Vikings HC Kevin O’Connell makes bold statement about direction of the franchise, and it’s about time
People have been calling for the Vikings to make this change, and head coach Kevin O’Connell has obliged their wishes.
All eyes have been on the Minnesota Vikings’ offense over the last few weeks. Right now, they are 27th in the NFL in EPA/play and dead last in success rate. It’s been a struggle to get anything going for a multitude of reasons, and the biggest two are injuries and Kyler Murray.
Head coach Kevin O’Connell has been consistently criticized throughout his tenure for his offense. He was known as an offensive guru and quarterback whisperer, but there have consistently been issues with elements of the offense, especially with the run game. Over the first four years of his tenure, O’Connell hasn’t made it a focus. Well, that has changed this year.
Kevin O’Connell has remained focused on the run game
One of the things we weren’t sure would happen was the Vikings committed to the run game. Through the first two games of the season, the Vikings were No. 1 in the NFL in rush percentage on first and second down. After the first four seasons of O’Connell’s tenure, that showed how committed he was, and he talked about that after the Vikings win in Week 1 over the Green Bay Packers.
“I don’t think, in some of the adversity (the Vikings have faced in recent years), I’ve coached very well,” O’Connell said. “Trying to maybe worry about the stat sheet (hurt the team). Trying to maybe worry about what it’s going to look like when you pick up the newspaper. Statistically, are people going to think you’re a good coach?
“It’s about winning.”
That has held true, as the Vikings have shown that with a 4-0 record, having an offense that has struggled massively. Now, that isn’t due to focusing on the run, but, as mentioned above, injuries and a new quarterback.
On Tuesday morning, O’Connell appeared on The Pat McAfee Show, and doubled down on that idea.
“Coming into this year, [I] really viewed the early part of this season as we were going to be learning about what kind of football team we had. But at the same time, we learned towards the tail end of last year, some concrete principles that would matter for our team, and we needed to do those to start the season to give ourselves a chance to get off to a good start in the win column, which was protect the football, force turnovers, possess the ball and and you know allow our defense, which is coming into the year, what I felt would be the strength of our team,” said O’Connell.
This is a huge aspect for O’Connell. He has been setting aside his desire to create aesthetic offense so the Vikings can win. It’s a huge step forward for the Vikings, which is weird to say about a team that is 47-25 under O’Connell since he became the head coach.
It’s an important element of growth for the Vikings going into the heart of the 2026 season, especially with many fans calling for Brian Flores to replace him as the head coach. That notion is absurd on its own, but that’s where we are.
Once the offense takes the step forward we all believe he will, that will calm down significantly.
