Souhan: Kevin O’Connell’s task this week is to fix Sam Darnold ... and fast

The quarterback whisperer may need to raise his voice.

Sam Darnold has been the defining challenge of Kevin O’Connell’s coaching career. Now O’Connell faces the greatest challenge within that challenge: Retraining Darnold in one week.

Sunday in Detroit, Darnold imploded. He missed at least four open receivers for touchdowns. He compiled his lowest completion percentage of the season, despite facing a defense that has been terrible for a month.

His mechanics were a mess, causing him to throw the ball too high, sometimes because he was throwing off of his back foot, sometimes for no apparent reason.

For Darnold’s mechanics to desert him, he had to be suffering from nerves, or failing to harness adrenaline.

Now he’ll be asked to lead the Vikings in his first playoff game, a situation that should prompt nerves and adrenaline, against an excellent team and a better defense than the one he just faced in Detroit.

O’Connell improved Kirk Cousins. He won games with Josh Dobbs and Jaren Hall. He performed a football miracle with Darnold.

Now the assignment changes. Can O’Connell reconstitute a quarterback’s psyche in a matter of days?

“My confidence level that we can get him back on track is as high as it could be,” O’Connell said Monday. “I know our coaches feel the same way, and I know, most importantly, his teammates feel the same way.”

O’Connell is almost required to provide such an answer, unless he were ready to bench Darnold, and that is not an option.

O’Connell’s more interesting answer came in response to this question: Does he address Darnold’s mindset or mechanics first, or are the two married?

“That’s a great — that is, honestly, a great way to put it,” he said. “It’s a little bit of both. Mindset and mechanics can intertwine, with previous plays impacting the next.”

Darnold missed throws early and often on Sunday. That led to him being required to make more difficult throws in obvious passing downs, and lacking confidence, and pressing to make up for his mistakes.

Everyone who’s ever tried to play golf has experienced this. Trying too hard does not help you, and every bad shot can lead to a series of bad shots, and thinking about those shots can doom the next.

Positive thoughts may not help you, but negative thoughts will crush your spirit.

“Even though we were able to make some plays, there were some plays that could have changed the rhythm and the momentum of that game, especially in that kind of environment,” O’Connell said. “If you can make one or two or three of those opportunities work, maybe it looks a little different. Maybe the energy is a little bit different.

“Specifically regarding Sam, the kind of year he’s had and the way he’s responded to any moments of adversity, I’m really excited to get to work with him this week.”

Darnold knows he is playing for his future. He is playing for tens of millions of dollars, a spot on the Vikings’ roster, and, should he win the Super Bowl, eternal fame.

The greats can channel such ambitions into performance and production. The greats can motivate themselves after a bad performance.

Darnold has rallied twice this season when a realist would have worried that he was reverting to his former form — after his poor performances against the Jets and Jaguars.

This challenge feels different. He knows he let his teammates down on Sunday, and he knows that there will be no opportunity to recover if he is the reason the Vikings lose on Monday.

So O’Connell needs to coach Darnold on everything from footwork to pregame jitters.

The modern term for this is “holistic.”

The football term for this may be “desperate.”

“It’s my job to start with me and work my way out from there,” O’Connell said.

That’s the right thing for a head coach to say, but O’Connell has proved himself repeatedly as an offensive thinker and quarterback guru, and will be signing a long-term deal with the Vikings sometime this offseason.

Darnold may get only one more chance to prove that he can handle this kind of pressure.