Dumb Decisions: The WORST Punt of the Wild Card Round | Vikings @ Rams (2024)

[@hatuletoh]

Every time Darnold got sacked I could hear the cling-tling-clink sounds of money falling out of his pockets, not unlike Sonic the Hedgehog taking a hit and losing his rings.

[@davidkuhlman8004]

So much for getting Dak Presott money! It's the Vikings they probably will anyway.

[@unmaskedbloodbender6737]

Can’t believe you witnessed a live DD lol

[@SuperMutant2099]

Somehow went from 14-2 and possibility of #1 seed to one and done in the playoffs. Crazy and only happen in two week span

[@animenopaawaa]

Same thing with Sam Darnold being a potential frontrunner for NFL Comeback Player of the Year to being buried back as a one-hit wonder type of one trick pony of a bust.

[@coreylevine8095]

2006 Chargers

[@zeroryoko1974]

The Lions and by extension Matthew Stafford own the Vikings soul now

[@forrestunderwood3174]

@@zeroryoko1974 Your big playoff loss is coming.

[@delCaneDogs]

​@@coreylevine8095 The 2006 Chargers had the #1 seed.

[@LegendaryDorkKnight]

I was watching this game with my granny and even she said "They have to go for it. The way they been playing, they won't get it back enough times." When they lined up to punt, she said "Do you think that football guy you watch on KZbin will make a video about this?" It was hard to say because this game was full of questionable decisions, but she called it.

[@patrickcarrillo714]

The Rams just ripped out the Vikings soul. They are going to be a very scary team in the future when this defense reaches its full potential.

[@shar0285]

years later and in a new City the poor Rams are still "gonna be spooky".

[@Brocuzgodlocdunfamdogson]

Replacing Stafford isn’t going to be easy and he won’t be there forever.

[@BePatientSeeLove]

Lol

[@VeVettR]

​@@shar0285 have you heard of Sympathy Loss, Chargers would've won too, had they played after the fire

[@CTubeMan]

Fun Fact: The Vikings four losses were back-to-back against the Lions and Rams twice.

[@mattcolver1]

Darnold looked shell-shocked most of the game.

[@Crateron1]

He was seeing ghosts......again.

[@The_Gamer_91]

I think the worst decision was going for it on 4th & 2 at around the 50 yard line with under a minute to go in the 1st half. That gave the Rams an opportunity to go up by 3 scores by halftime. Way too aggressive there and basically gave them the game.

[@vanhagar3000]

As a Vikings fan I was stunned. Something you might have missed since you didn't see the TV broadcast, after that third down sack that immediately preceded this dumb decision, it looked like KOC was about to shout at Darnold, but stopped himself knowing the cameras were on him. You are absolutely right that it looked like they packed it in during the rest of the 4th quarter. I don't know if KOC didn't want to get more embarrassed by his mentor and played it safe, was thinking of next year and didn't want to let Jefferson/Addison/Hock get seriously hurt in a game that was already out of hand and lose them next year (based on his press conference I think KOC might have personally taken a crowbar to the knees of the interior offensive though), or looked into JJ McCarthy's eyes on the sideline knowing everything would be ok next year. Whatever the motivation, it seems clear they gave up.

[@JayFreeman-m1z]

I 100 percent agree it's like they quit

[@Rockhound6165]

First! Dumb Decision in real time. Classic!

[@msarzo]

That felt like waving the white flag to me

[@Hodaggium]

Definitely a nice touch recording the intro at the game you're talking about.

[@IrvinAlvarado44]

DD LIVE!!!!!!!

[@O4C209]

Maybe the Vikings were protesting the fact that they didn't have a home game by not playing.

[@CTubeMan]

KOC: Watch me puuuunt, punt the game away (uh huh). The last two weeks seemed like one continuous Dumb Decision (TM) by Kevin O’Connell.

[@jaymoor8995]

This channel should have like 500k subscribers. I don’t get it

[@soiyt1620]

It's easy. Cuz he sucks

[@jaymoor8995]

@ What channel do you run?

[@Jason_Maier]

1. The Dumb Decisions series turned 5 last week. Out of all the ones you've done; which is your absolute favorite? 2. Now that Mike McCarthy is out as Cowboys head coach, who's the designated punching bag as far as coaches go: Matt LaFleur or Todd Bowles?

[@OfficialJaguarGator9]

Favorite one? Eberflus on Thanksgiving or Cardinals/Colts 1984 Dumbest one? Six Seconds Punching bag? Todd Bowles

[@kevinsealschott1090]

​@@OfficialJaguarGator9 6 seconds being the 87 Bengals- Niners game I watched that when it happened and to this day I still shake my head

[@alexgruel9932]

IF I had a nickel each time a coach waived the white flag and punted in what should have been desperation mode this weekend, I would have two nickels. Which isn't alot but it is weird it happened twice.

