The Vikings hired a bright offensive mind in Kevin O’Connell

By: Jake Rajala

The Minnesota Vikings cut ties with Mike Zimmer in 2022 after eight seasons of being led by the Bill Parcells disciple. Sure, it felt like yesterday Zimmer brought the team to the playoffs and miracles were being displayed in the playoff dance. Nonetheless, the products and services were getting stale in the Zimmer regime. It was clearly time for a change of scenery at the Minnesota Vikings head coaching position in 2022.

The Vikings didn’t hesitate to transition from an old sage, defensive guru, to an intuitive, young offensive coach. On February 16th, the Vikings officially hire the 2021 Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator, Kevin O’Connell. The new sheriff in town will look to improve the 33-year-old Kirk Cousins and bring a boost to the Vikings offense yielding Justin Jefferson, Dalvin Cook, and Cousins.

Cousins wasn’t actually a slouch in 2021, as he recorded 33 passing touchdowns (second-most in his career). Justin Jefferson was also on fire with 1,616 yards and 10 touchdowns (both career-high marks). Although, Cook could benefit from more creative play calling and a play-caller that can help him get in the end zone more. Cook recorded 13 rushing touchdowns in 2019, 16 rushing TDs in 2020, but only managed to run angry for six scores in 2021.

With that said, who exactly is the young, hyped-up new Vikings head coach? Well, I will highlight a few polarizing facts about the new face in Minny.

• Kevin O’Connell was a special offensive coordinator for LA in 2021

This might be an easy icebreaker, but I will untwine how magical the 36-year-old, former OC was last season. The Rams offense was ranked fifth in passing YPG and second in passing touchdowns in 2021. The Rams QB Matthew Stafford matched his single-season career-high passing touchdowns with 41 touchdowns thrown. The former Lions QB also threw for a career-high passer rating of 102.9 in a 16+ game season.

Although, Stafford did have a major issue in 2021: interceptions. The Rams QB threw for 17 interceptions, which was the most he’s thrown in a season since 2013. O’Connell can’t let his new QB throw an interception count that is near that number, especially given Cousins’s somewhat conservative style of play.

The Rams top WR Cooper Kupp would receive 191 targets, 145 receptions, 1,947 yards, haul in 16 touchdowns, and go on to win Offensive Player of The Year and Super Bowl MVP last season. The highly touted Justin Jefferson clearly needs to have lots of questions for O’Connell early on.

• O’Connell was an NFL quarterback

The Vikings new head coach follows a path that many other former head coaches have followed. He’s a former NFL QB turned NFL head coach. O’Connell was drafted by the New England Patriots and Bill Belichick in the third round of the 2008 draft. He was a supreme dual-threat QB in college and that helped earn attention in the draft process.

He was waived by the Pats in the 2009 preseason and scooped up by the Detroit Lions a month later. The former third-rounder would bounce around the league for a few more years. He never started an NFL game or made a name for himself in the playing ranks. It clearly didn’t stop him from driving to be a successful coach. The future Hall of Fame coach Sean Payton was once an NFL quarterback. It’s okay to wish that he could go down the same road that Payton went on. The Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator, Kellen Moore, was once a mediocre NFL QB, as well.

• O’Connell is the 10th head coach in franchise history

O’Connell follows in the footsteps of many coaching legends in Vikings history. There’s the biggest Vikings coaching legend Bud Grant. Grant won three NFC Championships and was named coach of the year in 1969. Then along came a Vikings coaching legend in Dennis Green, who won four NFC Central titles. In the 2000s, Brad Childress and Mike Zimmer combined to win four NFC North titles. They weren’t superstar coaches, but they can be reflected as quality leaders in the grand scheme of things.

The Vikings will hope that O’Connell brings success that lies in between the wins that Grant and Zimmer captured realistically. Perhaps, O’Connell can really bring over the same magic that his mentor Sean McVay head. I guess time will tell.