EAGAN, Minn. -- Is the snowball effect a real thing? Minnesota Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell said this week that it is, and its intensity in the NFL may be felt most by quarterbacks.
So it would have been reasonable for outside observers to cringe at Sam Darnold's wild flip of the ball toward running back Aaron Jones Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers, not only because it threatened to turn a busted play into a massive turnover, but because it could have snowballed into bigger problems during the following plays.
Instead, Darnold appeared to follow the approach O'Connell, quarterbacks coach Josh McCown and others have encouraged since he arrived in Minnesota in the spring. McCown referred to it this summer as the need to "get over that hurdle and get yourself back to a grounded space."
And on cue, Darnold looked at Jones, tapped his chest and said, "That's on me," according to Jones. Then he went back to work, completing four of his next six passes, including a 97-yard touchdown to receiver Justin Jefferson that sparked the Vikings' eye-opening 23-17 victory.
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"I think the response to adversity is wired in Sam because of his quarterback journey," O'Connell said of Darnold, who is on his fourth team since the Jets made him the No. 3 overall pick in 2018. "He's pulling from the long-term feeling of, 'Shoot, it's another offseason of unknown,' or it's, 'Man, that game seemed really hard last Sunday, and we're playing against the number one defense in the league this Sunday. It's gonna be on me to figure that out.'
"I'm hoping when he looks inward, he worries about, 'How do I do my job with great rhythm, timing, fundamentals, eye progression and discipline?' And then allow his talent, which I think we've all seen here in two weeks, really show up from a throwing-the-football standpoint. I think that's real, his immediate ability to kind of cope with that cold splash of water of adversity, and let's go back out there."
Prior to that play, the Vikings had moved the ball from their 15-yard line to a first down at their 48 when Darnold changed the play at the line of scrimmage, according to offensive coordinator Wes Phillips. But the communication fell short, and two players -- Jefferson and tight end Johnny Mundt -- went in motion from the right side of the line.
That made the play illegal as soon as the ball was snapped, and the best decision would have been to get on the ground and not "make a bad play worse," Darnold said later. Instead, he tried to pitch the ball over Mundt and toward Jones. The ball missed Jones and bounced around, forcing Darnold to chase it down for a 13-yard loss.
It was the kind of fire-drill play at an early stage in a game that can raise the anxiety level of a quarterback and bleed into the remainder of his performance -- especially for someone like Darnold who has a long history of inconsistent play.
Speaking of his own career as a backup quarterback, O'Connell joked that if the snowball effect "had not been a thing, maybe I wouldn't be standing here in front of you. I'd be on a warm beach somewhere relaxing in retirement."
Darnold acknowledged this week that he has learned to respond better to mistakes and performance downturns within games. After throwing a second-quarter interception, in fact, Darnold completed three of his next four passes and scrambled 18 yards on a third down to set up a 39-yard field goal just before halftime to extend the Vikings' lead to 13-7.
He'll need to continue avoiding the snowball effect Sunday (1 p.m. ET, CBS) when the Vikings (2-0) host the Houston Texans (2-0), whose defense is tied for fourth in interceptions (three) and turnover margin (plus-2) after two weeks.
"I've learned a lot," Darnold said. "I've had experiences where bad things have happened. And I think the more you play football, the more you understand you can't control everything out there and things are going to happen in the game.
"But you've got to understand that you've got to put your head down and continue to work and continue to grind throughout these games, because at the end of the day, it's not about what happened in the past or on the previous play, but it's about the next one."