Darnold gives Vikings another gem with career-high 377 yards in 27-25 win over Packers

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Vikings were ready to start their postgame ritual in honor of a ninth consecutive victory before realizing Sam Darnold was still missing from the raucous locker room because he was finishing his interview with the TV broadcasting crew.

He was well worth the wait, on so many levels.

Darnold added another exploit to his career-altering season, passing for a personal-best 377 yards and three touchdowns as the Vikings hung on to beat the Green Bay Packers 27-25 on Sunday and moved tantalizingly close to the NFC's top seed for the playoffs.

“Just to see how he's ultimately been able to maximize everything about his opportunity, our football team loves him for it,” coach Kevin O'Connell said. “I've had an absolute blast coaching him.”

The Vikings (14-2) set up a final-week showdown in Detroit next Sunday night for both the NFC North title and the first-round-bye-plus-home-field-advantage package that comes with the best record in the conference, finishing 7-1 at U.S. Bank Stadium where their blitz-fueled defense has fed well off the deafening crowd.

“Playing here, our opponents feel that,” said linebacker Blake Cashman, who had a team-leading 11 tackles and 1½ sacks to help keep Packers quarterback Jordan Love from ever finding a rhythm.

Darnold hit Jalen Nailor, Jordan Addison and Cam Akers for scores to raise his passing touchdown total to 35, the fourth-most in NFL history by a player in his debut season with a team.

When Darnold jogged into the locker room after his interview with, of all people, Tom Brady, the seven-time Super Bowl champion and now the lead analyst on Fox, he was doused in water by his teammates and hoisted in the air.

“It was just mayhem,” Darnold said, smiling wide. “I think I blacked out when Aaron Jones grabbed me and lifted me up.”

Love’s only touchdown pass for the Packers (11-5) came with 2:18 left, a 3-yard toss to Malik Heath that trimmed their deficit to two points and reignited the “Go Pack Go!” chants from the green-clad fans mixed in among the purple in another classic edition of this divisional rivalry.

Despite another fierce climb out of a gaping hole against Minnesota this season, following a 31-29 loss in Green Bay on Sept. 29 that started with a 28-0 deficit, the Packers fell to a troubling 0-5 against the top three teams in the NFC.

“We know what type of team we are,” Love said. “There’s just a lot of stuff to clean up.”

The Packers were swept by the Lions, too, and lost their opener in Brazil to the Eagles.

“I can’t sit up here and say, ‘Yeah, we’re on the same level,' if we ain’t beat them,” safety Xavier McKinney said. “We've got to be more on our details. We've got to play cleaner. We've got to start faster.”

Josh Jacobs and Emanuel Wilson rushed for second-half touchdowns to fuel the late surge by the Packers after Will Reichard’s second missed field goal of the game for the Vikings with 9:18 remaining prevented them from pushing the lead to 20.

But with the score too close for comfort and the Packers holding all their timeouts before the two-minute warning, O'Connell didn't hesitate to trust Darnold to win it.

Darnold ran bootlegs for completions for two vital first downs, one to fullback C.J. Ham and one on third-and-2 that Akers snagged just before it hit the turf to force the Packers to use their final timeout. On the play before that, Darnold hit Justin Jefferson in tight coverage for 9 yards on another rollout.

“We can be aggressive, but he's still going to be a great decision-maker,” O'Connell said. “He's playing quarterback at a very, very high level.”

Darnold went 33 for 43 with one interception as the Vikings ran 70 plays for 441 yards, their second-highest total of the season.

He passed Brett Favre (33, Vikings, 2009) and Vinny Testaverde (33, Ravens, 1996) for fourth place in touchdown passes in a debut season. The third overall pick in the 2018 draft by the Jets trails only Matthew Stafford (41, Rams, 2021), Brady (40, Buccaneers, 2020) and Peyton Manning (37, Broncos, 2012). Stafford and Brady won the Super Bowl those years. Manning is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Packers: WR Christian Watson (knee) was inactive. LB Quay Walker (ankle) missed his second straight game and CB Jaire Alexander (knee) was sidelined for the sixth consecutive game and the ninth time this season. ... Two backups, FS Zayne Anderson and DE Brenton Cox, entered the concussion protocol during the game and did not return.

Vikings: Jones (quadriceps) was pulled in the fourth quarter as a precaution, O'Connell said. ... OLB Patrick Jones (knee) limped off after Packers TE Tucker Kraft delivered a low, diving block that drew loud boos after the replay was shown on the video board but no penalty.

Packers: Host Chicago to finish the regular season next Sunday.

