Souhan: Sam Darnold’s resurgence under Kevin O’Connell shouldn’t be a surprise

Sam Darnold may never pass this way again.

But his coach has been here before.

Darnold has just completed the best three-game stretch of his career. He leads the NFL in passing touchdowns with eight, and is one of the major reasons the Vikings are tied for the best record and have the second-best point differential in the NFL after three weeks.

His might be the best story in the NFL, a story that was preserved when, on Monday, the Vikings announced that he suffered only a bruised left knee against the Texans and should be able to practice fully this week and play at Green Bay on Sunday.

Because Darnold has previously displayed spurts of competence, the key to his story in 2024 might not be who he is, but for whom he plays.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Darnold is one of two quarterbacks in the Super Bowl era to produce two or more passing touchdowns while winning each of his first three games with a team.

The other?

The Rams’ Matthew Stafford in 2021.

The offensive coordinator of the Rams that season?

Kevin O’Connell, the current coach of the Vikings.

In Stafford’s first three games with the Rams, he produced nine touchdowns, threw one interception, and completed 70.2% of his passes for 942 yards. He took three sacks and rushed nine times for minus-6 yards.

In Darnold’s first three games with the Vikings, he has thrown eight touchdown passes and two interceptions while completing 67.9% of his passes for 657 yards. He has taken eight sacks and rushed eight times for 35 yards.

Stafford was even more efficient and productive than Darnold, but Stafford had been an entrenched starter with the Lions before being traded to the Rams, and joined a team with high expectations.

Darnold was considered a draft bust who signed with Minnesota to keep the pocket warm for first-round draft pick J.J. McCarthy.

The true measure of Darnold’s emergence this season was the crowd reaction on Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium, as the Vikings moved to 3-0 with a 34-7 victory over a quality Houston Texans team.

When Darnold grabbed his left leg and topped over, there were loud groans. When he returned to the field after missing one play, the crowd gave him an ovation and chanted his name. Darnold would say that the reaction meant “everything to him.”

Only a couple of months ago, Vikings fans were itching to see McCarthy. Now McCarthy’s season-ending knee injury isn’t even the subject of casual conversations.

How does Darnold’s three-game stretch of excellence compare to the other quality stretches in his career?

There have been four.

As a rookie, in 2018, he was fairly efficient in Weeks 4 through 6, completing 59.3% of his passes with six touchdowns and two interceptions for a terrible Jets team.

In 2019, Darnold regained the starting job with the Jets, and in the last three games of the season completed 60.6% of his passes, with four touchdowns and two interceptions, while winning the last two games.

As the Panthers’ starter at the beginning of the 2021 season, Darnold, in the first three games, completed 68% with three touchdowns and one interception as the Panthers started 3-0.

Late in the 2022 season, Darnold regained the Panthers’ starting job, and in Games 14-16, completed 63% of his passes with five touchdowns and one interception.

Optimists noted that Darnold had never played for an outstanding offensive coaching staff or with a receiver like Justin Jefferson before. The optimists, for once, were right.

Through three games, Darnold looks like a quality NFL quarterback in an ideal situation. He has excelled even with injuries to two of his three top receivers, No. 2 wideout Jordan Addison and tight end T.J. Hockenson.

For quarterbacks on good teams, the challenges only become more daunting.

Can Sammy September become Mr. October?

Is it possible that, given O’Connell’s work with Stafford and Kirk Cousins, the best is yet to come for Sam Darnold and the Vikings?