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The phrase "play style" is one that Kevin O'Connell has leaned on frequently in 2024.

It's a way of saying you want every player to give everything he's got to meet (and ideally exceed) the needs of the moment.

The Vikings received their schedule in May and knew they'd be spending their home opener by welcoming the defending NFC Champion 49ers to U.S. Bank Stadium in Week 2.

O'Connell has a developed history of coaching against San Francisco from his days with the Rams. He scheduled joint practices against the 49ers in 2022 and coached up the Vikings to an upset win against the Niners in 2023.

Minnesota claimed Sunday's contest 23-17 without ever trailing.

"That's a fantastic football team. If you want to go anywhere in this league, especially in our conference, we know, it's proven, last year and a few before that, that [San Francisco is] going to be a team on your schedule whether they were on it initially or not," said O'Connell when asked if the 49ers had something to do with his cultivation of the "play style" phrase. "You're going to have to eventually play 'em. We just got to get the first crack at 'em in Week 2. But I can't say enough about what [49ers Head Coach] Kyle [Shanahan] does, that organization, [General Manager] John Lynch. They do everything the right way, and you know you're signing up for everything you possibly can give on a Sunday afternoon."

Moments earlier O'Connell had described the win as "the epitome of building a football team with a mindset through many, many months ago of what we wanted to play like, how we want to battle and ultimately how we want to come together and find a way to win a football game."

The less-conspicuous aspects of "play style" can show up away from the football, and they did plenty of times on offense, defense and special teams for Minnesota on Sunday.

Another aspect of O'Connell's approach has been about building belief.

When the Vikings signed Sam Darnold in the opening days of free agency, there were plenty of people who voiced criticisms of the outcomes he previously had in his football career.

We've talked about the environment here being a great opportunity for Darnold, and he's worked very hard to make the most of this opportunity.

O'Connell admitted his own exhaustion after the game, but if you listen to him talk about Darnold at parts of yesterday's media session, you can hear the emotion of a former NFL quarterback who is so proud of his current starter two games into their tenure.

"The amount of work that goes into that position on your quarterback journey when everybody decides that you cannot play," O'Connell said. "We always believed in him, and felt awesome to watch him go do that thing so really proud of Sam Darnold."

He described the deep touchdown as "one of the prettiest throws I've seen."

Darnold also expertly placed a back-shoulder pass down the field for a 26-yard completion to Jalen Nailor on third-and-8 during the clinching drive.

"That's a throw that a quarterback makes and if he doesn't make that one, don't know where that ball is going, we were kinda letting Speedy take the middle on that thing. He's got to read coverage, and it presents itself, and Sam put it in the only place you could," O'Connell said. "That is big-time quarterback play for all those folks out there that want examples of it. I think we got two weeks of some pretty tangible examples of some quarterback play from Sam Darnold. I'm really proud of him."

I can't tell you what this win means for a Viking fan in Sacramento. I'm sure most media coverage will revolve around how SF lost rather than the Vikings victory. And they'll point to [Christian] McCaffrey's absence. Fine. SF had over 100 yards rushing at a 4.1 clip. Not bad without a star RB. But to my eye, it was the Vikings running game that made the difference. Turnovers were equal. Penalties favored SF. Time of possession heavily for SF. I have long maintained that there are 2-5 plays per game that a QB must use his legs to create a positive outcome. Darnold made those plays today (five rushes for 32 yards). Having a running game both at the running back AND quarterback positions was the difference today. It contributed to a strong third-down conversion rate, as well. If the Vikings can get healthy and clean up the penalties, the sky is the limit.

Skol!

— Jeff Kilty in Sacramento, California

Darnold's mobility showed up on a couple of important plays in the first half.

He escaped a sack on Minnesota's first third down of the game and gained 16 yards along the sideline. That drive ended with a punt (thanks to a fumble on a play that was disrupted by an illegal shift), but not before Minnesota ran another six offensive plays and flipped the field a bit. The play with the fumble counted as a carry for no gain by Darnold.

He also converted a third-and-10 late in the first half with an 18-yard scramble, moving the ball to the San Francisco 21-yard line and setting up a 39-yard field goal by Will Reichard as the first half ended. That kick gave Minnesota a 13-7 lead.

