The Vikings finally have their man in place.
Two weeks after coming to an understanding with Kevin O’Connell, the former Rams offensive coordinator is now firmly in place as the tenth head coach of the Minnesota Vikings. He met the media with a smile Thursday, and will clearly bring a different demeanor to the job than former head coach Mike Zimmer.
Thrilled to be on the winning side of the Super Bowl after the Los Angeles Rams defeated the Cincinnati Bengals, O’Connell has an optimistic feeling about his new team, especially when assessing the offensive talent on the team.
But the introductory press conference of a 36-year-old head coach’s run is not exactly a pivotal moment. O’Connell and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah have much work to do in the coming weeks and months. Both men have talked about keeping Kirk Cousins at quarterback, and that appears to be a problematic choice.
Cousins has put together some impressive statistical achievements in his four years with the Vikings, but his tendency to struggle in key games or when facing elite opponents is something that a coaching change is not likely to alter.
Cousins has a 10-year track record – six years with the Washington franchise and four with the Vikings – and he has rarely come through with top games in crucial situations. O’Connell worked with Cousins in Washington, so he does have first-hand experience with him, and what has happened since should not change that impression.
“I know he’s already under contract and I’m excited to coach him,” O’Connell said. “We’ve already started thinking about how we’re going to build those systems for him and our other quarterbacks and really the tremendous skill group that we have, our guys up front.”
“Building those systems” indicates the new Vikings head coach is planning to change the offense significantly for the upcoming season. That is probably a good thing because there was a certain predictability to the attack in the last two seasons that opposing defenses were able to diagnose.
Any offense that has Dalvin Cook, Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen should be dangerous for 60 minutes on nearly an every-week basis. The Vikings typically would put together a sharp touchdown drive early in the game, and then go into hibernation for the rest of the first half before waking up in the second half when it was time to play catch-up football.
O’Connell should be able to put his imprint on the offense after working closely with Rams head coach Sean McVay. It’s one thing to come up with creative ideas in the offseason, but it’s quite another to put together a cohesive gameplan and call plays.
O’Connell said he is planning to call plays on game day, and while that has worked out quite well for Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur in his first three seasons, it is not a scenario that has been successful for many other coaches.
The Vikings are likely to employ the tight end position more than the previous administration did in 2021. Tyler Conklin and Irv Smith Jr. have the talent to stretch the defense a bit and keep drives alive with third-down receptions. O’Connell would also like to have more depth at the wide receiver position at his disposal. Obviously, Jefferson and Thielen are one of the best duos in the league, but the Vikings need to have more of a threat at the No. 3 and 4 wide receiver spots.
If the Vikings can upgrade in those areas during the offseason through free agency and/or the draft, the theory is that Cousins will do a better job overall with the offense. At least that’s how O’Connell and Adofo-Mensah are putting it for public consumption.
Privately, they may not have the same opinion. Obviously, they can’t say anything negative about a quarterback who is in the final season of a two-year deal that will pay him $35 million in 2022 and carries a $45 million cap hit.
It is quite unlikely that O’Connell and Adofo-Mensah will be judged harshly on what happens in their first offseason together. However, the coming weeks and months will be vital to their long-term success with the Vikings and making tough choices may be quite beneficial in the long run.
