Things got a little feisty on Thursday night when Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell won Coach of the Year.
After he won the award, O’Connell spoke to reporters (likely a pool report) and talked about how quarterback Sam Darnold would be a “huge part” of the Vikings winning a championship.
Needless to say, the above quote sent Twitter/X into a frenzy and it took awhile for things to calm down.
Needless to say, the quotes spread like wildfire and they felt somewhat controversial, especially with J.J. McCarthy waiting in the wins and how things ended with Darnold over the last two games.
After O’Connell made his initial comments, ESPN’s Kevin Seifert asked him about the comments and he clarified them in a major way.
“I don’t necessarily think that’s 100% accurate,” said O’Connell. “It was in the spirit of answering a question about Sam’s season and what he was able to do this year. And then the follow up in regards to what it’s going to take to win a championship.
“Look, you guys know how I feel about Sam. He is a guy that we identified last year as somebody who could come in and be successful. And really, no matter where he was at before he arrived in his quarterback journey, it was about maximizing our time together. And I think we did that and I think it was a very special year for Sam. And what that earned him is, everybody in our league now thinks he’s a bona fide legitimate starting quarterback in our league and can win a lot of football games. He won 14 of them. So he’s earned the right to be a free agent, but we will continue to have ongoing dialogue and discussions with him and his representation as well as being really excited about J.J. McCarthy and where he’s at in his rehab. He’s really hit the ground running as the true offseason has begun.
“I’ve talked about it allseason long, about the depth of that quarterback room this year. But now, we’ve got to see what that room is going to look like as we try to put together the best possible team for 2025. That’s really what the answer should have been, and probably it was closer to that, but that doesn’t take away from my feelings for Sam Darnold or what I believe he accomplished this year and how proud I was to be right alongside with him.”
This whole thing was blown out of proportion, but the comments also weren’t exactly nothing. O’Connell talked last year about wanting to keep Kirk Cousins before he ended up leaving for the Atlanta Falcons.
The initial quotes were likely just raw emotion from O’Connell and nothing more. The clarification after just emphasizes that point even more.
We will have to wait a little bit longer to know whether or not Darnold will return to the Vikings. For now, the only thing we know is that O’Connell loves Darnold.
