The was a distinct look on the face of veteran quarterback Sam Darnold last month after the Vikings held on for a win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.

As he answered questions about his disastrous performance, Darnold still appeared very confident in himself. He spoke with a sense of calmness. Not at all worried about the fact that he had thrown a trio of interceptions.

Perhaps because he knew his mistakes were preventable.

“I’ve got to do a lot better job of taking care of the football,” Darnold said. “That’s pretty obvious.”

As he replayed the interceptions in his head in real time, Darnold knew they weren’t all created equal.

There was an interception off a deflected ball near midfield that could’ve gone either way. There was an interception in the end zone that he wished he would’ve located a little bit better. There was an interception near the goal line that he knew he should’ve thrown to a different spot.

“Just continue to understand situations during the flow of a game,” Darnold said. “We will continue to look at the tape and get better.”

That’s exactly what Darnold did. He could’ve folded in the face of adversity. He instead responded with arguably his best stretch of his career.

The stats have spoken for themselves as Darnold has taken his game to the next level. He completed 20 of 32 passes for 246 yards and two touchdowns in a win over the Tennessee Titans; 22 of 34 passes for 330 yards and two touchdowns in a win over the Chicago Bears; 21 of 31 passes for 235 yards and two touchdowns in a win over the Arizona Cardinals, and 22 of 28 passes for 347 yards and five touchdowns in a win over the Atlanta Falcons.

The ascension by Darnold has helped the Vikings establish themselves as a legitimate Super Bowl contender.

“Y’all did’t know what we had in this building,” receiver Justin Jefferson said. “Y’all didn’t know Sam was going to come in and be the leader that he is.”

“He was playing lights out in training camp, so we knew what we had,” receiver Jordan Addison said. “Now he’s putting it on display for everybody else to see.”

As he reflected on Darnold’s improvement, head coach Kevin O’Connell pointed to his response from last month as the turning point.

There was something about the way that Darnold handled himself in the immediate aftermath of his struggles. There wasn’t any sulking. Just a commitment to getting back to work when he returned to TCO Performance Center.

As he went back to the drawing board, Darnold referenced some of the principles he has learned from O’Connell, offensive coordinator Wes Phillips, quarterbacks coach Josh McCown and assistant quarterbacks coach Grant Udinski.

How were his feet aligned on his interceptions? Where were his eyes looking downfield? Were there any other options he could’ve gone with the ball?

“It was almost self coaching in a lot of ways,” O’Connell said. “Just an incredible growth moment for him to come back the next week and start stacking.”

There was something powerful about Darnold being able to realize some of the corrections that needed to be made without anybody needing to tell him. It was proof of him taking ownership of everything he had learned to that point.

Not that anybody was surprised.

“You know, whether there’s been praise, which there has been a lot of, or some games haven’t gone necessarily the way he wants it to, he hasn’t let that affect him,” Phillip said. “He has been consistent in his demeanor, in his approach, and in his work ethic.”

All of that was on display this week with the Vikings preparing to host the Chicago Bears on Monday night at U.S. Bank Stadium. Asked about the way he responded from that disastrous performance on November 10 in Jacksonville, Darnold referenced some of the techniques and fundamentals while continuing to show hois self-confidence.

“Looking back on that game, I wasn’t too disappointed in the decisions that I made. It was where I located the ball, or how I threw the ball, I was more disappointed with,” Darnold said. “I think the biggest thing for me is continuing to make good decisions, then when I do let the ball rip, let it rip with confidence. I think that’s been the biggest thing for me these past few weeks. I’m just going to continue to do that.”

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