When the NFL playoffs began, few teams were hotter than the Minnesota Vikings. Led by a resurgent Sam Darnold, the 14-2 Vikings appeared poised for a deep postseason run. But then came the Los Angeles Rams—and they brought everything to a screeching halt.
In the Wild Card round, the Rams delivered a suffocating defensive performance that turned Darnold’s breakout season into a bitter ending. Los Angeles tied an NFL playoff record by sacking the veteran quarterback nine times in a commanding 27-9 victory.
Los Angeles Rams Defense Overwhelms Darnold, Shuts Down Vikings’ Cinderella Run
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“They played man and tried to play some ‘robber’ stuff… it gave us some troubles. It gave me some troubles, personally,” Darnold later admitted to The Athletic’s Michael Silver. That defensive strategy, executed flawlessly by the Rams, mirrored the same blueprint that had flustered Darnold in Minnesota’s Week 18 loss to Detroit.
By the time the Rams took the field in the postseason, they had learned from that tape—and weaponized it.
“For lack of a better term, we laid an egg as an offense,” Darnold said. “I felt like we were a really good team, but at the end of the day… when you don’t win the whole thing, you failed.”
While Darnold shouldered the blame, it was the Rams who earned the spotlight. They dominated in the trenches, collapsed the pocket repeatedly, and showcased a defensive unit capable of carrying a playoff push. The win also reaffirmed Los Angeles’ shift toward building from the front. With emerging stars like Kobie Turner and Byron Young pressuring quarterbacks and a physical secondary executing Chris Shula’s man-heavy schemes, the Rams proved they didn’t need star names to play like one of the league’s toughest defenses.
Darnold finished the game with modest numbers—245 yards and one touchdown—but never looked comfortable. The Rams took away time, space, and rhythm, delivering the type of complete defensive effort that can define a postseason.
While Minnesota turned to rookie J.J. McCarthy this offseason, Los Angeles showed once again that playoff games are won up front—and that their defensive identity remains very much intact.
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