Kevin O’Connell says the quiet part out loud when talking about how the Vikings need to handle the bye week

It’s important that the Minnesota Vikings get this figured out

Tyler Forness — NFL & College Football News Writer
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Oct 5, 2025; Tottenham, United Kingdom; Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell reacts after a play against the Cleveland Browns during the second quarter of an NFL International Series game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Minnesota Vikings are entering the bye week with a 3-2 record after defeating the Cleveland Browns by a score of 21-17.

Among the biggest questions on the team are the multitude of injuries. Left tackle Christian Darrisaw is still taking it easy on his surgically repaired knee from his torn ACL. Right tackle Brian O’Neill and left guard Donovan Jackson could return in Week 7 against the Philadelphia Eagles, as could inside linebacker Blake Cashman, who is the only one of the three on injured reserve.

Those injuries, along with center Ryan Kelly, running back Aaron Jones, and edge rusher Andrew Van Ginkel, have been very impactful in how the Vikings have been so inconsistent, and we haven’t even mentioned quarterback J.J. McCarthy yet.

“I think it’s really important, first and foremost that we exhaust our opportunities to get healthy,” said head coach Kevin O’Connell. “We’ve been pretty banged up at some critical spots. If you are just looking at the original intent of your starting 22 guys, 25 guys or so, that you hope to really lean on, so we’ve got to get healthy.”

It’s been difficult to navigate all the injuries, especially at quarterback where so much is put on the signal caller in O’Connell’s offense.

Minnesota Vikings still looking for an identity

The hope is the bye week can get the Vikings in a healthy spot heading into a brutal stretch starting with the Eagles, Los Angeles Chargers, Detroit Lions, and Baltimore Ravens being the first four games.

Heading into the bye week, O’Connell identified the one element that the Vikings need to get figured out: their identity.

“I think we’ve got to use the time as a coaching staff to figure out what is the identity of this year’s team,” said O’Connell. “And it’s been hard to really figure out exactly what that looks like just as it’s been such a game-to-game, really in many ways, day-to-day approach, and just trying to maximize our preparation, just trying to improve and continue to elevate the floor of our team, because that floor has been called upon. We’re 3-2. We’re going to be able to go home after what’s been a trip that has required some things out of a lot of people, and we got one win on this trip. We would have loved to come away with two, but we were relentless today in our pursuit of just finding a way to win a football game against a good team.”

It shouldn’t be much of a surprise that the identity is still an unknown. Teams don’t get to play many snaps fully healthy, but you don’t see a lot who play this injured either. They missed Darrisaw and safety Harrison Smith in the first two games, and by the point both returned, Cashman, Van Ginkel, Kelly, and Jones had already missed time.

Each team has their own identity, meaning they can rely on some aspect to carry them. That hasn’t come to fruition just yet, and it’s due to what O’Connell mentioned: a game-to-game approach. Without having any continuity on offense, they haven’t been able to rely on anything other than Justin Jefferson, and maybe he is what their identity becomes.

Whatever the Vikings feel their identity will be, it could be crucial to the Vikings taking a step forward and making a playoff run in 2025.

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