OC Wes Phillips’ comments on Vikings’ offense are tone deaf, and they speak to a much bigger issue
There have been issues with the overall offense Kevin O’Connell runs over the last two years, and it’s coming to a head.
The offense for the Minnesota Vikings is at a critical juncture. Head coach Kevin O’Connell has been viewed by many as an offensive guru and quarterback whisperer, and it certainly looked that way through the first three seasons of his tenure. Kirk Cousins had some of his best play in his season and a half under O’Connell, while Sam Darnold revitalized his career.
Since the playoff loss to the Los Angeles Rams, the offense has been rough. They rank 29th in EPA/play (0.096) and 26th in success rate (41.6%), while scoring a touchdown at a third-worst 6.6%. It’s been rough, and a lot of the blame went to J.J. McCarthy and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. With both of them out of the organization, the blame has to go somewhere.
Wes Phillips’ comments on offensive execution are a red flag
It’s evident that Kyler Murray isn’t trusting what he’s seeing and is thinking a little bit too much on the field. The majority of those issues are coming on in-breaking routes to Justin Jefferson, where Murray has turned down way too many opportunities.
There have been a lot of discussions that the offense as a whole is too complex. It was a major talking point last season with McCarthy because he wasn’t getting up to speed quickly enough. O’Connell even talked about “limiting the inventory” ahead of McCarthy’s seventh start against the Washington Commanders last December.
“We’re not having success. It is clear that we all can be better. But like I said, I’m going to personally look at myself and how I can continue to find a way to coach the details of the plays that are called, and what type of plays we’re going to call, and how many plays we’re going to take into games. And if we’ve got to limit our inventory and just demand execution, we’ll do it even more than we already have, which has been a part of the process over these last few weeks. I do believe that will lead to a little bit more rhythm and timing to our pass game,” said O’Connell on December 1st, 2025.
The idea of limiting the inventory makes sense. It’s something that happens a lot on defense when players are thinking a little too much. That’s arguably what we’ve seen the last two seasons, and it’s doing so once again with Murray at the helm.
At the time, a lot of the criticism went on McCarthy. He had two years in the system, albeit just six starts when they started “limiting the inventory.” Murray has been here since mid-March and, despite being an eight-year veteran, those issues haven’t gone away. Are we sure the quarterback is the problem here?
Now, it wasn’t when they had Cousins and Darnold. They played fantastic football within the system, and it was what vaulted O’Connell so highly in the minds of many across the league and media. Even so, the adaptation for his quarterbacks has worked when he’s done it.
When the Vikings did simplify the offense, things got significantly better. Their EPA/play in the final five weeks of the season, including a disastrous Max Brosmer start, rose to 13th in the NFL (0.042), and their success rate went up to ninth (46.8%).
O’Connell is surely a brilliant mind when it comes to getting wide receivers open with explosives, as the all-22 shows a lot of potential with the offense. It’s why O’Connell has been adamant over the last few weeks that the “offense is close.” Even so, at a certain point, if the offense isn’t able to execute your play designs, maybe the offense is a problem.
Offensive coordinator Wes Phillips was asked specifically about the complexity of the offense, and his answer was baffling.
“No, I don’t,” said Phillips about the complexity of the offense. “A lot gets made into like we have some kind of super hard offense or something. I mean, this is NFL football. There’s complexity to some of the things that we do, but I also don’t think there’s a whole lot of offenses that are just lining up, you know, two by two, three by one, and just calling plays and trying to win a whole lot.”
Sure, it is the NFL, and you are trying to run an offense that isn’t static and creates advantages for your team. Even so, that doesn’t mean that it has to be overly complex. You can still attack the defense’s weaknesses with some disguise while also not making it a PhD-level system.
“You’re not moving people for no reason. You’re not motioning for no reason; everything you’re doing is trying to give your guys some sort of slight advantage, slight edge in order for them to win. Whether that’s angles in the run game, whether that’s releases, that sort of thing,” said Phillips.
“I don’t think when you look at our [team], okay, you lose a game, and you say, “All right, maybe the execution is not what we wanted in all phases, in all areas.'”All right, did we have a bunch of mental errors? Are we busting a lot of things?’ And if that’s the case, then that is an argument to simplify, tighten the menu. Hey, maybe we put too much on these guys going into a game plan. But when that’s not the case, you know, it’s more about execution and all 11 being on the same page and executing as one.”
This certainly sounds like Phillips is passing on the blame to the players for their lack of execution. I’ll be honest, that’s a little ridiculous and tone deaf. If the offense is struggling to operate as a collective whole, why would it be on the players not executing? It’s more likely that the ingredients they are given aren’t working to create the dish, and that falls on the coaching staff.
One of the main reasons why you can point to the system over the players is that each week, there is a different area responsible for the lack of success. Whether it’s the blocking, quarterback play, or the play calling, there is always a culprit.
How much can we really blame Murray for not making anticipatory throws when it’s not something he’s done in his career? Why aren’t we focusing more on what worked against the New Orleans Saints, where the offense was at its best this season? It certainly feels like O’Connell is trying to parlay success in a style he doesn’t prefer to play into what he wants to run, almost like he’s forcing it rather than working with what he has. How can we consider that good coaching?
Yes, the players need to execute, but if the support isn’t there the way it needs to be, how much blame can really be placed on them? There is a level of stubbornness within the offense, and these comments from Phillips are a signal of a bigger problem, essentially explaining a lot about the concerns regarding the direction of the offense and, quite frankly, the team as a whole.
