Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell recently got a little emotional when asked about his new starting quarterback Sam Darnold.
On Sunday, Darnold led the Vikings to a 23-17 win over the San Francisco 49ers at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minn. The victory against Darnold’s former team bumped Minnesota’s record up to 2-0.
After the game, O’Connell was beaming with pride while talking about Darnold’s resurgence with the Vikings through the first two weeks of the 2024 season.
“Playing against his former team,” said O’Connell. “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. Awesome to watch him go do that thing. I’m really proud of Sam Darnold.”
This was the moment where Kevin O’Connell seemed to get a little emotional talking about Sam Darnold’s performance today pic.twitter.com/tTj4kGfVjo
— Will Ragatz (@WillRagatz) September 15, 2024
O’Connell may have been speaking from personal experience given that he himself struggled to find a place in the NFL years ago. The former San Diego State QB played just one season with the New England Patriots in 2008. He later had brief stints with the New York Jets, Detroit Lions, Miami Dolphins, and San Diego Chargers but never got the opportunity to take the field again.
Like his Vikings coach, Darnold has had his fair share of bumps in the NFL thus far. After falling out of favor with the Jets, the former No. 3 overall pick has bounced around and is now on his fourth team in five years.
If Darnold continues to play like he did in Weeks 1 and 2, he may have finally found a home in Minnesota. Darnold has completed 72% of his passes thus far for 476 yards with 4 touchdowns across a pair of Vikings wins.
