Vikings news: Darnold joins exclusive club, wild stat proves dominance, Vikes hope to end streak vs. Seahawks

The Minnesota Vikings are on an absolute roll heading into the final three weeks of this 2024 NFL regular season.

On Sunday, the Vikes caught the break they've been needing for months regarding the race for the NFC North, as the Detroit Lions finally lost their second game of the season, watching their 11-game winning streak come to an end in a 48-42 defeat to the Buffalo Bills.

The moment the Lions lost, the Vikings claimed control of their own destiny, as winning out would automatically give them the division.

And they moved one step closer to making that a reality with a dominant 30-12 victory over the Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football.

Up next for Minnesota is a Week 16 date with the Seattle Seahawks, which we'll circle back to in just a few moments. First, however, let's have a look at a couple of other nuggets surrounding the 12-2 Vikings heading into the home stretch.

Sam Darnold is now part of an elite club that includes only two other QBs

To say Sam Darnold has been a bargain for Minnesota would be a massive understatement.

Making just $10 million on his one-year deal, the 2018 No. 3 overall pick has exceeded every expectation the Vikings could have possibly imagined and has this franchise ready to make a genuine run at its first Super Bowl appearance since the 1976 season.

Through his first 14 games wearing purple, Darnold has completed 67.6% of his passes for 3,530 yards with 29 touchdowns, all of which are career bests. And despite his 11 interceptions, he still has the fourth-highest passer rating in the league at 104.9, which is also a career-high.

Given these numbers, the 27-year-old has joined an exclusive club that includes just two other quarterbacks, as he's now only the third to reach 3,500 yards, 29 touchdown passes, and a passer rating of 100 or better in his first 14 games with a new team.

The first to do so was longtime Indianapolis Colts signal-caller Peyton Manning, who had 4,016 yards, 31 touchdowns, and a 103.5 passer rating in his first 14 games with the Denver Broncos in 2012.

The second was former Lions QB Matthew Stafford, who posted 4,142 yards, 35 touchdowns, and a 108.2 rating in his first 14 outings with the Los Angeles Rams in 2021.

That's not bad company to be in.

The Vikings' point differential is vastly different from what it was two years ago

Naturally, this 2024 Vikings team is often compared to the squad that went 13-4 and won the NFC North two seasons ago, which was Kevin O'Connell's first year as head coach.

As that Kirk Cousins-led group exited the postseason early with a Wild Card Round loss to current Vikes QB Daniel Jones and the New York Giants, the most notable thing about that team — outside of engineering the biggest comeback in NFL history, that is — was its league-record 11 one-score victories.

Naturally, given the number of close games the Vikings were in that season, their overall point differential wasn't that great. In fact, they finished with a -3 total that year, marking the first time a team with 12 wins ended the year in the negative.

But this season has been vastly different, at least in terms of the point totals. While the Vikings have taken another seven one-point wins thus far this year, their overall point differential is +117, the third-best in the NFC behind only the Lions (+177) and Eagles (+122).

As such, Minnesota would have to be outscored by 120 points over the next three weeks to end with the same point differential they had two years ago. This Vikings team is far more dominant and now has to hope for a better postseason result.

Minnesota hasn't won in Seattle since 2006, going 0-5 in that stretch

As mentioned, the next team Minnesota must defeat in order to accomplish its goal of winning out is the Seattle Seahawks, who are coming off an ugly 30-13 loss at home to the Green Bay Packers.

Once nearly unbeatable at home, the Seahawks haven't been nearly as strong in that regard in recent years. Since the start of the 2021 season, Seattle has gone just 16-17 at Lumen Field and has won just three of eight there this year, which bodes well for the Vikings on Sunday.

That said, though, the Pacific Northwest hasn't been kind to Minnesota recently. In fact, the Vikings haven't won in Seattle since 2006, going 0-5 since then. So, if they want to accomplish their goal of winning out, they'll obviously need to end this losing streak.