This NFL season has seen some major shockers, and several of them have come in the NFC. They’ve altered the football landscape as we know it, especially when it comes to the quarterbacks. Here are four of the biggest surprises in the NFC, including a rundown of how they happened and what they mean going forward.
Sam Darnold is the NFL’s ultimate early season surprise
No one saw this coming, probably not even the Vikings themselves. Darnold was the one highly-drafted quarterback who looked beyond any kind of rehabilitation when he left New York, and his brief stint in Carolina didn’t go much better. Going into this season, Darnold was regarded as a potential high-end backup who would really never be much more than that.
But coach Kevin O’Connell definitely saw something when Minnesota signed Darnold, and his bona fides as a genuine quarterback whisperer are just that. He was forced to speed up Darnold’s rehabilitation process and sent it into fast forward when J.J. McCarthy injured his knee, and the former Jet, Panther and 49er was seen as a placeholder.
The results have been truly remarkable, though. Minnesota entered last week’s game against Detroit as one of the NFL’s few undefeated teams, and Darnold went toe-to-toe with fellow rehab project Jared Goff. Darnold didn’t flinch, even when Minnesota lost a 10-0 lead once the Lions powerful offense got untracked.
The result was a game in which it felt like the last team to have the ball would eke out a win. And while that wasn’t the Vikings, it did tell O’Connell and Minnesota what they have going forward, which is a confident quarterback who now looks like a winner.
Jayden Daniels is elevating the Washington Commanders
It was obvious during the preseason that Daniels had the potential to be very good, but the working assumption was that the Commanders couldn’t possibly overcome their limitations right away due to the many perceived holes in the roster.
But the results haven’t shown that to be true at all. Daniels has elevated Washington consistently right from the start, and anyone who still isn’t sold on him didn’t see the remarkable game he had against Lamar Jackson and the Ravens.
Now we get to see just how much he truly raised up Washington’s level of play, unfortunately. The rib injury Daniels sustained against the Ravens left him unable to throw without experiencing pain, and the Commanders are being understandably cautious with him going forward. Marcus Mariota was able to step into the breach against the lowly Panthers, but the upcoming schedule features games against real NFL teams.
The NFC north is suddenly brutal
How did this happen?? The stereotypes in the NFC North were firmly established—the Bears would never find a quarterback, the Lions would always find ways to lose, Minnesota would hang around the .500 mark, and the Packers would never escape from their post-Aaron Rodgers muddle as the quarterback’s play declined.
Now we can throw those stereotypes out the window. The Vikings ended up undefeated through their first five games, the Lions didn’t flinch in a close one against Minnesota, the Bears have one of the best rookie QBs in the league and the Packers have a new star under center in Jordan Love. To date it’s the toughest division in football, and there are no real signs that’s going to change any time soon.
49ers are stumbling, and it’s starting to look serious
We more or less take it for granted that Kyle Shanahan will always find a way to win, but even Shanahan hasn’t been able to plug all the holes in the dike as one 49er star after another goes down with an injury. From Christian McCaffrey to Brandon Aiyuk, San Francisco’s injury list could fill out a pretty good all-start team.
It’s taking a toll. Suddenly the offense doesn’t look the same, and Brock Purdy’s talent level is being stretched beyond its limits. The silver lining is that the division hasn’t been strong at all, with the Seahawks as the lone team above the .500 mark, but San Francisco can only hang around and be mediocre for so long before this season starts to get away from them.