JACKSONVILLE, Fla. >> The knock on quarterback Sam Darnold when he signed with the Vikings this past offseason was his propensity for turnovers. It plagued him early in his professional career with the New York Jets, then carried over to his time with the Carolina Panthers before he finally found some stability with the San Francisco 49ers.

That issue reared its ugly head on Sunday afternoon at EverBank Stadium, even if the Vikings somehow escaped with a 12-7 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Never mind that the Vikings accumulated 402 yards on offense, allowed a mere 143 yards on defense, and absolutely dominated the time of possession by nearly 25 minutes.

The game still ended up being close because Darnold imploded with a few costly interceptions that effectively took points off the board for the Vikings. He now has 17 touchdowns and 10 interceptions this season.

Not that head coach Kevin O’Connell is turning his back on Darnold.

“We’re still 100 percent confident in Sam,” O’Connell said. “It would be craziness not to be.”

Asked if he ever considered benching Darnold as the mistakes piled up, O’Connell made it very clear that it never once crossed his mind. That’s not how he’s wired. Instead, O’Conell saw it as an opportunity for Darnold to show growth in real time.

“We’re going to check back in on this moment and use it the right way, and Sam is going to be better off for it,” O’Connell said. “I truly do believe that.”

Not surprisingly, Darnold was especially hard on himself, lamenting some of the decisions he made throughout the game.

“I’ve got to do a lot better job of taking care of the ball,” Darnold said. “I think that’s obvious.”

The struggles of Darnold on offense would’ve been an even bigger talking point had it not been for an otherworldly effort on defense. That proved to be the difference in the game.

“Hopefully we don’t have to do that every single game,” Darnold said. “I understand the kind of players that we have over there. It’s a special group. I’m very fortunate to have them as teammates.”

Not only did the Vikings make things incredibly tough on the Jaguars throughout the game, they forced a few turnovers of their own, getting a fumble recovery from defensive tackle Harrison Phillips, an interception from cornerback Byron Murphy Jr., and an interception from safety Cam Bynum.

“We take pride in being able to win games on defense, and that’s what we were able to do,” Bynum said. “It felt normal to us. It didn’t feel like we did anything out of the ordinary. We played up to our standard, and we saw the result of that.”

That set the stage for kicker Parker Romo to play hero. All of the points for the Vikings came via his right foot. Not bad considering Romo was making his NFL debut.

“It’s an incredible feeling,” Romo said. “A great way to start, and now I want to keep the ball rolling.”

The opening drive for the Vikings proved to be a precursor of what was to come as Romo nailed a field goal to make it 3-0. There were signs of life from the Jaguars on the next possession, as quarterback Mac Jones led them down the field, then plunged into the end zone to make it 7-3.

Though the Vikings had a chance to take control in the immediate aftermath, they couldn’t stay out of their own way, and things slowly started to go off the rails despite the fact that the offense was able to move the ball.

It started with Darnold moving the ball into enemy territory only to throw an interception to linebacker Foyesade Oluokun while trying to fit a ball into a tight window. It continued with Darnold leading a lengthy drive that resulted in no points after throwing an interception to cornerback Montaric Brown in the end zone.

“We can’t put the ball at risk,” Darnold said. “I’ve got to continue to manage those situations and be better that way.”

After taking some time to regroup at halftime, Darnold walked back onto the field and made the same mistake, throwing a jump ball near the goal line that wound up being an interception by safety Darnell Savage in the end zone.

How can he fix that issue moving forward?

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

Luckily for the Vikings, the defense rose to the occasion with the offense struggling, and that paved the way for Romo to make a field goal on back-to-back-to-back possession to stretch the lead to 12-7 in the final minutes.

Fittingly, the game ended with the Vikings getting an interception from Bynum, which gave Darnold an opportunity to kneel out the clock.

“Those are the types of games that good teams find a way to win regardless of what it looks like,” O’Connell said. “I’m proud of that and absolutely a lot of things we need to correct and fix.”