The 2024 Minnesota Vikings are easily one of the most surprising teams in the NFL through three weeks, due in large part to the play of quarterback Sam Darnold and the coaching of Kevin O’Connell. On Monday, Good Morning Football, NFL analyst Peter Schrager called the Vikings “the story of the NFL through three weeks” and dubbed O’Connell a Coach of the Year candidate.
The Vikings entered the season with little to no expectation of success from most outlets. They were coming into the season with a rookie quarterback waiting in the wings and a re-tread quarterback who was a draft bust and had bounced around the league, serving as the “bridge” to the rookie whenever his inevitable ascent to the starting position would occur.
Whatever expectations there might have been for the team were further dashed when that rookie quarterback suffered a knee injury and was lost for the year. The knowledge that the Vikings would have to spend the entire season with Darnold at the helm meant, to most, that 2024 was going to be a lost season. Except for the 53 men in the locker room and the head coach Kevin O’Connell.
O’Connell saw something in Darnold, dating back to his days at USC, and was convinced that Darnold would do well in his system. It was a gamble and one that, at least through the first three weeks of the season, is paying huge dividends.
Not only is Sam Darnold playing well, he’s making a case for Comeback Player of the Year with the turnaround he’s made under O’Connell in the Vikings offense. And for that turnaround, along with the 3-0 start, O’Connell himself has begun to receive some high praise.
If the Vikings keep winning — especially like they have the past two weeks — it’s only a matter of time before more join the bandwagon with Schrager.
