Analysis: Kevin O’Connell’s reputation as a QB whisperer for the Vikings is put to the test

The prevailing reason for skepticism about the 2024 Vikings, who were projected to win seven games by oddsmakers and widely predicted to finish near the bottom of the NFC North, was their quarterback situation. The team planned for Sam Darnold, the third overall pick in 2018 who’d come to the Vikings on a one-year deal, to lead their offense until rookie J.J. McCarthy was ready; Darnold’s misadventures as a NFL starter led to public doubt about whether it would work.

You know how it turned out: Darnold threw 35 touchdown passes while reaching the first Pro Bowl of his career, the Vikings went 14-3 while playing for the NFC’s No. 1 seed in the final game of the regular season, and Kevin O’Connell won NFL Coach of the Year honors for his work rehabilitating a former highly-drafted quarterback whose career had gone sideways.

The term “quarterback whisperer” quickly became affixed to O’Connell; his two 2024 pupils, Darnold and Daniel Jones, reaped a massive surplus from their time in Minnesota. Darnold signed a three-year, $100.5 million contract with Seattle after the season, while Jones, who’d joined the Vikings’ practice squad last November after his release from the Giants, has the Colts off to a 2-0 start after he signed with Indianapolis and beat out Anthony Richardson for the starting job.

The two former Vikings quarterbacks have performed more effectively through two games than McCarthy, the 22-year-old whose potential ultimately tempered the team’s interest in a reunion with Darnold or Jones (or a one-year fling with Aaron Rodgers). The Vikings committed to McCarthy, the No. 10 pick in the 2024 draft, with the understanding his development would happen over months and years, not weeks and days.

“This is going to be a process for our team,” O’Connell said after the Vikings’ 22-6 loss to the Falcons on Sunday night. “Sometimes, the fundamentals are going to be right, the technique is going to be right, but he’s learning on the fly right now.”

Monday’s news that McCarthy sprained his right ankle means the Vikings will be without their starting QB for at least a week, and possibly longer as they see how he responds to treatment. It means, at least for the time being, their success will hinge on another former first-round pick and what he can do under O’Connell.

Carson Wentz’s situation is different than Darnold’s and Jones’, both because of his age (at 32, he’s four years older than both QBs) and career arc (the Vikings will be the sixth team for which he’s started a game in as many years). His time as the starter could also be shorter than Darnold’s; O’Connell said Monday the Vikings don’t believe McCarthy will be out long enough to merit a four-week stay on injured reserve. But like the two other former first-rounders who came to Minnesota before him, Wentz will have a prime opportunity to reframe the narratives about his career.

Since then, he’s started just nine games, making a Week 18 start for the Rams in 2023 (against Darnold, of all quarterbacks) before doing the same for a 2024 Chiefs team that was resting starters after clinching home-field advantage in the playoffs. The call from the Vikings, for an Aug. 23 tryout following their final preseason game, landed Wentz a job that came later than he expected it would.

“I honestly didn’t think I would be waiting this long,” he said last month. “Yeah, but it’s just kind of the way it kind of unfolded. Got extra family time, got to play a little more golf than I probably normally do, but staying ready, working out. When I got the call, I felt physically in shape and mentally kind of refreshed, I guess you could say, because I had that extra time. I fully expected to play the season. Didn’t know when that call would happen, or where, but God worked it out. And here we go.”

In Minnesota, Wentz is working with Josh McCown (his backup during his final season with the Eagles). He’ll run a system that’s similar to the one he learned with the Rams two years ago, and he’ll have a head coach whose favorite subject might be what he calls “the quarterback journey,” the evolution each passer undergoes throughout his career.

“I was in the NFC East early on in his career, where he had some real dominant times there playing for the Eagles,” O’Connell said last month. “And then as his journey has kind of gone on from there, I think he’s been exposed to some really good systems, both last year in Kansas City and previously in L.A. I think he’s really smart. He has the physical presence of a guy that big and strong, and that applies to how he’s played and had success in this league. But also there’s a there’s an above-the-neck quality to him. His ability to come in and pick up things or quickly apply some of his previous things he knew from other systems is a huge bonus.”

Whether it’s a week, a month or more, Wentz has an opportunity to inject some life into a career that’s in a different spot than when he became an MVP candidate with the Eagles. He’ll become the next veteran QB to partner with O’Connell, as the Vikings turn command of their offense over to him while they wait for McCarthy to recover from injury.