Ryoji Iguchi, chief executive of the subsidiary. Iguchi declined to say how much TTU paid for the cleats.
For a Japanese company to leverage Ohtani and the Dodgers to introduce itself to an American audience is nothing new — not just for tangible consumer goods, but also for animated characters.
You wouldn’t actually go into a store and ask for a TTU product, though. You eventually might go into a store and ask for a beauty product made by another company. TTU would just get it there.
So how does selling a pair of cleats create brand awareness for a brand consumers would not even know?
“This interview,” Iguchi said.
The Ohtani Economy strikes again: You don’t know us, but we’re coming to America, we want to help you sell your wares — and we’re selling Ohtani’s cleats!
The sale was arranged by Scott Keeney, founder of the Realest, a Los Angeles-based enterprise specializing in sports and entertainment memorabilia.
The cleats Shohei Ohtani wore during the Dodgers’ season opener in Japan in 2025 are on the auction block.
(The Realist)
Keeney talks about the “museum-grade” and “investment-grade” quality of the cleats. You might find a trading card marketed as one of one, but someone could make another. In this case, no one can make another pair of cleats worn by Ohtani on that particular day.
“It’s no different than art, where you’re seeing paintings selling for tens, hundreds of millions of dollars,” Keeney said. “The top grails are in a category of their own.
“It’s what the ultra, the top 0.0001% want, and they appreciate faster than anything else in the category.”
So how much might the Ohtani cleats command, given the combination of sport and celebrity?
Kobe Bryant’s sneakers from the game in which he tore his Achilles tendon — and hit two free throws before he left the court — fetched $660,000. Michael Jordan’s “Flu Game” shoes sold for $1.4 million. Kanye West wore “Air Yeezys” to the Grammys, and the pair sold for $1.8 million.
The ball Ohtani hit for his 50th home run in his 50-50 season: $4.4 million. And, speaking of holy grails: Judy Garland’s ruby slippers from “The Wizard of Oz” fetched $32.5 million.
I cannot afford that, in this lifetime or any other. Perhaps you can. If you cannot, the Realest is offering this free-to-enter contest: Guess the sale price of the Ohtani cleats and, if you come closest to the actual sale price, you win 1% of the price. In the event of a tie, the first submission wins.
The cash would be nice, because this is just a pair of someone else’s worn shoes. But, since everything else Ohtani does seems to be unprecedented, this auction just might be too.
Sports
Stefon Diggs, still seeking new NFL home, insists no team has a better No 2 receiver ‘than me’
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Stefon Diggs is still looking for his next NFL team after one season with the New England Patriots, which ended in a Super Bowl LX defeat.
With NFL training camps across the country set to kick off at the end of the month, Diggs, who will be entering his 12th season, made quite the statement during a recent YouTube video on his channel.
Diggs stated that he is the best No. 2 receiver in the league, and he explained why.
New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs (8) walks to the podium to speak to the media after a minicamp held in the WIN Field House at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on June 10, 2025. (Eric Canha/Imagn Images)
“Everybody got a 1,,” he said. “Opportunities aside, people might say there’s seven real 1s. In my opinion, I can compete with anybody, but take those as your 1s. You can’t name a No. 2 better than me. There’s not a No. 2 on a team. Let’s presumably give people the credit and just say, ‘OK, you want to take the No. 1 spot away.’ Name your No. 2 receiver right now. Tell me how much he makes. My last question is: Is he better than me?”
Diggs put up 1,013 yards in his 11th season, his first and only with the Patriots, on 85 receptions (102 targets) with four touchdowns from breakout star quarterback Drake Maye . It marked Diggs’ seventh 1,000-yard season in the NFL, which have come in seven of the last eight seasons.
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The 32-year-old did note being a No. 2 option, which means he could be willing to take a pay cut to join a squad that he could help get back to the playoffs and, as ever player hopes, the Super Bowl. But no team has pulled the trigger just yet.
Could Diggs’ off-the-field issues be a factor? He faced some serious allegations in December after being charged with felony strangulation and misdemeanor assault in a dispute with his private chef.
New England Patriots receiver Stefon Diggs speaks during his introductory press conference on March 28, 2025. (John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
However, Diggs was found not guilty by a jury, with the NFL closing its review on the matter, stating there was insufficient evidence to warrant a suspension for violating its personal conduct policy. Diggs’ attorney said that “professional athletes have a target on their back” following the non-guilty verdict.
“We have taken these allegations seriously from Day One and that’s exactly why we were eager for the facts to come to light through the legal process,” Mitch Schuster of Meister, Seelig & Schuster, the firm that represented Diggs, said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital in May.
The Patriots released Diggs in March, but he has been staying in shape and looking for the next opportunity since the league cleared him last month.
New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs plays against the Seattle Seahawks during Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Feb. 8, 2026. (Mark J. Rebilas/Imagn Images)
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Teams to watch could be the Los Angeles Chargers, New York Giants, Washington Commanders, Kansas City Chiefs, or even a Buffalo Bills reunion with Josh Allen, who built such a rapport with him to earn four straight Pro Bowls from 2020-23.
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