The Minnesota Vikings are casting their lot with quarterback Sam Darnold.
Darnold's three interceptions -- and a fourth negated by penalty -- were cause for concern on Sunday, and even though the Vikings significantly outgained the Jaguars, they had to hang on for a 12-7 victory in Jacksonville.
With the Vikings moving to 7-2, head coach Kevin O'Connell doesn't see a need for a potential quarterback change.
"We're still 100% confident in Sam," O'Connell said, via ESPN. "It would be craziness not to be."
Darnold finished the game 24-of-38 passing for 241 yards, zero TDs and the three picks. He also rushed seven times for 28 yards. All three of his picks on Sunday came when targeting star wide receiver Justin Jefferson. The first one went off Jefferson's hands, but Darnold's next two appeared to be poorly placed.
"Whenever you turn the ball over, you have to have a next-play mentality," Darnold said, per ESPN. "Being able to understand what happened and just moving on. It's as simple as that.
"When those things do happen … I have full faith our defense is going to go out there and get a stop, and we'll get the ball right back and go down and score."
Except they never did. The Vikings defense saved the day.
Perhaps the story would be different had the Vikings not received a 4-for-4 performance from John Parker Romo in his NFL kicking debut and had Minnesota's defense not forced three turnovers in the final six-plus minutes. And it certainly might be a different conversation had first-round QB J.J. McCarthy not suffered season-ending knee injury in the preseason.
But either way, O'Connell said he had "not one" thought of replacing Darnold on Sunday with backup Nick Mullens.
"In fact, I was looking at it as a great opportunity to see growth and continue to move the team," O'Connell said, per the team's official website. "We're going to check back on this moment and use it the right way, and Sam is going to be better off for it. I truly do believe that."
And this doesn't appear to be standard coachspeak. O'Connell's ribald postgame message to his players appeared to back up what he said to the media.
The coach said to Darnold, "Sam, everybody in this locker room knows you are the (expletive) guy that's going to take us there."
That comment came after O'Connell lamented the offense moving the ball up and down the field all day but being unable to get in the end zone. Incredibly, the Vikings ran 61 of their 82 offensive plays on the Jaguars' side of the field.
But O'Connell defended Darnold's play on Sunday, even as he's thrown as many interceptions the past two weeks (five) as he did in his first seven starts this season.
"Listen … Sam made a lot of plays, too," O'Connell told reporters. "Ran the offense, got us into some and out of some plays, into the right runs. You know, execution was really gonna come down to the three (interception) plays when you look at the whole day.
"Really, I thought the last two interceptions (were) more so him just trying to make a play, and he's a competitive guy."
Competitive or not, Darnold understands the bottom line. He knows the Vikings aren't going to win too many more games where they turn the ball over three times and fail to score a touchdown.
"I've got to do a lot better job taking care of the football. I think that's obvious," he said. "Just being situationally aware of where we are on the field. First and second down, just being able to put the ball in play and let our guys go run with it.
"I thought I should have done a lot better job of that today, but we'll just look at the tape and learn from it that way."