Vikings: Visit Detroit next Sunday night to play for the NFC North title and the conference's top seed.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

Minnesota Vikings' Sam Darnold throws during the second half of an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Minnesota Vikings' Sam Darnold talks after an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Minnesota Vikings' Sam Darnold throws while being pressured by Green Bay Packers' Keisean Nixon during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Minnesota Vikings' Camryn Bynum celebrates his fumble recovery with teammates during the first half of an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Green Bay Packers' Keisean Nixon breaks up a pass intended for Minnesota Vikings' Jordan Addison during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Minnesota Vikings' Jalen Nailor reacts after catching a touchdown pass during the first half of an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Green Bay Packers' Jordan Love throws during the second half of an NFL football game against the Minnesota Vikings Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)

Minnesota Vikings' Justin Jefferson catches a pass for a first down during the second half of an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Minnesota Vikings' Sam Darnold throws during the first half of an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)

Minnesota Vikings' Sam Darnold congratulates Cam Akers on a touchdown catch during the second half of an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)

President Joe Biden is bestowing the second highest civilian medal on Liz Cheney and Bennie Thompson, leaders of the congressional investigation into the Capitol riot who Donald Trump has said should be jailed for their roles in the inquiry.

Biden will award the Presidential Citizens Medal to 20 people in a ceremony Thursday at the White House, including Americans who fought for marriage equality, a pioneer in treating wounded soldiers, and two of the president's longtime friends, former Sens. Ted Kaufman, D-Del., and Chris Dodd, D-Conn.

“President Biden believes these Americans are bonded by their common decency and commitment to serving others,” the White House said in a statement. “The country is better because of their dedication and sacrifice.”

Biden last year honored people who were involved in defending the Capitol from a mob of angry Trump supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, or who helped safeguard the will of American voters during the 2020 presidential election, when Trump tried and failed to overturn the results.

Cheney, a former Wyoming congresswoman, and Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, led the House committee that investigated the insurrection. The committee's final report asserted that Trump criminally engaged in a “multi-part conspiracy” to overturn the lawful results of the election he lost to Biden and failed to act to stop his supporters from attacking the Capitol. Thompson wrote that Trump “lit that fire.”

Cheney later said she would vote for Democrat Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential race and campaigned with the Democratic nominee, raising Trump's ire. Biden has been considering whether to offer preemptive pardons to Cheney and others Trump has targeted.

Trump, who won the 2024 election and will take office Jan. 20, still refuses to back away from his lies about the 2020 presidential race and has said he would pardon the rioters once he is back in the White House.

During an interview with NBC's “Meet the Press,” the president-elect said that “Cheney did something that’s inexcusable, along with Thompson and the people on the un-select committee of political thugs and, you know, creeps," claiming without evidence they “deleted and destroyed” testimony they collected.

“Honestly, they should go to jail,” he said.

Biden is also giving the award to attorney Mary Bonauto, who fought to legalize same-sex marriage, and Evan Wolfson, a leader of the marriage equality movement.

Other honorees include Frank Butler, who set new standards for using tourniquets on war injuries; Diane Carlson Evans, an Army nurse during the Vietnam War who founded the Vietnam Women’s Memorial Foundation; and Eleanor Smeal, an activist who led women's rights protests in the 1970s and fought for equal pay.

He's also giving the award to photographer Bobby Sager, academics Thomas Vallely and Paula Wallace, and Frances Visco, the president of the National Breast Cancer Coalition.

Other former lawmakers being honored include former Sen. Bill Bradley, D-N.J.; former Sen. Nancy Kassebaum, the first woman to represent Kansas; and former Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., who championed gun safety measures after her son and husband were shot to death.

Biden will honor four people posthumously: Joseph Galloway, a former war correspondent who wrote about the first major battle in Vietnam in the book “We Were Soldiers Once … and Young"; civil rights advocate and attorney Louis Lorenzo Redding; former Delaware judge Collins Seitz; and Mitsuye Endo Tsutsumi, who was held with other Japanese Americans during World War II and challenged the detention.

The Presidential Citizens Medal was created by President Richard Nixon in 1969 and is the country’s second highest civilian honor after the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It recognizes people who “performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens.”

This combo photo shows Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, D-Miss., speaking during the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, in Chicago, left; and Former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney speaking during a town hall with Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris at The People's Light in Malvern, Pa., Monday, Oct. 21, 2024, right. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley/Matt Rourke)

President Joe Biden makes a statement on the latest developments in New Orleans from Camp David, Md., Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)