Is Vikings HC Kevin O’Connell a top-10 coach in the NFL?
With the Minnesota Vikings entering a new chapter following an offseason in which several key veterans were replaced with younger and cheaper options, it’s worth considering Kevin O’Connell’s place among NFL head coaches.
On Wednesday, Pro Football Focus released its rankings of the league’s top 10 head coaches and excluded O’Connell. However, PFF put Green Bay’s Matt LaFleur as the sixth-best coach in the league and Detroit’s Dan Campbell at seventh, meaning they view O’Connell as, at best, the third-best coach in the NFC North.
His case is interesting and a bit hard to judge.
Even with the hirings of Seattle’s Mike Macdonald and New England’s Jerod Mayo this offseason — the two youngest coaches in the league — O’Connell is still just 39 and the fourth-youngest head coach in the NFL.
In his two seasons leading the Vikings, Minnesota has gone 20-14, tied for the ninth-best regular-season record in that span and one game behind Detroit. The Vikings also have one playoff appearance in his tenure: a wildcard round loss to the New York Giants in the 2022 season.
O’Connell has served as the offensive play-caller while leading the Vikings and has proven himself to be one of the better offensive minds with his gameplans and play designs, and while the Vikings have been good offensively, they haven’t been in the upper echelon of teams.
Over the past two seasons, the Vikings have averaged 22.6 points per game (12th), 722 first downs (seventh), converted third-downs at a 39.6% clip (15th) and fourth-downs at 54.2% (10th). On the other side of the ball, the team has struggled more, giving up 23.3 points per game, the fourth-most in the league, although last year was slightly better under defensive coordinator Brian Flores, allowing 21.3 points per game, tied for 12th-highest in the league.
Last season alone, O’Connell dealt with serious injuries to his quarterback — Kirk Cousins tore his Achilles in Week 8 last season — and star wide receiver Justin Jefferson, who missed two months last season with a hamstring injury., among many others Ultimately, the Vikings started four quarterbacks for the first time in a season in franchise history and finished just 7-10, out of a playoff spot, but remained mostly competitive throughout the season.
Coming off last season, it’s understandably difficult to look at the record and consider O’Connell a top-10 coach, and with journeyman Sam Darnold or rookie J.J. McCarthy at quarterback this season, it’s tough to project a bounce back year for the Vikings. But if the defense is able to take another step forward, the Vikings could still be a sneaky team this year.
It’ll perhaps be O’Connell’s toughest task yet as Vikings head coach this season but, if he’s able to get Minnesota back to the playoffs following the offseason of changes, it’ll only improve his case as one of the top coaches in the NFL.
Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports