Vikings HC Kevin O’Connell heard the message loud and clear, and proved it on Sunday against the Bears
The Minnesota Vikings have been very up-and-down on offense this season. Some of that has been due to starting quarterback J.J. McCarthy being inconsistent during his five starts, and Carson Wentz being the same in his.In the first 10 games, the inconsistencies have been stark. There has been a lot of criticism from the fanbase […]
The Minnesota Vikings have been very up-and-down on offense this season. Some of that has been due to starting quarterback J.J. McCarthy being inconsistent during his five starts, and Carson Wentz being the same in his.
In the first 10 games, the inconsistencies have been stark. There has been a lot of criticism from the fanbase and analysts alike about head coach Kevin O’Connell’s play-calling. Well, he heard them loud and clear this past week and came out of the gates swinging.
Kevin O’Connell focuses on the run game vs. Bears
It didn’t take long for O’Connell to make the running game a priority. They ran on three of the first four plays, and they were getting chunk plays. Overall, the Vikings ran the ball on 22 of 54 plays, good for 40.74% of their offensive plays, which is nearly two percent better than their season average.
It wasn’t just that the Vikings ran the ball on a larger chunk of plays, but that they didn’t go away from it until the clock was a major factor.
“I was proud of the way we ran the ball,” said O’Connell. “We tried to stick with it as much as we could. Ended up with a couple of two-minute drives there, where we had to go, and then we became one-dimensional.”
They ran the ball well on those 22 carries, gaining 115 yards and a Jordan Mason touchdown. It wasn’t just on zone runs either; the Vikings ran plenty of duo and threw in power and counter to mix it up. They even ran the ball on the final drive before the two-minute warning to try and make things easier for their young quarterback.
Now, the key will be whether O’Connell continues to prioritize the running game, especially with McCarthy getting all out of sorts mechanically throughout the game. If they can make things easier for McCarthy, that should be the goal, but it doesn’t fix him consistently air mailing passes.
The running game will need the passing game to start matching it, but until then, this is a good step forward.
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