Multiple Minnesota Vikings take crucial step to winning prestigious awards with head coach Kevin O'Connell leading the way
The National Football League is set to hold the NFL Honors show on Thursday, February 6th with the Associated Press awarding multiple prestigious awards, including Coach of the Year.. The Minnesota Vikings have three nominees for awards with head coach Kevin O'Connell nominated for Coach of the Year, defensive coordinator Brian Flores nominated for Assistant […]
The National Football League is set to hold the NFL Honors show on Thursday, February 6th with the Associated Press awarding multiple prestigious awards, including Coach of the Year..
The Minnesota Vikings have three nominees for awards with head coach Kevin O'Connell nominated for Coach of the Year, defensive coordinator Brian Flores nominated for Assistant Coach of the Year, and quarterback Sam Darnold nominated for Comeback Player of the Year.
Kevin O'Connell, Brian Flores, and Sam Darnold nominated for prestigious awards
Both O'Connell and Darnold have been on a collision course for these awards over the course of the entire season.
Going into the season, the Vikings were projected to win just 6.5 games and overachieved by a whopping 7.5 games with a 14-3 record. A lot of that credit goes to O'Connell, who made a huge difference in elevating the team that still had major talent voids, including their quarterback Darnold taking a step forward.
O'Connell has already begun getting awards for his performance as the Vikings head coach having been named the Pro Football Writers Association NFC Coach of the Year earlier in the week.
Darnold shouldn't be much of a surprise to be nominated either. Even though the rules were changed for the award with Joe Flacco winning the award this past year, Darnold was going to be eligible for the award, as the AP said they would be accepting votes for him.
Darnold was one of the best stories in the entire National Football League, throwing for 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns in the regular season. The discussion surrounding his future might overshadow how incredible he was this season.
You could make the same argument for Flores. His defense was fifth in scoring defense while being second in run defense, but they struggled in the final two games of the season, allowing 58 points in the two losses, while going 0-3 in games where they allowed 30 points this season.
All three are very likely to win the awards for which they are nominated. It would be a huge benefit to the Vikings' culture, which is already one of the best in the NFL under O'Connell and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.
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