‘Those Were Not Sam Darnold Problems’: Kevin O’Connell Takes Blame for Vikings’ Two Biggest Losses

The Minnesota Vikings have moved on from Sam Darnold , however, head coach Kevin O'Connell clearly has not forgotten how his final season with the Vikings ended. Two painful losses in 2024 became easy targets for quarterback blame, especially after Darnold struggled in both games.

Now, O'Connell is pushing back on that narrative. With the Vikings sitting at 4-0 in 2026, Connell offered a striking admission about those losses and took responsibility for what went wrong.

Kevin O'Connell Takes Responsibility for Sam Darnold's Vikings Losses

Connell made the comments on October 7, 2026, while discussing the Vikings' QB situation and the way Darnold was viewed after the 2024 season. Rather than defend every decision from that period, he put the responsibility squarely on himself and the organization.

"Everybody wanted to put, whether it was the win for 1 seed game against Detroit, or the playoff game against LA, those were not Sam Darnold problems, those were Minnesota Vikings problems… everybody wanted to pin those games on Sam, which I thought was unfair. If anything it should kinda be put on me."

That is a notable change in tone compared with how those games were discussed at the time. Darnold became the obvious target after the Vikings lost to the Detroit Lions in Week 18 and then fell to the Los Angeles Rams in the playoffs. The quarterback's mistakes were highly visible; however, the HC now believes the failures went much deeper than one position.

And there is plenty of context behind that admission . O'Connell previously argued that organizations c an fail young quarterbacks before quarterbacks fail organizations. That belief has followed him throughout the J.J. McCarthy saga, particularly after the Vikings traded the former No. 10 overall pick to the Giants on October 5.

McCarthy's departure has put O'Connell under another layer of scrutiny. Minnesota helped build the situation around the quarterback, and the head coach acknowledged Monday that sometimes things simply do not develop as planned.

That makes his latest comments even more interesting. O'Connell is not running from responsibility n ow, just as he did not completely distance himself from the decision to draft McCarthy.

The Vikings have still managed to start 4-0 despite major questions on offense. Their passing game has struggled, and injuries have complicated the quarterback picture, but the 41-year-old has shifted his focus toward winning rather than chasing impressive numbers.

That philosophy may be the biggest takeaway. O'Connell knows some decisions have not worked; however, instead of pinning the failures on the quarterback, he is willing to own his share.