The other two carries by Darnold were tallied from the victory formation, but Jeff is correct in how much of a role a quarterback's mobility and inventiveness can help his team and hurt an opponent.

The Vikings were 7-for-12 on third downs, which is an impressive 58.3 percent clip and critical in trying to even out the time of possession, which the 49ers won 34:48 to 25:12.

The Vikings rush attack totaled 146 yards and averaged 6.1 per carry, getting a nice boost from Ty Chandler (10 carries for 82 yards) as the third-year pro worked with Aaron Jones, Sr.

Well, well, what a game! [Aaron] Jones' fumble kinda hurt! But wow, what a great team effort! Holding [San Francisco] to really about 300 yards, except for some prevent defense at the end! But a lot of ball-hawking going on! And how about OLB Andrew Van Ginkel?!! Outstanding plays! I'm super optimistic now.

Thanks,

—Toby in Alaska

The Vikings had a chance to put the game away late in the third quarter one play after Justin Jefferson left the contest with a thigh bruise.

Minnesota drew up a beautiful screen for Jones, who mashed the gas all the way to the 2-yard line before All-Pro Fred Warner arrived and punched out the football. It was recovered at the 1, and San Francisco drove 99 yards for a touchdown to make it 20-14 with 10:16 remaining in the game.

The Vikings bounced back with a drive that lasted 6:46 by blending runs and some big-time throws by Darnold to net another field goal and go up by nine with 3:30 remaining.

"Loved our screen execution with a chance to put the game away, and Aaron Jones is right behind C.J. Ham as somebody I totally trust with the football in his hands, and he was sniffing the goal line," O'Connell said, "and who was it, again, Fred Warner popping that play out. When you are an All-Pro, you're going to be making plays all over the field, and he certainly did that to help keep them in the game."

Van Ginkel and several other newcomers have been impactful additions to the defense. He's been fun to watch for multiple reasons in Brian Flores' system.

First, I wanna thank you for all the hard work you and your colleagues do again this year. I enjoy all the content you put out that helps me keep up with my favorite team halfway across the globe (Germany).

If anyone had told me, we would win against the 49ers without our 3 "-sons" (Jefferson, Jordan Addison and T.J. Hockenson), I would probably have laughed out loud. Best wishes for Jefferson and Dallas Turner, hopefully they will turn out all right after the check-ups.

I would like to focus on our play callers. O'Connell already has a reputation for being one of the best play callers in the league, but in my opinion, he outdoes himself this season. Jefferson gets double and triple coverage on a regular basis, and somehow O'Connell still manages to get yards between him and the nearest defender. It's ridiculous. But Flores impresses me even more. I liked last year's defense, but I didn't think it would be sustainable. It felt "gimmicky." This season however, we look like the most creative defense without relying on "special" plays to keep the opposition in check. The 49ers are no joke, even without McCaffrey, and even if the statistics don't look too great today, it was a great performance by our D. Kudos to O'Connell and Flores for not only training those men to play every snap like their life depends on it, but also calling great games and putting our team in favorable positions.

Greetings and great respect from Germany,

— Alexander Markhart

Thanks so much for your support from across the globe and your kind words. It truly is an honor for us to work for the Vikings and do something we love to do because of great fans. Sunday's game fell on the 10-year anniversary of my job interview here (first day was Sept. 28, 2014).

The Vikings have been able to produce explosive plays without having some of their biggest threats on the field at the same time. This shows some of the depth and development that has occurred throughout the roster.

O'Connell and Flores seem to be timing up their calls, putting players in good positions to make plays and building on the shared success.

Minnesota's defense limited San Francisco to a 2-for-10 showing on third down and 1-for-3 on fourth down.

The Vikings forced two takeaways to offset two giveaways by Minnesota, which improved to 19-0 under O'Connell when even or ahead in turnover margin.

Great game. Back and forth on turnovers. Unfortunately, too many turnovers by the Vikings, and the Niners always took advantage. Overall, the defense played great. I was worried until our onside recovery. Below are my 3 ups and 3 downs for the Niners game:

UPS:

1. Blocked punt by C.J. Ham, returned by Theo [Jackson]. Oh yeah! Too bad we didn't convert to a TD, but still an excellent play.

