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Christopher Boan is a writer at OntarioBets.com. He's covered sports and sports betting in Arizona for more than seven years, including stops at ArizonaSports.com, the Tucson Weekly and the Green Valley News.
Sam Darnold: A Look Into Vikings Fan Sentiment
Few teams in the NFL have as tricky of a quarterback situation as the Minnesota Vikings do this season. Veteran gunslinger Kirk Cousins is now in Atlanta with the Falcons and 2024 first-round pick J.J. McCarthy is out for the season with a knee injury.
That two-headed bout of bad news means that head coach Kevin OāConnell almost certainly will turn to journeyman Sam Darnold as the starting quarterback this fall, making Minnesota Vikings playoff chances a very iffy proposition. Darnold, the former USC Trojan, has gone 21-35 as a starter in the league with the New York Jets, Carolina Panthers and San Francisco 49ers.
After the news broke that McCarthy would miss the 2024-25 NFL season following surgery on his torn right meniscus, Minnesota Vikings fans canāt be blamed for feeling uncertainty about how this season would go. At OntarioBets.com we wanted to know how Vikings fans feel about this upcoming season with Darnold as QB1. Polling Reddit.com users under r/minnesotavikings on Aug. 19, we asked fans how they feel about Darnold as QB for this season.
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Sam Darnold Sentiment: Reddit Survey Results
Sentiment | Percentage of Votes |
Positive | 73.5% |
Negative | 26.5% |
Check out our new Minnesota Vikings betting guide before the NFL regular season and follow Sam Darnold Vikings fortunes.
Darnold has thrown for more than 12,000 yards in 56 starts across six NFL seasons. But the former No. 3 overall draft pick has nearly as many career interceptions (56) as touchdown passes (63), giving Vikings fans little reason for optimism in the year ahead. McCarthy was the No. 10 overall draft pick and itās easy to assume that, had he been healthy, he would have started fairly soon this season.
OntarioBets.com has been following this question regarding the starting signal-caller for the Twin Cities franchise ā see our story about Minnesota Vikings Week 1 QB starter odds to see who the other candidates might be aside from Darnold.
How Do Vikings Fans Feel About Sam Darnold?
Despite the teamās long odds and Darnoldās checkered past in the NFL, it seems a cheery nature is prevailing among Minnesota football fans. In our survey on Reddit among Vikings fans, 73.5% of respondents expressed positive vibes about the teamās Week 1 starter at quarterback.
That approval rating dwarves the 26.5% of respondents that held negative feelings about Darnold. The Vikings, being close to Canada, will be a popular Ontario sports betting prop this season. Our survey numbers speak to the general optimism that can be found in the Land of 10,000 Lakes when football season arrives, despite the obvious obstacles.
Now, itās up to the two-headed offensive braintrust of OāConnell and Darnold to make things work in Minneapolis, beginning with the Vikingsā Week 1 showdown against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium on Sept. 8.
Based on the early lines, it looks like Darnoldās return to a starting role in the NFL could get off to a decent start. Minnesota is listed as a one-point road favorite over New York at BetMGM Ontario Sportsbook, with a -110 moneyline for each team for the Sept. 8 game in Week 1 of the regular season.
USA Today photo by Brad Rempel
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