Kevin O’Connell had no NFL head coaching experience when he left the Super Bowl champions Los Angeles Rams in February 2022 to take over as the Minnesota Vikings head coach.
O’Connell, who had served as the Rams’ offensive coordinator under Sean McVay, fit what the Vikings were looking for after dismissing the defensive-minded Mike Zimmer. He was young (36 at the time), enthusiastic and, most importantly, his expertise came on the offensive side the ball.
He also had been the position coach for Kirk Cousins for one season (2017) in Washington, so he was familiar with the Vikings quarterback.
While there was optimism that O’Connell could get more out of the Vikings than Zimmer did in back-to-back non-playoff seasons, it surprised nearly everyone that the team won 13 games before suffering a disappointing loss to the Giants in the first round of the playoffs.
As the Vikings get set to open their second training camp under O’Connell let’s look at what he has accomplished to date and where there remains room for growth. We did the same for general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah earlier this week.
Most significant accomplishments: Implementing a new culture and getting more from the offense
O’Connell inherited a difficult situation, given that few roster moves were made after an 8-9 finish in what was a miserable final season under Zimmer.
The fact O’Connell’s enthusiasm and attitude were the opposite of Zimmer immediately changed the feeling around the team. Players no longer had to walk on eggshells, providing a freedom that didn’t exist in Zimmer’s final seasons in Minnesota.
But O’Connell’s mission wasn’t only to change the Vikings’ culture, it also was to get more from an offense that finished 14th in points and 12th in yards in 2021. Cousins never had been a guy Zimmer seemed to want around and there was little communication between the two.
It was the opposite with O’Connell, who spent plenty of time with Cousins and also called the offensive plays. The Vikings’ offense wasn’t as consistent as O’Connell wanted in his first season but it jumped to eighth in points and seventh in yards.
Cousins tied an NFL record by engineering eight fourth-quarter comebacks, and wide receiver Justin Jefferson went from good to great, leading the NFL with 128 receptions for 1,809 yards.
There remains room for growth with the offense, but O’Connell’s first season provides confidence this unit will be better in 2023.
Worst move: Hiring of Ed Donatell was a mistake from the start
O’Connell didn’t have many swings and misses in 2022 but this was a big one.
The rookie coach knew he wanted a defense that resembled what Vic Fangio had run in Denver, so he hired the guy who had been Fangio’s defensive coordinator, longtime NFL assistant Ed Donatell. O’Connell expected a defensive scheme that confused opponents and provided a variety of looks from a 3-4 base.
Instead, he got a defense that spent much of the season looking confused and being too predictable with a two-high safety shell. A unit that had regressed under Zimmer, falling to 24th in points against and 30th in yards, got even worse (28th scoring defense and 31st in yards).
Donatell’s job was thought to be in jeopardy late in the season, but he wasn’t dismissed until after the playoff loss to the Giants.
That was the bad part.
The good part was that O’Connell didn’t compound the mistake by sticking with Donatell and instead made the move to former Dolphins coach Brian Flores.
Flores is expected to run a scheme that brings pressure and is consistently aggressive. The Vikings still have question marks — the cornerback position being the primary one — but Flores’ presence should provide an immediate upgrade.
Biggest decision to be made: Who does O'Connell want to be his quarterback?
Cousins is coming off a season in which some of his stats dipped, but his ability to provide in the clutch increased. The eight-part “Quarterback” docuseries that debuted on Netflix this week featured Cousins as one of the three QBs it followed through last season.
Watching the behind-the-scenes interaction between Cousins and O’Connell was extremely interesting and shows just how closely the coach and quarterback worked together.
But the Vikings elected not to extend Cousins’ contract after the season, meaning he’s going into the final year of his deal and could end up leaving in free agency in March. The fact Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell are willing to take that risk means they feel there could be better options than Cousins.
Cousins spent his last two seasons in Washington without a contract extension before finally signing as a free agent with Minnesota in 2018. If Cousins is as successful as O’Connell hopes this season, the Vikings are either going to have to give the veteran one more big contract or turn their attention to the draft or free agency.
If O’Connell is asked about this subject during the season, he will say his focus is on the present. But the future of the position will be on his mind until a long-term solution is found.
Overall assessment of Kevin O'Connell's first season
I wrote that any assessment of Adofo-Mensah’s first season as GM is difficult because there remain so many unknowns and things have to play out. While O’Connell also only has one season under his belt, the fact he’s out front on a daily basis during the season makes evaluating him easier. So does the fact he has a won-loss record attached to his name.
O’Connell gets a lot of credit for his work with Cousins and increasing the Vikings’ win total by five. He appeared unflappable in the face of adversity and, as the “Quarterback” series showed, was calm, cool and collected when Cousins wasn’t.
Will that continue in O’Connell’s second season? That’s one of the questions for a guy whose team had plenty go right in 2022. The Vikings started 8-1 last year and never dropped consecutive games. There weren’t a lot of speed bumps.
There are most tests ahead for O’Connell, but his even-keel personality should be an asset when things don’t go smoothly.