2. Two-play, 98-yard TD drive with a 97-yard TD pass from Darnold to Jefferson. Wow.

3. First downs on our last drive that ended in a FG and bled their timeouts. It is good to up by nine at the end.

DOWNS:

1. Another wasted timeout on our first possession; and a BONEHEAD play on downing our first punt inside the 5. What was he thinking? Both are inexcusable.

2. Jefferson hurt? Potential disaster.

3. Unable to avoid turnovers and failure to capitalize on all the turnover opportunities we had.

Looking forward to the Texans.

Respectfully,

— Jeff L.

Full disclosure: It was great to catch up with Jeff for a few minutes before the game as he continued a multiyear streak of coming to a Vikings home game. Appreciate him going the extra mile to continue participating in the Mailbag, as well.

That blocked punt by Ham was pure. The echo reverberated through the stadium, and Jackson alertly scooped it for an early scoring opportunity. It would have been great to finish the following drive with a touchdown since it was the first blocked punt and recovery by Minnesota since 2019.

Jefferson expressed his optimism regarding his injury after the game.

The downing of the punt was almost perfectly done, but Turner was ruled to have not completely stopped before his foot touched the end zone. It will be a good learning experience for the special teams unit.

Early in the game on second-and-goal in the first quarter, Darnold was about to throw a pass to Aaron Jones in the flat where a 49er defensive lineman jumped out to either block or intercept the pass. Darnold was patient enough to not rush it and was able to complete that pass. While it didn't result in anything significant, I think it showed great instinct by not rushing into making mistakes.

— Dan Jones in Albert Lea, Minnesota

Appreciate Dan for pointing to a very unheralded aspect of playing the quarterback position.

We've seen Van Ginkel pick off Daniel Jones in Week 1 and nearly put the game on ice against Brock Purdy on Sunday.

Darnold utilized a fake and then worked the ball into a window. He also was calm and collected at multiple points throughout the game.

Definition of a TEAM WIN. Offense moved the ball when needed late to chew up the clock. HUGE 97-yard TD was awesome. Defense with some takeaways (forced and on downs). Special teams, shout out to C.J. with that blocked punt, and hopefully this is a sign of not having to hold our breath every time we have to run our kicker out on the field.

However, as good of a win that was over the defending NFC Champions, we left a lot on the field with us turning it over twice in scoring range. However, I trust in O'Connell in getting that message across to the players that we'll need to clean that stuff up to keep this thing going.

Nice to see Darnold playing with more confidence and can't wait to see what this offense looks like at full health when we get Jets, Addison, Hock and Jones all together on the field at the same time.

— Brandon in Winona, Minnesota

We've covered a few things that Brandon mentioned, but we haven't mentioned Reichard in depth yet.

The first three field goals of his career occurred Sunday (he was 4-for-4 on extra points in Week 1). They were from 22, 39 and 27 yards, so the limits of his range were not tested. But none were in doubt. Neither were his two extra points.

Those are all important in adding scores, as well as keeping momentum from shifting.

Our defense came to play. They were on the field a long time but kept grinding. That goal-line stand on fourth-and-goal was a momentum changer. Pat Jones has quietly registered four sacks. Blake Cashman had a great game. Multiple players contributed. One man went down, the next guy stepped up on offense and defense. We are 2 and 0, and we will improve. Skol!!!!!

— Gerald Goblirsch

How about Pat Jones II so far? The Vikings don't have a most improved player award, but he kept showing up at different points of the offseason program and training camp. He looked more explosive and more decisive. Jones mentioned after the game how much work he put in over the offseason (that sounds like something for us to write a little bit more about on Vikings.com this season).

Cashman was hyped in the very best way possible during plays, frequently zooming to the football. He was involved in all three plays of San Francisco's first offensive series. He also kept the defense composed between plays.

That was quite a stop at the goal line just before the 97-yard touchdown to Jefferson.

On fourth-and-2, Van Ginkel tipped a pass intended for Jauan Jennings, and Harrison Smith made sure it was not caught with a nice pass breakup.