Months earlier than the Minnesota Vikings gained 14 of their first 16 video games of the continued season, people equivalent to John Breech of CBS Sports activities predicted that Minnesota would end Week 18 within the basement of the NFC North standings.
Forward of the upcoming “Sunday Evening Soccer” sport between Minnesota and the 14-2 Detroit Lions that can decide the No. 1 seed for the NFC playoffs, Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell revealed throughout an look on the “Professional Soccer Speak Reside” program that he realized his membership might be a Tremendous Bowl LIX contender “throughout the ramp-up interval the primary couple days” of coaching camp.
“We had been very calculated and who we delivered to this workforce, the kind of participant, the kind of mentality they might have, we needed to actually deliver guys right here that had been good, robust, liked soccer, liked being nice teammates due to what we constructed right here,” O’Connell advised PFT’s Mike Florio.
O’Connell beforehand didn’t hide
that he was aggravated with how the Atlanta Falcons and former Minnesota beginning quarterback Kirk Cousins got here to a contract agreement early into free company final March. The Vikings responded by signing journeyman Sam Darnold to a one-year deal, and he has flourished below O’Connell as J.J. McCarthy has spent his rookie season recovering from an entire meniscus repair.
In response to Pro Football Reference, Darnold is ranked fourth within the NFL with 4,153 passing yards, fifth with 35 landing passes and fifth with a 106.4 passer ranking this season. Some around the league imagine the Vikings will retain Darnold’s rights for subsequent season through the franchise tag to allow them to play him over McCarthy via a minimum of January 2026.
“I do imagine these gamers are likely to thrive and we get sufficient of these guys in that locker room with the management and the gamers we already had in it,” O’Connell added concerning the squad the Vikings constructed final offseason. “I assumed it might be very a lot attainable for us to have success after which if we constructed it the best method in that darkness when there was no mild shining on this workforce in any respect I believe these groups might be harmful once they’re cast in sort of the background and also you simply carry on making ready, carry on rising. And now we get a possibility to play on the large stage, within the vibrant lights of ‘Sunday Evening Soccer’ to complete the season.”
As of Wednesday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook listed the Vikings as 2.5-point underdogs for the prime-time matchup at Detroit’s Ford Subject. One could wish to assume twice about betting in opposition to O’Connell and Co. regardless that Minnesota suffered a 31-29 residence loss to the Lions on Oct. 20.
