‘You just got to keep playing’ — Kevin O’Connell elaborates on one element the Vikings haven’t had go their way
Good process will lead to good results.
One of the biggest differences between the 2024 and 2025 Minnesota Vikings has been the defense’s ability to generate turnovers.
The Vikings did a phenomenal job in 2024 at taking the ball away. They tied for the league lead with 33 turnovers forced and set up their offense for success with short fields. That hasn’t happened this year, as the Vikings’ defense has forced just nine turnovers. Of those, five came against the Cincinnati Bengals in a 48-10 blowout victory. That doesn’t set up the Vikings for success.
What Kevin O’Connell said about defense’s lack of turnovers
Turnovers are a two-way street, as you also don’t want to turn the ball over. The Vikings have done so 18 times this season, which is 31st in the NFL. That is not a recipe for winning football, but it’s not the only reason the Vikings are struggling.
Head coach Kevin O’Connell was asked about this during his Monday press conference and gave some interesting context.
“There were a couple of examples yesterday of the ball getting tipped and fall into the turf at U.S. Bank Stadium, and we’ve got a guy maybe one or two steps away,” said O’Connell. “I thought, for the most part, they didn’t put the ball at harm’s risk very often. I think Caleb [Williams] put it on the ground maybe once late and was able to secure it right back. And you just keep playing, and you’re doing the principles.”
This is one thing that doesn’t get discussed enough when it comes to turnovers. So much of it is luck-based. You can create havoc with batted passes, but the bounces sometimes go your way, while others don’t. This year, they haven’t gotten those.
Even so, there are other aspects where the Vikings have been successful on defense, but they just haven’t gotten the turnovers.
“I think we forced 10 negatives yesterday to try to put them behind the chains,” O’Connell said. “I think we can still strive to have that effect on defense, some third-and-long conversions on some simple plays where maybe one or two guys just simply does their job a little bit better. We get off the field on those, and that adds to the day that our defense was having from stopping a pretty talented.
“I think you just got to keep playing. You got to keep punching. You got to keep raking, hammering, going at the football when ball carriers have it, getting population to the ball to see how many purple hats we can have arriving at the ball to have those opportunities. And then, the tips and overthrows have to — the law of averages should even out on those at some point. And we just got to keep staying the course. It’s much like the mindset of our whole team right now. They will come.”
When you have a good process, good results will come in time. Right now, the Vikings haven’t gotten the results, but they will happen.
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