[@banjoplayingbison2275]

Welcome to the premiere of : Live and in Person! You might have missed streaming this game last night, but you certainly got your moneys worth for the ticket by making a history and dumb decisions video out of attending it in person!

[@yeetboie64]

7:59 daniel jones jumpscare

[@mkepioneet]

4:16 well there is the Augustana Vikings of Ken Anderson fame, but they haven't made the D3 playoffs since 2005 and last postseason appearance at all was in 2023 where they lost by two possessions to a completely forgettable backup QB

[@Michael-sb8jf]

This is something I expect to see in a blowout game in early November

[@DoctorNovakaine]

Vikings fan here. As soon as Darnold took that sack, I knew the punt was coming. I think KOC got the same vibe that most of us did: game's over. I'm not going to argue that it doesn't qualify for Dumb Decisions, because, I mean, it's a play that definitely goes against the element of "you play to win the game." On the other hand, I could tell from early on that this team just wasn't in it. The Vikings came out flat, and while the defense managed to adjust, Darnold just wasn't what he needed to be. Too indecisive, holding the ball for too long, just not making good decisions himself. We probably shouldn't have even had 9 points, Hockenson pulled of a pretty insane catch on that one touchdown on a pass that was not on target. Does KOC start thinking about next year and wanting to avoid serious injuries to his stars rather than trying to mount a comeback that he doesn't feel he has the players to pull off? Maybe. Is that a good call? Hard to say. There's certainly a pride element that the Vikings didn't possess, not trying to make a real game of it at the end. On the other hand, playing for pride doesn't win you anything, and could lose you more - if you don't see a win coming, you could lose bigger with a bad injury, which could affect your coming season. So I don't know, I can understand it but it doesn't feel good. One last thing: you say that you'd understand if they punted it in a two-score game, but I think they actually go for it if it's two scores. Seems paradoxical, but I think they might feel more like it's still within reach there and that KOC would press in that case. The psychology of 18 points versus 16 points is big.

[@DoctorNovakaine]

@@matthewdaley746 Yeah, I obviously wanted the Vikings to win this game. But at this point when it became clear that this team didn't have the mojo to pull off a dramatic comeback, the best that I can hope for is that the team doesn't lose anything important for next year. Considering at the start of the season, when expectations were in the cellar, I was already looking ahead to 2025, I definitely wouldn't want those hopes dashed before they had a chance to foster. I'm okay with other people disagreeing and saying that they should have ground to the bitter end, it's a philosophical difference.

[@DJWestrick]

1st ever live intro into Dumb Decisions

[@michaellee4276]

This one is simple. Compare the odds of converting 4th and 21 vs the odds of recovering an onside kick.

[@ericwicker7514]

The game was over. At that point. There was nothing that Kevin O'Connell could do. It was a done deal. You should done a dumb decisions on him last week against Detroit.

[@O4C209]

If it's over, you go out fighting.

[@ericwicker7514]

@O4C209 You have a valid point. He should have went out fighting. Kevin O'Connell didn't put this team in the position to succeed.

[@forrestunderwood3174]

It's almost never over, until it really is.

[@DoctorNovakaine]

@@O4C209 There's a debate to be had about that. Going out fighting is one thing if you know that the outcome here won't have any lasting impact on your future prospects. But if the Vikings had pushed hard and Justin Jefferson destroys his knee, or Andrew Van Ginkel ruptures an Achilles, and they still lose the game, then what did going out fighting accomplish other than putting you behind the sticks for next year? Yeah, that's a bunch of 'what ifs' but we've seen it happen before. I don't think it's any accident that the Vikings were running the rest of the game after that punt at half-speed. I think if the Vikings make that 2-point conversion before, they go for it here. Three scores in 7 minutes for a team that hasn't been able to get chunk plays reliably all night, that was a bridge too far.

[@pastramionrye247]

Their chance of winning at that point was virtually nil. They couldn't protect Darnold and their chances of converting 4th and 20 were extremely slim. I honestly think punting (ideally a coffin corner and not a touchback) and hoping to turn the Rams over on their next possession was probably a better path than counting on the offense to make a miracle conversion. But even if you disagree and think going for it on 4th and 20 is better, how does anyone get worked up over this? Giving the Vikings a 1% chance of winning at that point would be generous. They lost the game when they couldn't figure out a protection scheme to stop the Rams pass rush. Whether that is a coaching or personnel issue, that was the culprit for why Minnesota's season is over.

[@nicklivewire]

Looks like the Vikings analytics guys saying the right move was to punt didn't go far enough in the data to include the Eagles' 4th and 26 vs Packers in the 2003 season playoffs.

