Daily Norseman
And Brian Flores too
As the Minnesota Vikings make their final push through the end of the regular season and into the postseason, there is no mistaking that this season is a product of having good people to lead the team and manage the roster.
The Vikings at 12-2 with three games to play was beyond all expectations at the beginning of the season. Only 2% of DN voters had the Vikings winning 12+ games this season in a poll with my preseason forecast (I had the Vikings going 10-7). But from what we’ve heard from Kevin O’Connell, it wasn’t beyond his expectations from about midway through the offseason, despite what was being said outside of TCO Performance Center.
O’Connell exceeded expectations in his rookie season as head coach as well, going 13-4 and winning the division when the preseason over/under for the Vikings was 9.5 wins. Last season was an injury-led disappointment, losing starting quarterback Kirk Cousins for the last half of the season and Justin Jefferson for half of the season as well. But when the team has been relatively healthy over the past three seasons, O’Connell has exceeded expectations.
O’Connell’s coaching and leadership ability is not going unnoticed around the league either. In a recent poll of 27 league executives, O’Connell got the vote of 16.5 of them (one split their vote between O’Connell and Sean McVay) for Coach of the Year. The next highest vote-getter was Mike Tomlin with three votes. Dan Campbell got only two. O’Connell not only turned heads by vastly outperforming preseason expectations for the team, he’s also credited for turning Sam Darnold’s career from lead into gold and for being one of the best play-callers and play-designers in the league. And before all that for creating a positive, player-first culture that has attracted free agents to Minnesota and has led to a winning environment.
What more can you ask for from a head coach? A Super Bowl dynasty, naturally. Kevin O’Connell hasn’t taken the team to that rarified air yet, but who is a better available candidate to do so? I can’t think of one.
All that makes a pretty clear case for extending Kevin O’Connell and making him one of the higher paid head coaches in the league. A five-year extension seems appropriate given what O’Connell has done so far, along with his age, open Super Bowl window, and current roster situation.
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah had a terrible first draft in 2022. There is no getting around that. The trades for Lewis Cine and Andrew Booth in the late first and early second-round were both busts. Of the ten picks in that draft, only Ed Ingram, Brian Asamoah, Ty Chandler, and Jalen Nailor remain with the team. His 2023 draft was better, headlined by Jordan Addison. Third-round pick Mekhi Blackmon had a good rookie season and made the PFF All-Rookie team last...
