Months earlier than the Minnesota Vikings received 14 of their first 16 video games of the continuing season, people akin 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 Night time Soccer” recreation 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 “in the course of the ramp-up interval the primary couple days” of coaching camp.
“We have been very calculated and who we dropped at this group, the kind of participant, the kind of mentality they might have, we wished to actually convey guys right here that have been good, robust, beloved soccer, beloved 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 a whole 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 score this season. Some around the league consider the Vikings will retain Darnold’s rights for subsequent season by way of the franchise tag to allow them to play him over McCarthy via at the least January 2026.
“I do consider these gamers are inclined 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 in regards to the squad the Vikings constructed final offseason. “I assumed it could be very a lot doable for us to have success after which if we constructed it the fitting manner in that darkness when there was no mild shining on this group in any respect I feel these groups will be harmful once they’re solid in type of the background and also you simply carry on getting ready, carry on rising. And now we get a possibility to play on the massive stage, within the brilliant lights of ‘Sunday Night time 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 towards O’Connell and Co. regardless that Minnesota suffered a 31-29 house loss to the Lions on Oct. 20.
