Sam Darnold, Vikings pummel Texans en route to 3-0 start

MINNEAPOLIS -- The roar began just as Sam Darnold walked out of the Vikings' medical tent, his injured left knee healthy enough to continue playing.

As he walked back onto the field, having missed one play of the third quarter in Minnesota's 34-7 victory over the Houston Texans, the crowd at U.S. Bank Stadium erupted in an ovation normally reserved for the team's best and most popular players.

Now in his seventh NFL season, Darnold has found a fan base that is overjoyed to see him play.

"The fans' reaction meant everything to me," Darnold said after tying a career high with four touchdown passes. He leads the NFL with eight touchdown throws this season and has been the single biggest factor in a largely overlooked team that has been one of the league's early surprises.

The Vikings are the first team in nine seasons to start 3-0 without being favored by more than one point in those games, according to ESPN BET. Their Super Bowl odds have grown from 100-1 to 35-1, and Darnold's odds to win the MVP award have risen from 100-1 to 35-1.

"This is a special team," said running back Aaron Jones, who rushed for 102 yards and also caught an 8-yard touchdown pass.

Jones, in his first year with the Vikings after seven seasons with the Green Bay Packers, has spoken with increasing confidence about the team's competitiveness this month. Prior to their Week 1 game at the New York Giants, Jones predicted that Darnold would surprise the league. After Darnold completed his first 12 passes against the Giants en route to a 28-6 victory, Jones said he spoke with his mother about the environment he was experiencing with his new team.

"It's definitely different from anything that I've been a part of," Jones said. "I can't put my finger on what it is that's different. Because I've been a part of some good teams.

"After the first game, just with the vibe in New York, I was like, 'Mom, I don't know what it is. It's no stress. This is just fun.' I don't know if it's the guys here. I can't put my finger on it, but it's special and I love it."

ESPN Analytics gave the Vikings a 14% chance to make the playoffs at the start of the season, their lowest chance by far since ESPN began projecting playoff probabilities in 2015. Those expectations were partly based on Darnold, but also a schedule that had the Vikings facing some of the NFL's top teams in the first quarter of the season. They have now dismantled the Giants, soundly defeated the San Francisco 49ers (23-17) and throttled the Texans in successive fashion. Their plus-55 margin of victory through three games is the second best in franchise history, behind only the 1975 team.

"We knew it was going to happen," said receiver Justin Jefferson, who caught six passes for 81 yards and a touchdown, all in the first half Sunday. "Of course we can't predict the future, that we were going to go 3-0. But we knew if this team was going to come prepared like we knew we're going to come, and come out here and dominate the way we have been, we knew that people are going to start talking about us more."

Jefferson jammed a finger on his right hand after catching a pass late in the first half. He said he had X-rays that showed no serious damage, and he benefited from what he said was one of the few times in his NFL career when he could comfortably watch the fourth quarter of a game knowing the Vikings would win.

Indeed, the Vikings' 22-point win over the Giants and Sunday's 27-point win were the Vikings' two largest margins of victory since Jefferson was drafted in 2020. And they are two of the eight games the Vikings have won by more than one score since he arrived.

Some of that can be attributed to the Vikings' defense, which is the third unit in the NFL's modern era to record at least five sacks and at least one interception in the first three games of a season. And some credit can go to Sunday's crowd at U.S. Bank Stadium after the Texans were flagged for five false start penalties.

Darnold, however, will draw the majority of public attention as the Vikings turn the page to a Week 4 showdown at the Green Bay Packers. He said he'll have his knee evaluated Monday and isn't yet sure whether it will limit him in practice this week, but is eager to keep moving forward.

"Everything is high-level football right now," he said. "I think we've got to continue to push each other on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, to be able to go out there on Sunday and perform at a high level, because there's still room for improvement. Even the scoreboard doesn't tell the whole story. There's a lot of room for improvement."