Kevin O’Connell Is Proud of One Guy
An emotional Kevin O’Connell stepped in front of the media representatives after Sunday’s home opener, just a few minutes after the final whistle in the game against the San Francisco 49ers. The Vikings were underdogs when the reigning NFC champions arrived. When the beaten 49ers traveled back to California, the transition-year Vikings were suddenly at the top of the NFC North with the first 2-0 record since 2016.
Kevin O’Connell Is Proud of One Guy
O’Connell is calling the shots from the sidelines, but someone has to execute them on the field. That person is Sam Darnold, the third-overall pick from the 2018 draft. Three years with the Jets and two years with the Panthers were underwhelming, and he took a step back, holding the clipboard in San Francisco in 2023.
That year might have helped him turn his career around, and the 49ers saw the final result of his transformation but they surely didn’t like it very much. Darnold was dealing for the second straight week, throwing some dimes and continuing to look comfortable in the Twin Cities.
That development brought O’Connell pretty close to tears in his postgame press conference when he was talking about his new QB1 and the adversity he has overcome.
Sam Darnold against his former team, just the amount of work that goes into that position on your quarterback journey when everybody decides that you cannot play; we always believed in him, and [it] felt awesome to watch him do that thing so I’m really proud of Sam Darnold.
All of that, of course, was said with a truly emotional voice.
O’Connell knows how hard the business is. A quarterback himself, he was a third-round draft choice in 2008, joining Tom Brady in New England. Instead of reaching the heights of the sport, he bounced around on numerous teams as a depth quarterback. He was signed at one point or another by the Patriots, Lions, Jets (twice), Dolphins, and Chargers.
His playing career ended rather unceremoniously. He played in two games and threw six passes for 23 yards before becoming a private quarterback coach. After a couple of years, he joined the coaching staff in Cleveland as the QB coach, trying to fix Johnny Manziel.
Stints with the 49ers, in Washington, and with Sean McVay’s Rams ultimately led him to Minnesota, where he reunited with his former QB, Kirk Cousins. Darnold is his second real starting quarterback if we ignore last year’s QB carousel.
O’Connell can relate to a quarterback who was deemed not good enough for the NFL, and helping Darnold revive his career must feel great for the 39-year-old.
Through two games with the Vikings, both wins, Darnold threw for 465 yards and four touchdowns. While he has two interceptions on his Vikings resume, neither was an alarming decision, as Fred Warner and Dexter Lawrence simply made outstanding defensive plays.
Possibly his best moment came on Sunday in Week 2, when he guided the Vikings on a clutch field goal drive with multiple third-down conversions despite playing without Jordan Addison and T.J. Hockenson. Justin Jefferson had also left the game, so the duo of O’Connell and Darnold orchestrated an offense with Brandon Powell, Jalen Nailor, and Johnny Mundt.
The sky is the limit once those three primary playmakers return to the offense.
O’Connell and Darnold will lead the offense again on Sunday when C.J. Stroud’s Texans come to Minnesota. Danielle Hunter and Stefon Diggs return to U.S. Bank Stadium.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference helped with this article.
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Janik Eckardt is a football fan who likes numbers and stats. The Vikings became his favorite team despite their quarterback at the time, Christian Ponder. He is a walking soccer encyclopedia, loves watching sitcoms, and prefers Classic rock over other genres. Follow him on Twitter if you like the Vikings: @JanikEckardt