Terry Bradshaw: Vikings Made Mistake Letting Sam Darnold Sign With Seahawks

Quarterback Sam Darnold and the Seattle Seahawks host the Minnesota Vikings in Week 13. The significance? The Vikings let Darnold walk after he led them to a 14-win season and earned a Pro Bowl nod in favor of 2024 first-rounder J.J. McCarthy.

To date, this decision has blown up in Minnesota's face, with the Seahawks 8-3 and the Vikings 4-7 this season. Terry Brashaw emphasized the mistake that the Vikings made on Sunday's "FOX NFL Kickoff."

"What we failed to realize is that this is [McCarthy's first] year [starting], and it takes a while," Bradshaw said. "I don't care who or where you're playing, it takes a while, and I think McCarthy's not quite ready. And I do believe — and I said this from the very beginning — I thought that Darnold should've stayed at least one more year while they made sure they had their backup. But he wanted the money, and he left, and good for him."

McCarthy tore his meniscus in the 2024 preseason, forcing the quarterback to miss his rookie season. In McCarthy's place, Darnold had the best season of his NFL career for the Vikings, posting 4,319 passing yards, 35 passing touchdowns, 12 interceptions and a 102.5 passer rating, while completing 66.2% of his passes.

Then, after Darnold completed just 43.9% of his passes in a Week 18 loss to the Detroit Lions (had the Vikings won that game, they would've won the NFC North and been the No. 1 seed in the NFC) and Minnesota scored just nine points in its NFC wild-card round loss to the Los Angeles Rams, the team chose to not re-sign Darnold. He landed a three-year, $100.5 million deal with the Seahawks.

Through 11 games this season, Darnold has totaled 2,785 passing yards, 19 passing touchdowns, 10 interceptions and a 106.2 passer rating for the Seahawks, while completing 69.5% of his passes. His passer rating and completion percentage are career bests.

As for the Vikings, McCarthy has appeared in only six games due to an ankle injury and will miss Week 13 due to a concussion. He has a 57.9 passer rating, has completed just 54.1% of his passes and thrown 10 interceptions. Minnesota is 3.5 games out of the third NFC wild-card seed.

Catch Darnold and the Seahawks play the quarterback's former team at 4:05 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app.

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Minnesota Vikings

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Sam Darnold