Did Acknowledging Sam Darnold’s Super Bowl Success Get Vikings GM Fired?

Sam Darnold signed with the Seattle Seahawks after he understood the Minnesota Vikings preferred JJ McCarthy despite his stellar season.

Did Acknowledging Sam Darnold’s Super Bowl Success Get Vikings GM Fired?

Sam Darnold and former Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah (Image via ESPN Insights/Dov Kleiman/X)

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Sam Darnold started his resurgence with the Minnesota Vikings when GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and head coach Kevin O’Connell brought the beleaguered quarterback in to back up rookie JJ McCarthy.

The idea was that the 2018 third-overall pick would help ease their newest draft pick into the league, but that plan did not work out once the Michigan Wolverine ended his season before his career began. Darnold led the Vikings to the playoffs, but his struggles to avoid sacks became their undoing. Maybe that urged the franchise to let the USC star walk.

They wanted to start McCarthy, and the 28-year-old decided it was better to sign elsewhere. With the Seattle Seahawks, Sam Darnold surprised many with his regular-season exploits.

He was not in the MVP conversations, but did what was expected to eventually get his revenge on the Rams after defeating them in the NFC Championship game this time.

Now, as he prepares to take on the New England Patriots, the Minnesota Vikings dropped a bombshell earlier by firing Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.

Firing a GM 26 days after ending their season is uncharacteristic of any franchise. It was also reported that the 44-year-old was on a scouting trip at the Senior Bowl in Alabama when he was informed of their decision.

Then it dawned on many that Adofo-Mensah’s latest interview, in which he responded to questions about Sam Darnold, may have contributed to his losing his job.

Kwesi Adofo-Mensah seemingly admitted to mistake letting Sam Darnold walk

GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah was at the Minnesota Vikings’ facilities as recently as a day ago. Since it was after Sam Darnold reached Super Bowl 60, reporters asked the GM what he felt about the entire situation with his former QB now in the biggest game of the season.

There are nights you wake up and stare at the ceiling and ask yourself. I always go back to the process and what we thought at the time… I still understand why we did what we did. The results maybe didn’t play out the way we wanted them to. But ultimately, I think at the end of the day, I think we could have executed in certain places.

Kwesi Adofo-Mensah replied

The reason why the now-former GM replied in this candid manner was that the reporter who fielded this question specifically asked Adofo-Mensah what he felt when letting Darnold walk to save millions, but still end up with a poor season.

It seems this reply was probably the last straw for the owners, as many Vikings fans were irate that their GM would openly acknowledge a mistake that may have cost them a Super Bowl.

Sam Darnold still has to prove his naysayers in Super Bowl 60, says Ryan Clark

Now that Sam Darnold has put the Minnesota Vikings’ decision to not give him a contract behind him, the panel of First Take discussed whether the QB was still under pressure to prove his critics wrong.

Sam Darnold with the NFC Championship trophy
Sam Darnold with the NFC Championship trophy (Image via La Catedral Deportiva/X)

Sam Darnold gets to totally rewrite his legacy if he wins this game… He’s grown in a way where he can be the reason that they go out and win a Super Bowl.

Ryan Clark said

The Super Bowl champion believes that there are still many who feel that Darnold was not the reason the Seattle Seahawks are in the biggest game of this season. Rather, it was the rest of the team that carried him.

Ryan Clark asserted that the California native has to pass this last test to prove to those naysayers that he was who everyone thought he would be coming out of USC.

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