MINNEAPOLIS — The outcry began when Sam Darnold left the Vikings’ medical tent, his injured left knee healthy enough to continue playing.

When he returned to the field after missing a third-quarter play in Minnesota’s 34-7 victory over the Houston Texans, the crowd at U.S. Bank Stadium erupted in the kind of applause normally reserved for the team’s best and most popular players.

Now in his seventh NFL season, Darnold has found a fan base that is excited to see him play.

“The reaction from the fans meant everything to me,” Darnold said after setting a career high with four touchdown passes. He leads the NFL with eight touchdown throws this season and was the biggest single factor on a largely overlooked team that was one of the league’s first surprises.

According to ESPN BET, the Vikings are the first team in nine seasons to start 3-0 without being favored by more than a point in those games. Their odds of making the Super Bowl have gone from 100-1 to 35-1, and Darnold’s odds of winning the MVP award have gone from 100-1 to 35-1.

“This is a special team,” said running back Aaron Jones, who ran for 102 yards and caught an 8-yard touchdown pass.

Jones, who is in his first year with the Vikings after seven seasons with the Green Bay Packers, has spoken with increasing confidence this month about the team’s competitiveness. Before their Week 1 game at the New York Giants, Jones predicted Darnold would surprise the league. After Darnold completed his first 12 passes against the Giants en route to a 28-6 victory, Jones said he spoke to his mother about the atmosphere he experienced on his new team.

“It’s definitely different than anything I’ve been a part of before,” Jones said. “I can’t say exactly what’s different, because I’ve been part of some good teams.”

“After the first game, just because of the atmosphere in New York, I thought, ‘Mom, I don’t know what this is. It’s not stressful. It’s just fun.’ I don’t know if it’s because of the guys here. I can’t say for sure, but it’s special and I love it.”

ESPN Analytics gave the Vikings a 14% chance of making the playoffs at the start of the season, by far their lowest chance since ESPN began projecting playoff probabilities in 2015. Those expectations were based in part on Darnold, but also on a schedule that had the Vikings playing some of the NFL’s best teams in the first quarter of the season. In the meantime, they’ve dismantled the Giants, soundly beaten the San Francisco 49ers (23-17) and beat the Texans in succession. Their plus-55 edge after three games is the second-best in franchise history, with only the 1975 team having a better edge.

“We knew it was going to happen,” said receiver Justin Jefferson, who caught six passes for 81 yards and a touchdown in the first half Sunday. “Obviously, we can’t predict that we would win 3-0. But we knew if this team is as prepared as we expected and comes out here and dominates like they have, people are going to talk about us more.”

Jefferson jammed a finger on his right hand while catching a pass late in the first half. He said X-rays showed no serious damage, and he benefited from what he said was one of the few times in his NFL career that he was able to watch the fourth quarter of a game in peace, knowing the Vikings would win.

In fact, the Vikings’ 22-point win over the Giants and Sunday’s 27-point victory were the Vikings’ two biggest wins since Jefferson was hired in 2020. And they’re two of the eight games the Vikings have won by more than a point since his arrival.

Part of that can be attributed to the Vikings’ defense, which became the third unit in the modern NFL era to record at least five sacks and at least one interception in the first three games of a season. And part of the credit goes to the crowd at U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday after the Texans were penalized five times for false starts.

Darnold, however, will get most of the public attention when the Vikings begin a new chapter and face the Green Bay Packers in Week 4. He said his knee will be examined on Monday and he is not yet sure if it will limit him in practice this week, but he is eager to continue moving forward.

“It’s all top-level football at the moment,” he said. “I think we need to keep pushing each other on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays to be able to go out on Sunday and play at a high level because there is still room for improvement. Even the scoreboard doesn’t tell the whole story. There is a lot of room for improvement.”