[@epicman7422]

As a packer fan I’d love to thank the rams for doing us a favor

[@randyware9645]

The vikings prove 1 thing, they need a battle tested quarterback, darnold look like a deer in the headlights high school qb,

[@Rockhound6165]

Well, considering the Rams were in his face the whole game even Mahomes would have had a bad game.

[@RicoCosta317]

He was sacked 9 times and pressured constantly. He's lucky he doesn't look like a dead deer.

[@Rammstein0963.]

All Darnold proved is we need a brick wall o line.

[@ThePrufessa]

The rams followed the blueprint the Lions laid last week. Pressure darnold the whole game and he becomes ineffective.

[@RicoCosta317]

@ThePrufessa Ok, yeah, if you pressure a QB all night, they're gonna be less effective. That's why you have an offensive line, to prevent that sort of thing. The line was horrible, period. Darnold had no chance.

[@RicoCosta317]

Darnold looked like crap, huh? Well, OK, I contend that any QB would look bad being sacked 9 times and pressured on virtually every drop back. Blame the O line, who looked like they were trying to get the man killed. Shameful performance.

[@OfficialJaguarGator9]

Oddly enough, according to Brett Kollmann, Darnold was pressured 24 times. Only 11 of them were within 2.5 seconds of the snap. More than half of his pressures were holding onto the ball for way too long

[@RicoCosta317]

@@OfficialJaguarGator9 I appreciate the insight but that's still a sh*t of pressures. And he held on to the ball because he didn't have open receivers and he's unfortunately not a mobile QB. The Rams D was exceptional in this game and the Vikings O line was crap.

[@jasonfischer8946]

There was definitely a combination of Darnold "deer in the headlights" and the O-line. Higher end QBs know how to compensate for a bad O-line better than that.

[@shackdaddy7106]

Yeah, offensive line did play bad. But last week against Detroit and this week against the Rams. Sam Darnold was horrible. Against Detroit he missed at least five or six easy throws where he was not pressured. Against the Rams yes there was pressure, but I would say about half the time he could’ve gotten rid of the ball and not taken the sack. Bottom line, after the performance of the last two weeks, the Vikings cannot bring Sam back next season. I am sure somebody will sign him. But the last two weeks probably cost Sam Darnold about $50 million in total compensation for the next few years.

[@DoctorNovakaine]

Combination of the two. Darnold was absolutely holding the ball for far too long. But it was probably the worst game the O-line has had all season, too. At Detroit, they were constantly getting heavy pressure with 5 or 6 guys, so I understood then. But the Rams were winning a lot more with just 4. Just a bad time to falter all around.

[@BobbytheBongoPlaya]

JGFan, Vikings fan here. I'm a VIKINGS FAN to the bitter end!! You could never find me switching teams no matter how much we go through this. SKOL

[@DoctorNovakaine]

Same. Being a Vikings fan requires a certain level of masochism. (Heck, Minnesota sports fan in general...unless you're a WNBA fan or a PWHL fan. Best Minnesota sports teams in the 21st century right there.) But as much as they stress me out, I'm still going to be a fan of them come hell or high water.

[@pm5206]

These headshots of the HC is entertaining while you speak.

[@shackdaddy7106]

Once again, Kevin O’Connell choked in a critical situation. He may be good at designing an offense and getting along with the players. But he sucks with game strategy at the most critical times. He’s been this way his whole career in Minnesota. And he doesn’t seem to learn from his mistakes. That’s the crime.

[@DoctorNovakaine]

I'm not going to disagree that that's an element that he can improve on. But I also partly wonder if he felt that he couldn't change Darnold and still get something effective out of him. He's struggled in the past for a reason, and while the Vikings got an impressive amount out of him for most of the year, Darnold was pretty consistently playing a certain way this year as well. He never was one to get the ball out that quickly, Darnold was one of the most-sacked QBs in the league this year and that was with an O-line that actually played reasonably well for most of the year (last night wasn't good for them, but it also wasn't typical of the season). How much of the lack of adjustment was KOC not being good at it and how much was it that he had a quarterback that simply couldn't adjust and still be effective?

[@darkhobo]

I cant believe you didnt do this episode on the Commanders vs Buccaneers. Buccs kicking a field goal to tie the game instead of going for it on 4th down to try and take the lead in the 4th. I knew the game was over right there.

[@OfficialJaguarGator9]

I’m gonna do LaFleur by the end of tomorrow for whatever that was in the 4th quarter with the lack of urgency

[@marcus813]

I'm not worried about why KOC did it. All I know is that he shouldn't have done it. The lack of urgency and lack of attention to detail in the 4th quarter were alarming.

[@HDreamer]

tbh they played like they gave up before the game even started.

[@natelitchy5923]

This may have been a dumb decision, but we lost this game long before this play.

[@yamingizzo7186]

That caption😭

[@ihcterra4625]

It didn’t matter because they didn’t score on any of the subsequent possession. If they had gone for it and succeeded, it would have still ended 27 to 15, or possibly 17, if they were successful on the 2 point conversion.

