Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell said after Monday night’s loss to the Rams that quarterback Sam Darnold has a “special place in my heart” because of the way he played this season. But he acknowledged that Darnold wasn’t good enough in the closing games of the season.

“I just want to say it’s very important we all think about Sam’s body of work, what he was able to do this year, when not many people thought he would be able to lead a team to 14 wins,” O’Connell said. “It did not work out in the end, and I think Sam would be the first one to tell you, could he have played better tonight? I’m sure he would tell you he could have. Could I have coached better? I’m positive I could have.”

For most of the season, Darnold was excellent, playing by far the best football of his career. But the last two games were a 31-9 loss to the Lions in the regular-season finale, and Monday night’s 27-9 loss to the Rams in the wild card round of the playoffs. In those games, Darnold repeatedly wilted under pressure. O’Connell said it wasn’t all on Darnold, but that the offense was nowhere near good enough in the two biggest games of the season.

“Far too many negatives. Really, over the last two weeks, too many negative plays that set you behind,” O’Connell said.

O’Connell said he’s proud of the season the Vikings had, even as they fell short in the end.

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“Very tough feeling in that locker room right now,” O’Connell said. “This team did a lot of special things this year, but we didn’t play well enough to win this football game.”

Now the Vikings have a big offseason ahead of them — one in which Darnold will be a free agent, first-round quarterback J.J. McCarthy will get healthy, and the team will have a big decision to make at quarterback.