Kevin O’Connell is making a significant adjustment for Vikings QB Kyler Murray, and it’s been in plain sight the whole time
The idea that Kevin O’Connell doesn’t adapt his scheme to his quarterbacks has no merit, and there’s proof from Sunday’s game.
The Minnesota Vikings’ offense is one of the hottest topics in the entire NFL. Head coach Kevin O’Connell is leading one of the worst offenses in the league, and injuries have had a major factor in that. Quarterback Kyler Murray missed the majority of two games, as did wide receiver Justin Jefferson and running back Jordan Mason has missed the last three games with a broken thumb.
While it can’t be used as an excuse for why the unit has been this poor, it is a reason why the chemistry of the unit hasn’t been there yet. O’Connell and Murray are still figuring each other out. With that process comes adjustments in how O’Connell will call plays, as they both learn more about what each other likes.
Kevin O’Connell is adapting to his quarterback
One of the biggest misconceptions about O’Connell is that he doesn’t adapt to his quarterbacks. He absolutely does do that, like running a lot of RPOs with Carson Wentz and an elevated amount of shot plays with Sam Darnold. Now, has he done enough to emphasize those strengths? That is a different discussion.
With Murray, a lot of the discussion has been with the offense itself. O’Connell appears to be running a lot of the same concepts with Murray that he’s done his entire tenure in Minnesota. One of those is dagger, something that Murray has been inconsistent with.
From Murray’s first start that he finished against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, there were some struggles. He was also under center 47% of the time, which is significantly higher than Murray had ever ran before. He didn’t look the most comfortable in the offense, and it was hard to determine whether or not it was due to being under center or rather still getting fully acclimated in the offense.
On Sunday, O’Connell made a significant change, and the results were much better. Murray looked more confident, and the results were much better. The Vikings were in shotgun 78% of the time, an increase of 66% over the previous week. In 2025, the Vikings ran just 56% shotgun snaps, and this change is more in line with what Murray did in 2024 with the Arizona Cardinals, as they were in shotgun 72% of the time.
Not only were they in shotgun more often, but they ran a lot under shotgun, and that was effective. It was also the most the Vikings had run from shotgun in a single game during the O’Connell era.
How much will this end up continuing? O’Connell does have a tendency to fall back into his old ways, but this isn’t a situation where he’s allergic to playing out of shotgun. It will also be interesting to see how else he tweaks the offense to better his unit as a whole.
This offense is far from complete, and we are already seeing how things are changing.
