Looking back on our bold predictions for the Vikings 2024 offense that went way above all expectations

The Minnesota Vikings 2024 season was an excellent one that ended on a sour note. After a 14-2 start, the Vikings lost their final two games to the only two teams they failed to beat in the regular season. Throughout the year, the Vikings were a juggernaut offensively. Led by quarterback Sam Darnold, they finished […]

Tyler Forness — NFL & College Football News Writer
Add as preferred source on Google
Dec 8, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Vikings running back Aaron Jones (33) celebrates his running touchdown with quarterback Sam Darnold (14) during the fourth quarter against the Atlanta Falcons at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

The Minnesota Vikings 2024 season was an excellent one that ended on a sour note. After a 14-2 start, the Vikings lost their final two games to the only two teams they failed to beat in the regular season.

Throughout the year, the Vikings were a juggernaut offensively. Led by quarterback Sam Darnold, they finished the season ninth in scoring offense and 12th in total offense with multiple games where they won by double digits, something that has eluded the Vikings over the last decade.

Before the season, we made some bold predictions about the 2024 offense and they were better than expected.

youtube placeholder image

Sam Darnold throws for 4,000 yards: Hit

This is quite an interesting one. When you think of Sam Darnold, great player nor great stats come to mind, but he's never been in a situation like this with the Vikings. For the first time, Darnold will have both a great infrastructure and a supporting cast to help him potentially become the next Geno Smith. 

You can also take a look at the offense in which Darnold is going to run. It's one that you could consider somewhat QB-proof. Despite starting four different quarterbacks, the Vikings still managed to throw for over 4,300 yards. With Darnold's arm talent and the consistency of having one player under center, it will end up making a difference.

In a season where the Vikings had four backup quarterbacks and were behind a lot at the end of the season, they threw for 4,300 yards. Darnold himself threw for 4,319 yards on his own when they had some huge leads, especially early on in the season.

Darnold had a renaissance on the season and is now primed to make a large sum of money on his next contract. Will that be with the Vikings? That answer will come over time.

Justin Jefferson falls just short of 2,000 receiving yards: Hit

The 2023 season was primed to be the year where Jefferson finally broke 2,000 receiving yards but it wasn't meant to be. He pulled his hamstring against the Kansas City Chiefs and missed seven games. He did still amass 1,000 yards receiving yards, becoming the third player in NFL history to reach 1,000 receiving yards in 10 or fewer games played in a single season. 

From a fantasy football perspective, Jefferson is being slightly undervalued. The thinking is that his production will see a dip based on who is playing quarterback. Last season, Jefferson played five games with Kirk Cousins and five games with three other quarterbacks. His splits were pretty similar across the board, which tells me that having a better quarterback than the backups the team started last season should have him continuing his historic levels of production.

Jefferson was once again a top receiver in the National Football League. He made first-team All-Pro for the second time in his career and is a starter in the Pro Bowl. Jefferson caught 103 passes for 1,533 yards and 10 touchdowns, marking his fifth-consecutive season where he passed 1,000 yards receiving.

Jefferson was the catalyst for the Vikings' offense this season, including the games where he didn't have a ton of production because his gravity opened things up for the rest of the offense. The first game against the Chicago Bears had Jefferson be the sole focus of the defense where three others had over 100 yards from scrimmage. That's real gravity.

Ty Chandler leads the team in rushing: Miss

The Vikings have a renewed focus on the running game this season. They brought in Aaron Jones and put Blake Brandel as the starting left guard over Ezra Cleveland who they traded last year before the trade deadline.

Chandler had an explosive game against the Cincinnati Bengals last year and the Vikings are very high on the 2022 fifth-round pick and they should be. He's got elite speed and explosiveness for a running back. Jones is going to be the lead back, but he's only played in every game during two of his seven seasons. That, along with an expected share in carries, will allow Chandler to take a step forward.

Chandler was a really big miss for me and it's all due to his performance early on. He was primed to be the RB2 behind Jones and was treated as such early on, including a 10 carry, 82 yard performance in week two against the San Francisco 49ers. Ultimately, he couldn't keep it up and had just 14 carries after the bye week.

Ed Ingram allows less than 30 pressures: Hit/Miss

This one is not going to be popular but I seem to be one of the few that believes in Ingram. Last year, I predicted that Ed Ingram would cut his pressures in half. He didn't cut them in half, but did by a third going from 63 to 42. Going into his third season, Ingram has the potential to be a really good starting guard in the NFL. His biggest issue has been consistency. If he can get the consistency down, the sky is the limit.

It depends on how you want to quantify this one. Ingram did have 24 pressures on the season, but he got replaced after starting the first nine games. Seeing that he didn't play the final eight games on offense, the spirit of the prediction isn't there. Ingram didn't take the step forward I believed he would.

Related Articles