[@2274brian]

Vikings outscored 73 to 18 in the last 9 quarters.

[@markbrian7179]

The Vikings offensive line was horrible.The coach probably didn't want to get Sam Darnold killed.

[@alanpaul9481]

Nah....they lost not punting at the end of the half, not converting on a huge sack, and giving up 7.

[@Ragnar009]

You were at the game, so you didn't hear Aikman, or whoever was commentating. But he was saying, don't you think the Vikings should be showing a little urgency here?

[@maksports95]

I think KOC wins coach of the year but stuff like this hurts his case. This is something I'd expect from Mike Tomlin

[@atworkstation]

There was also a dumb decision in the Bucs playoffs involving Todd Bowles and clock management which no surprise by the way. You might want to check that.

[@atworkstation]

@ I know right?

[@jaykeastle8804]

Obviously was a vote of no confidence in Darnold

[@DoctorNovakaine]

Anyone watching him play last night would have no confidence in him. I know some people were waiting all season for the other shoe to drop, they didn't expect it would take all the way to Week 18 for it to happen though.

[@KevinJL]

Only the Vikings can go 14 wins and be a wild card. So on brand.

[@czars694]

My high school team was the Vikings

[@ravivaithinathan1222]

And I think it should have destroyed O’Connell’s chance for coach of the year…

[@williamgulfo5294]

I knew they could still make the playoffs with that team but not 14 and 3

[@ALTAIR2]

The 2nd they got the Tom Brady treatment, they gave up . (Yes it was a fumble)

[@sparklerbc9898]

at some point, even if you technically still have some sort of crazy outside chance of winning, the game is over. this game was over. thats why he punted.

[@cmd31220]

Has anyone had a worse 9 day stretch than Sam Darnold? Bro played himself out of upwards of $100 million and a secure starting job and joined the likes of Gary Anderson and Brett Favre in the halls of Vikings chokejob infamy

[@vanhagar3000]

It was at least close with Gary and Brett, Sam goes into the Joe Webb or Spurgeon Wynn pile of "Oh yeah, I remember when he started. Let's never speak of it again."

[@ajsports4450]

Gary Anderson and Brett Favre will forever stand alone

[@andrewgrove1691]

Lions and rams lions and rams oh my

[@gorkism]

It’s as if they just decided to lose

[@stephencrabtree4256]

Uhhh…. I love your channel, but saying “check out our schedule, we’ve got tons of content on the NFL and College Football” while showing nothing but basketball and geoguesser in the schedule… prerecorded default audio, perhaps?

[@randolphjones2658]

Not Dumb Decisions, just following the nfl script.

[@PeteTheRock2002]

No offense, but it's weird about seeing you calling your series' title live. Can that be your title introduction?

[@erikreinhardt7955]

Poor Minnesota. The playoff format is busted and this game should never have been in LA. They won 14 games. A division win should be an automatic berth not an automatic home game. And no one has ever lost more money on a start than Sam. Happy for the Rams. But my god.

[@cmd31220]

I dont view this as a dumb decision. KOC at that point wasnt trying to win the game. The time for that was long gone. That was Darnold's 8th sack of the game, its 4th and a mile, theyre down 3 scores, and the offense has shown ZERO anility to string plays together all night. The game waa already over and going for it only served to embarrass the team and the players even further. He was in damage limitation mode at that point

[@Dustminion]

I'd argue we waved the white flag in the third quarter, with the complete and utter lack of urgency you just explained. No fight. No heart. Just nothing.

[@Crateron1]

Yeah, this felt really sad to me. At least they should have tried to put up more of a fight. Show that the team will not quit, that they will continue playing with their full hearts.

[@Dustminion]

@@Crateron1 It's especially infuriating, considering that this is the same team that came back from a 33-0 deficit to win in OT two years ago. And that was just a regular season game! So there is NO excuse for what I saw two nights ago. We looked like the team that everybody expected us to be before the season started.

[@Cityofstroud]

Is matt tonight?

[@therealjaystone2344]

Packers and Vikings are out in the playoffs. Only the Lions remain, they are gonna lose in the divisional round huh?

[@jimnfl7134]

It would be a strange NFC Championship Game If we get the Rams vs Commanders!!

[@juliuskurtz8143]

21 yds to go i would punt on that steel ers 4th and real short that was stupid

[@ropeblaster420]

JG9 claims the stakes for this game are the same as any other playoff game. Completely false. Conference chip and super bowls mean more. Surprisingly braindead take from my favorite youtuber.

[@americanidol30]

Where’s today’s video? Your community section said that you’d be doing a history video about a divisional controversy and that it would be posted at 2:30PM ET. You have to stop lying to your viewers.

[@OfficialJaguarGator9]

8:00. Something came up