EAGAN, Minn. — Every day, the airhorn blows.
It’s a signal that practice is finished for the Minnesota Vikings, that the work for the day is done. Players and coaches huddle on the field inside the TCO Performance Center’s indoor fieldhouse, and then they disperse. Some visit the training room for stretching. Others climb stairs to the third floor for meetings. Always, though, one position group remains: the quarterbacks.
They wear raggy red jerseys and stand next to each other. In front of them are quarterbacks coach Josh McCown and his assistant Grant Udinski. For the next 30 minutes or so, they’ll re-rehearse everything they’ve already rehearsed twice that day. The coaches read the lengthy play calls. The quarterbacks mimic what it would be like to read the verbiage, crouch under center and dissect the defense. The coaches offer tidbits about how different coverages would affect their decision-making. The quarterbacks are sometimes so clued into the game plan that they beat the coaches to the pre- or post-snap reminders.
“This is just us being really thorough,” McCown said last week after one of these sessions. “It’s, ‘If the defense shows this look, then we do this. If it’s this look, we go here.’ Over and over and over again.”
It’s been a full-circle moment for Josh McCown and Sam Darnold as they reunite in Minnesota.
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— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) June 12, 2024
These meetings became part of Sam Darnold’s process early in the year. His counterparts in the quarterback room joined him for a couple of reasons. First, they, too, benefit from another run-through of the call sheet. Second, they see themselves as a unit. How could they truly say they were with Darnold at every turn — through the good, the bad and the mundane — if they let him tackle this extra period of preparation alone?
It’s not all business. McCown jokes, and they laugh. Udinski recalls a defensive tendency from two years ago, and the quarterbacks shake their heads as if to say, This guy’s football knowledge is nutso. They are having fun and absorbing the intricacies of the game with one another, all rowing together. These moments, both the time spent and the energy flowing between all of them, are an underrated yet undeniable factor in Darnold’s resurgent season.
No, Darnold wouldn’t have thrown for 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns if the Vikings didn’t have elite receivers Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison. And no, Darnold wouldn’t have completed a career-high 66.2 percent of his passes if it weren’t for head coach Kevin O’Connell’s persistent belief.
But the Vikings constructed a quarterback room with specific coaches and players to bring out Darnold’s best. Darnold’s diligence and accountability raised expectations and refined an approach that is unaltered, regardless of last Sunday’s result against the Detroit Lions.
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A few weeks ago, one of the Vikings staffers said he went looking for Udinski, but he was missing in action. When asked about his whereabouts, another coach responded, “Well, have you seen McCown?”
These two are Minnesota’s version of Nintendo’s “Ice Climbers,” seemingly attached by a string. They’re different. McCown is tall and constantly upbeat with a soft Southern accent, his hair gelled perfectly. Udinski is shorter, often wears a hat and is quietly calculating.
Their personalities mesh as perfectly as what they bring to the table. McCown possesses two decades of NFL quarterback knowledge. “You want to talk about the meat and potatoes of quarterback play and knowing what wins football games,” former Vikings third-string quarterback Brett Rypien, who has run the “look team” offense all season before being waived this week, said. “Just the simple, simple details that get overlooked because the game has so much scheme nowadays.” Udinski, meanwhile, is more in tune than anyone with the most minuscule details of O’Connell’s offensive system. “He is a genius,” backup QB Nick Mullens said.
Pairing these two together fit O’Connell’s vision, dating to last offseason. He knew the Vikings would try to draft a quarterback. Situating the position group with a willing provider of quarterback knowledge plus a young and relatable studier of the craft was O’Connell’s idea.
He had known McCown for nearly a decade. In 2015, his first season as an NFL assistant with the Cleveland Browns, O’Connell recruited McCown as a free agent. McCown was older than O’Connell, but a 10-minute conversation made McCown believe spending more time around O’Connell would make him better. That year, O’Connell and McCown relied on one another as they tried to bring young quarterback Johnny Manziel along. The team went 3-13, but the experience set a foundation for the relationship between O’Connell and McCown.
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O’Connell did not know Udinski well before hiring him in 2022 as an assistant, but Vikings tight ends coach Brian Angelichio brought up the former Davidson tight end and Towson edge rusher after having worked with him with the Carolina Panthers. O’Connell’s exposure to Udinski over two years, observing his almost worrisome level of film-watching and his work with Josh Dobbs and Jaren Hall last season, led to him believing Udinski he could handle more.
Making the marriage even more perfect was this: Both McCown and Udinski had spent meaningful time with Darnold. With the Jets in 2018, McCown assisted in Darnold’s introduction to the NFL. Udinski worked with him with the Panthers in 2021. Who better to build trust with a new quarterback than people who actually witnessed and understood what he’d been through?
McCown and Udinski gave Darnold a headstart on the Vikings system and process. The Vikings have played to Darnold’s strengths as a quarterback, which has helped. But from the outset, Darnold entered a locker room and an offense that had two seasons’ worth of reps together. There were routes Jefferson liked to run, concepts O’Connell preferred to call. Meeting somewhere in the middle meant openness, adaptation and faith. McCown’s and Udinski’s roles as bridges have been paramount.
The relationship between Sam Darnold and quarterbacks coach Josh McCown dates to 2018 when they played for the Jets. (Luke Hales / Getty Images)
Mullens and Rypien pondered a question.
