Analyst and former NFL tight end Greg Olsen hit it on the head with 12 minutes left in FOX's broadcast Sunday.

"If you're starting a franchise and you need a great coach, play-caller, quarterback whisperer, he might be the guy," Olsen said of Vikings Head Coach Kevin O'Connell as Minnesota blew open its win over Atlanta.

The compliment was warranted.

Sam Darnold posted a franchise-record passer rating of 157.9 and single-game highs of 347 yards and five touchdowns to lead Minnesota's 42-21 victory. The 2018 No. 3 overall draft choice by the Jets has revived his NFL career.

Frankly, that's an understatement at this point.

The Vikings are 11-2 with a divisional meetup against Chicago on Monday Night Football on tap, and Darnold is a top-seven QB in about every meaningful metric and therefore an irrefutable MVP candidate.

O'Connell on Monday was asked if there's something specific to playing QB he observed as a young player and pocketed for when he became a coach – input that he viewed as invaluable for the position.

"I don't know if you guys have enough time for that answer," O'Connell quipped.

A third-round pick in 2008 and offensive coordinator of the Super Bowl Champion Los Angeles Rams in 2021, the third-year Vikings head coach said that he's tried to be hyper-aware of subtleties such as learning how to do things the right way, taking stock of what helps make the job of a quarterback easier and how to support players on their individual journeys. His belief in Darnold from the jump reflects that.

"I was coaching [Vikings quarterbacks coach] Josh McCown my first year in Cleveland, believe it or not, and having him as a player, who was older than me at the time, telling me, like, 'Dude, you're really helping me. This is awesome, Coach. I want you to coach me hard,' and that kind of gave me the green light to pour everything I have into this job and do it for the betterment of others," O'Connell shared. "And like I said, there's a lot of things that I wish I would have done differently as a player. I wish I would have had more awareness to actually do things differently in the moment, both mentally and physically. But I do feel an incredible connection to the position because of the fortunate opportunities I've been around – players, coaches, my own journey, other people's journeys – and tried to always evaluate that to help myself get better."

Under O'Connell's direction, Darnold owns an .846-win percentage. His mark entering 2024 was .375.

Here are four other takeaways from O'Connell's media availability:

1. Darnold's process

External debate of what this year means for his future isn't affecting Darnold.

His focus on the here-and-now is infallible.

"I could probably tell you where he is right now in the building, even on a [Victory Monday]," O'Connell said. "He has just been so demanding of himself. But yet, I also love the way he hasn't put the weight of the world on his shoulders and I think he can do that because of the way he's worked and prepared and been coached by [assistant QBs coach] Grant [Udinski] and Josh [McCown] on a daily basis, and with those other quarterbacks in the room, I think he'd be the first one to tell you those guys have been incredibly supportive of him."

Darnold is starring on an affordable one-year contract that helped him reset his once-and-now-again promising career — and allowed Minnesota to sign additional free agents who have anchored its season.

O'Connell has helped Darnold be rooted in the moment by rooting himself here, too.

"I also think it's important that we're not talking about it too much. Where, if every single day I'm telling him, 'Hey, let's just focus on today.' … Then it becomes 'Maybe I should focus on more than just today.' That's how I would handle it if I was him," O'Connell continued. "So I think, I just can't say enough about how Sam's handled himself, thinking back to the different kinds of moments throughout his journey this year, and how he's maximized every single op coming out of what's been a very successful season."

All of Darnold's inner-workings were on full display Sunday.

2. When it's in the air …

… Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison are two of the NFL's best at tracking balls.

O'Connell said he wishes it's a skill that could be coached – he credited wide receivers coach Keenan McCardell for drill work that benefits the players in their pursuit of bringing in deep throws – but it's not.

"That is a natural, natural gifted thing," O'Connell detailed. "They're tracking the laces of the ball, the revolutions. The way the game slows down when the ball is in the air, the way they're able to track and understand exactly how to either pace themselves down … and come back and get the football."

On Addison's 49-yard score early in Sunday's contest, he made an impossible adjustment look simple, flipping his hips at full speed and downshifting to retrieve an underthrow and then reaccelerate into the end zone. Later, he had two chances to bucket-catch arced passes. He drew a defensive pass interference on the first and snared the second for 42 yards.

O'Connell likened what 'Jets' and J.A. do tracking-wise to former speedster DeSean Jackson, whom O'Connell coached against for several seasons in the NFC East (Jackson played for him on the Rams, too).

"I just remember being like, that's the trait – not only a guy that can fly, but a guy that can track the ball and really effortlessly make something that's very, very difficult look easy," O'Connell admired. "And there's been great examples of it, but I think we've got two of them right here in our building, for sure."

Fifteen of Darnold's 22 completions, by the way, ended up in hands of the NFL's best wide receiver duo.

O'Connell said, "The pitch-and-catch feel between Sam and Justin and Jordan was pretty spectacular."

3. Addison's "completeness"

Addison is 5-foot-11 and 175 pounds.

He's not the biggest nor the strongest, but those facts haven't stopped him from flexing on defenses. He's an elite separator and is excelling this season at playing through contact. He's a more "complete" player.

Across his past four games, Addison has averaged 102.5 yards per game and 17.8 yards per reception. He was nominated for FedEx Air and Ground Player of the Week honors for the second instance in that span.

(Note: Darnold also was nominated for the award for the second occasion and second the same week.)

"Normally, the player that's defending Jordan, or even if it's within zone coverages, these guys know that they're being told [Jordan] will be wide open if you don't get your hands on him, and that couldn't be more true," O'Connell commented. "But now he's actually proven that he can play through that contact."

Addison's physicality is popping in the run game, as well.

O'Connell referenced a play on Minnesota's 98-yard TD drive in the fourth quarter against the Falcons that illustrated the real-time growth of the second-year player. On it, Addison motioned a hair too far to his left, putting himself in a tough spot to lay down a seal block on safety Jessie Bates III. Addison, however, met Bates as he screamed across the line of scrimmage and laid his body on one of the better safeties in football (praise courtesy O'Connell). The block helped spring Cam Akers for an 11-yard rush.

"It shows up all over the tape for Jordan," O'Connell asserted.

4. Intimacy with Vikings fans

In the final two minutes of Minnesota's sixth straight win, Darnold's pure joy was uncaged.

The Vikings quarterback was captured on the video board passionately waving his towel, feeding off the energy of the 67,008 fans—the second-largest crowd for a Vikings game at U.S. Bank Stadium all-time — and vice-versa. Afterwards, the cameras panned to Jefferson and Addison and broadcasted the lowkey personalities of each – Jefferson smiling and Addison in a zen-like state of peace.

"I thought that was a really, really cool moment," O'Connell said of the emotion and sequence of stars. "Between that and Jets and J.A., I got really nervous they might show me and totally kill the mood."

The interaction demonstrated the connection between Vikings fans and players at U.S. Bank Stadium.

"It's the best venue in sports. It's an unbelievable place," O'Connell stated. "But the, I guess you would call it the intimacy of our fan base and our players, we really value that, and you felt it in that moment."

Although Darnold does a consistently masterful job of concealing emotions to the public, O'Connell wasn't surprised by his quarterback letting loose. It aligned with his vision for Darnold from the onset.

"Maybe not to that extent," said O'Connell, "but you envision that when your goal is set, you set out to achieve a goal together, working side by side with players, and when you start to see them truly realize that it's just, it's a cool moment. That's why we do this. That's why I love this profession. And I love winning more than anything, but it's those – I consider those little wins – the reason why we do this job.

"And Sam's a great example of it," he added.