'Show me somebody that had a better game' Kevin O'Connell praises QB Sam Darnold after career defining performance
If you watched the Minnesota Vikings survive at Soldier Field against the Chicago Bears, you might not have realized that quarterback Sam Darnold had a career defining performance. That's the wild thing. Darnold was phenomenal throughout the game and didn't put the ball in harm's way one time going 22-34 for 330 yards and two […]
If you watched the Minnesota Vikings survive at Soldier Field against the Chicago Bears, you might not have realized that quarterback Sam Darnold had a career defining performance.
That's the wild thing. Darnold was phenomenal throughout the game and didn't put the ball in harm's way one time going 22-34 for 330 yards and two touchdowns. How could he be overlooked?
Well, the announcers didn't notice and if they did, they certainly didn't say so.
Sam Darnold has career defining performance
Based on how the announcers called the game, you would have thought that Bears wuarterback Caleb Williams was a Hall of Famer and Darnold was a backup scrub. Kevin Kugler and Daryl Johnston were praising every element of what Williams did while not even flinching at Darnold's trememdous performance.
Throughout the game, Darnold was navigating the pocket in a brilliant way, creating time for the Vikings' receivers to have enough time to get open on their longer developing routes. Darnold's passing chart from Next Gen Stats was phenomenal.
It's a very impressive passing chart from Darnold. He went 4-7 on throws over 15 yards down the field, while also being 2-2 on throws over 25 yards. Whatever the Vikings asked of Darnold, he delivered. The performance was one that impressed head coach Kevin O'Connell who challeged the press to show him someone who had a better game.
“Yeah, I thought across the board, show me somebody that had a better game at the quarterback position. Maybe the guy on the other sideline to be honest. He played his tail off. But that kind of game under those circumstances on the road in the NFC North where at any point in time with the type of game he had had up until that point, there could have been a moment where maybe we gave up the lead, maybe today is not our day. Not only just Sam but our whole team, these guys are a really, really tough group and they're so totally connected and just relentless, even when we cause a lot of the things like giving up an 11-point lead, just kind of the same way it felt like we were complementary throughout a lot of the day with all three phases. It felt like we were kind of trying to recapture just consistency across the board. Credit Chicago; they did a lot of things, made a lot of plays to — basically every play they needed to make to come back from 11 points down, they did. We had to then respond, and we did. Getting out of here with a win, hard fought. Credit to those guys for battling on the other sideline, and I thought (Bears QB) Caleb (Williams) was fantastic today.”
Darnold has shown he's the right guy for the Vikings in how well he's playing, but most importantly his mental mindset and fortitude. That came to a head in overtime when the Vikings got backed up after both a first down sack and a holding call on Blake Brandel. It didn't phase Darnold and his mindset in overtime exemplified that.
“Just execute. It's as simple as that. Just one play at a time. That's what — I think I tell the guys that every single time in the huddle, but that's my mindset every single time I'm out there on the field, especially in that situation. You're expecting to recover the onside kick and take some knees, so your mindset, you've got to get ready to go back out there and execute at a high level, and I feel like our offense did a really good job of that, obviously, in overtime.”
Darnold didn't just have a great game, he's had a great season. He has 21 touchdowns and 10 interceptions to pair with 2,717 yards. He's navigated the season really well and generated explosive plays consistently. They are in this position sitting at 9-2 because of Darnold's success at quarterback. If he continues this level of play paired with the Vikings' success on defense, they can certainly contend to win a Super Bowl.
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