Fans on social media wanted Jonathan Bullard immediately removed from the game for being offside while the Rams were facing fourth-and-1 in the Vikings’ opener at 10 on Monday night. Those eyeballs were more concerned about the complete lack of a pass rush on a neutral site half filled with Vikings fans. When Bullard’s brain burp was offside – his fifth in the past two years – Matthew Stafford was 5 of 5 with two explosive plays (27 and 23 yards) and 59 yards without a defender giving him a hard time. The first-down gift resulted in a 5-yard TD flip to an uncovered Kyren Williams en route to a 27-9 wild-card loss in Glendale, Arizona. Stafford had 154 yards passing at halftime. He averaged 153 in his final three games of the regular season.

You knew it was going to be a tough day when right tackle Brian O’Neill, the team’s best offensive lineman and the league’s third-best right tackle, was tackled by Byron Young for a sack. It was just the 17th pressure and third sack O’Neill allowed this year. The attack continued throughout the entire offensive line and Sam Darnold’s ability to sense stealth blitzes. At the 4:35 mark of the second quarter, the Vikings had allowed six sacks on 22 dropbacks for a loss of 55 yards. Add in Jared Verse’s 57-yard touchdown with a strip sack, and that’s 112 yards going the wrong way with a strip sack. The Vikings offense only had 121 yards at that point.

Sorry, NFL offensive officials, but what Stafford did when he was eaten by Jonathan Greenard with 14:09 left in the second quarter shouldn’t have been viewed as an incompletion. It should have been a sack, a fumble and a game-winning touchdown return by Blake Cashman. Perhaps the officials were following the letter of the rule by having Stafford hurl the ball forward. And yes, it was within the general range of a receiver. But come on, he had his head down. All he did was try to avoid a sack while he was in the pocket. It definitely would have changed the game, but the Rams defense (an NFL playoff tie with nine sacks!) wouldn’t lose.

This old-school observer has become familiar with the new-school thinking on Fourth Downs. It makes the game more exciting. But…Kevin O’Connell went too far when he attempted fourth-and-2 at the 50th yard with 1:32 left in the first half and the Vikings trailed 17-3. His offense had given up five sacks on Darnold’s first 18 dropbacks. His defense almost held out and was unable to affect Stafford’s rhythm. That was a terrible combination as Darnold dropped back to pass and was sacked for an 11-yard loss. The Rams needed just 1:21 to move 39 yards and take a 24-3 lead. O’Connell started the year 6-for-9 with four losses. He failed in the next four games – three against Detroit and the first when the Rams game was still contested.

Sincerely, try not to be knee-jerk when it comes to the NFL, because the league can and usually does change from week to week. Darnold played 13 games with a passer rating over 100, one less than the league record. Not only did he direct the offense, but he also made MVP-level off-script plays. He also played well in two of the Vikings’ four losses. But that Darnold returned to his dismal form before the Vikings in the two biggest games of the year – in Detroit with a No. 1 seed on the line and then in his first playoff appearance – means no other player in NFL history has more money has lost respect in a span of eight days than Darnold has just experienced. The last two games make it impossible to say that the Vikings should invest anything in him other than another modest offer to compete with JJ McCarthy and likely back him in 2025.