The Minnesota Vikings continue to surprise after earning their 12th victory on the season and seventh consecutive win via a drubbing of the Chicago Bears on “Monday Night Football.”
Though, perhaps the time for shock has ended and the only appropriate reaction now is awe at head coach Kevin O’Connell and the staff/team he’s put together in his third year at the helm.
O’Connell is among the best offensive minds in football, which he proved as the offensive coordinator of the 2021 Los Angeles Rams team that captured the Super Bowl trophy following that season. But what he has done in Minnesota is perhaps even more impressive, especially considering the place the franchise was in when he took over.
The Vikings clinched a playoff spot for the second time in three years by besting the Bears and are in the driver’s seat to win their second NFC North Division crown over the same span, as well as a No. 1 seed in the playoffs if they can win out.
But even if all of that doesn’t happen, O’Connell has still made franchise history during his first ever head coaching stint, as Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated pointed out on social media Monday, December 16.
“Tonight, Kevin O’Connell got to 12 wins for the second time in three years — becoming just the second coach to hit 12 wins twice in franchise history,” Breer wrote on X. “Bud Grant was first. And if Minnesota wins next week, he’ll become the first Vikings coach ever to have multiple 13-win seasons.”
Vikings Control Division, Playoff Destinies With 3 Games to Play
GettyHead coach Kevin O’Connell of the Minnesota Vikings celebrates with QB Sam Darnold.
The Vikings won’t have an easy go of it to 15-2, with road games against the Seattle Seahawks and Detroit Lions in Weeks 16 and 18, respectively, sandwiching a showdown with the Green Bay Packers in Minneapolis.
That said, Minnesota controls its own fate, despite a three-way tie for first place in the NFC with the Lions and Philadelphia Eagles.
And if the Vikings win out, earn a bye through Wildcard Weekend and guarantee themselves home-field advantage until a neutral site Super Bowl in New Orleans — then O’Connell will have a chance to make a different, and even more important, sort of team history by capturing the franchise’s first ever championship.
Kevin O’Connell’s Greatest Feat May Be Revitalization of Sam Darnold’s Career
GettyQuarterback Sam Darnold of the Minnesota Vikings.
It is almost ridiculous when one considers that Minnesota lost a four-time Pro Bowler in quarterback Kirk Cousins to the Atlanta Falcons in free agency, replaced him with a long-established bust in Sam Darnold at the price of $10 million for one season and carried north of $60 million in dead money into the 2024 campaign.
But Darnold has been the find of the offseason and arguably the best value in the league considering his MVP-caliber performance, which came out of nowhere in his seventh NFL season.
However, O’Connell deserves some credit for that, too.
Not only did he help identify Darnold, he has developed him in an offense so schematically and structurally sound that it is difficult for a competent quarterback to fail. Darnold has proved himself more than that, and O’Connell has proved a candidate for Coach of the Year as the league turns the corner into its final stretch before the playoffs begin in mid-January.
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