What is most impressive to you about the season Darnold has had?
“His toughness,” Mullens said.
“The resilience of not only his entire career but also the micro of this year,” Rypien said.
“When it’s not going great,” Mullens said, “can you step up and prove yourself? He’s done that.”
“Any time there has been any sort of adversity, he comes back,” Rypien said.
“It’s easy to do it once,” Mullens said. “But he’s done that time after time after time after time to where it almost feels underappreciated, like, ‘Oh, that’s just what Sam does.’”
One of the bigger tests of the season came in early November in Jacksonville. In the first quarter that day, Darnold dropped back and attempted a slant to Jefferson. Interception. In the second quarter, he bounced around in the pocket and hurled a late pass over the middle to Jefferson. Another pick. In the third quarter, he lofted a pass to the corner of the end zone toward Jefferson. A third turnover. Still, the Vikings prevailed 12-7.
O’Connell was asked after the game whether he considered a quarterback change. His response? A defiant no. He insisted Darnold would learn from the outing.
This. This right here. 💜💛
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— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) January 2, 2025
The next day, Darnold sat alongside Mullens, Rypien, O’Connell, McCown, Udinski and offensive coordinator Wes Phillips. They replayed each throw from the previous day and harshly assessed Darnold’s decision-making.
“Sometimes you get into situations, and you’re like, ‘Aw, man,’ and you handle it tentatively,” McCown said. “But it was just like, ‘Let’s get into the mud here, talk about this and go through it.’ And we did. I had the good fortune of coaching my sons, and it’s a similar level of love and care. It’s almost like you coach him harder because you believe in everything that they are.”
Rarely did anyone but Darnold need to speak. He recognized his inconsistent footwork and identified it out loud. He noted his inability to adjust his feet and eyes from one read to the next and shook his head. The review was intense, but that’s been the norm this season.
“With KO and Josh and Sam, there is a level of consistency in saying, ‘We’re not just going to hit the panic button off of one day,’” Udinski said.
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In the ensuing days, Darnold and the coaches would emphasize decision-making in the red zone and aspects of his footwork, but they would not scrap their entire process or conviction because of one game. After that Wednesday’s practice, the air horn blew, the team huddled, players dispersed and the quarterbacks came together. McCown joked, and Udinski provided details about defensive back positioning. Darnold then visited the training room, studied the play sheet once more and returned the following day to do it again with another layer of the plan.
Udinski, who reviews the opponent’s film from almost 20 games each week, shares insights on defensive techniques to look for. McCown reiterates some pivotal bits of wisdom: two hands fixated on the ball in the pocket, no sacks on bootlegs, etc. By Saturday, Darnold and the staff meet for the final times, one of which is called a “red-pen meeting,” where O’Connell and Darnold sync about the plays they expect to run and the circumstances that might dictate them.
It’s an exhaustive conversation amid a tireless week throughout a relentless season. It’s what it takes, both for this staff and this quarterback, to be as prepared as O’Connell has conditioned his organization to be.
Nick Mullens and Brett Rypien (19) dap up Darnold (14) before the Vikings’ Week 11 game in Tennessee. (Steve Roberts / Imagn Images)
One of Darnold’s defining traits this season is his accuracy, making last Sunday night’s debacle in Detroit so jarring.
He sailed throws down the middle of the field. He placed some tight-window throws behind receivers. Pro Football Reference tracks “bad throws,” categorized as throws that weren’t catchable with normal effort. His 13 in Week 18 was tied for the most any quarterback has thrown in a game this season, a glaring outlier from his per-game average (4.5).
O’Connell has already fielded questions about why Darnold may have been missing. Was he too revved up for the big moment? Was his pinky finger bothering him? Was something jacked up with his mechanics? All of these are possible culprits, but none are going to force an overhaul ahead of Monday night’s wild-card game against the Los Angeles Rams.
The same reason Darnold has been so successful this season — a clichéd level of commitment and consistency — is the same reason he is well suited for this challenge. Inside the meeting rooms, he will pepper McCown and Udinski with questions.
“We challenge each other: ‘Say the thing. Don’t just assume. Say the thing. Whatever that thing is, say it. Get it out,’” McCown said. “There is no dumb question. And even between Grant and I, it’s like never, ever let a play go by (where) we’re like, ‘I think he’s got it.’ No. We’re going to know.”
Mullens, Rypien (provided he clears waivers) and Daniel Jones will prompt ideas in the after-practice, on-field meetings. Rookie quarterback J.J. McCarthy will scribble reminders on the whiteboard while they’re practicing. O’Connell will oversee it all and then meet with Darnold this weekend to cement the vision for how they’re planning to play the game. This process is not guaranteed to work, not certain to generate touchdowns. It’s not a certification of anything other than the distinct comfort of knowing that what has worked before can work again.
Whether it does depends on what happens within those sacred 60 minutes. A time during which McCown, Udinski, Mullens, Rypien and all of the others support and assist with all their might. They know Darnold’s past. They know what he’s done to get here. Supporting him is their way of showing appreciation for a level of commitment so few of us will ever fully comprehend.
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(Top photo of Darnold and Kevin O’Connell: Luke Hales / Getty Images)
