At the dawn of the new year, Sam Darnold was a folk hero in Minnesota. Not only did the quarterback -- no longer locally branded a reclamation project, but rather a full-blown, high-octane Pro Bowler -- sweep the rival Green Bay Packers to give the Vikings their best regular-season record in 16 years,

They lost Monday night 27-9 to the Los Angeles Rams and quarterback Sam Darnold was nowhere to be found. It was the second straight game Darnold produced a dud, and both were the most important games of his career.

O'Connell seemed to speak about Darnold with an air of finality after the team's wild-card round loss vs. the Rams.