Vikings viral locker room celebration tells Minnesota what to do with Sam Darnold

The question of "What happens with Sam Darnold?" has evolved quite rapidly throughout the 2024 season. After the Minnesota Vikings drafted J.J. McCarthy in the first round after having signed Darnold more than a month earlier to a one-year, $10 million contract, fans wondered what would happen with the former No. 2 pick. But then that question became what would happen after McCarthy's season ended before it began. Then it became what would happen after he got the Vikings off to a hot start and if he would falter or not.

After Sunday with Darnold leading Minnesota to their 14th win and going into Week 18 with a chance to win the NFC North as the No. 2 seed in the conference, the question is now what happens with Darnold after this season. And that's no longer of question of will he have a job — it's now a question of where he'll have a job.

Over the past few weeks, the discourse has been about the Vikings potentially bringing Darnold back, whether they could afford that on a new deal or use the franchise tag on him. He's become arguably the hottest QB commodity of the offseason.

McCarthy, however, is the complicating factor. He should be ready by 2025 but he was raw coming out of Michigan and may be more so without this year of experience. Would there be value of running it back with Darnold, even at an exponentially larger price?

Well, if you ask the Vikings locker room based on what we saw after the win to secure the season sweep of the rival Packers, they have their answer.

Sam Darnold looks like Viking for life after locker room celebration

Darnold was treated like a hero by his Vikings teammates as they went into the Minnesota locker room on Sunday.

Especially with what we've seen forward-facing from McCarthy on social media and otherwise, it has seemed like this Vikings QB room is tight-knit, just like the rest of the locker room. And the chemistry right now with Darnold at the helm is truly immaculate. This is a team that is vibing in a massive way, which is exactly what you want with the postseason looming.

Obviously, those vibes can change and the decision on Darnold could be made easier if it were to go south — that would just be a surprising turn of events considering what we're seeing now. That makes the consideration a bit tougher financially because you'd lose some of the benefits of having a rookie contract to build around. But if it would also risk breaking up this chemistry, would that be worth it?

These are considerations for general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah but Darnold has done one thing without fail this season: He's made the questions change about him by continuously exceeding expectations.