Months earlier than the Minnesota Vikings received 14 of their first 16 video games of the continued season, people resembling 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 may 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 may very well be a Tremendous Bowl LIX contender “through the ramp-up interval the primary couple days” of coaching camp.
“We have been very calculated and who we delivered to this staff, the kind of participant, the kind of mentality they might have, we needed to actually convey guys right here that have been sensible, powerful, cherished soccer, cherished being nice teammates due to what we constructed right here,” O’Connell informed 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 underneath 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 ranking this season. Some around the league consider 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 consider 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 in regards to the squad the Vikings constructed final offseason. “I assumed it might be very a lot potential for us to have success after which if we constructed it the suitable method in that darkness when there was no gentle shining on this staff in any respect I believe these groups could be harmful once they’re solid in form of the background and also you simply carry on getting ready, carry on rising. And now we get a chance to play on the large stage, within the vivid 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 Discipline. One could need to suppose twice about betting in opposition to O’Connell and Co. though Minnesota suffered a 31-29 residence loss to the Lions on Oct. 20.
