The Minnesota Vikings face an inflection point this season, not just with regards to the quarterback position amid the context of the battle for the starting job between new addition Kyler Murray and former No. 10 overall pick JJ McCarthy, but also concerning the future of head coach Kevin O’Connell with the franchise.
Minnesota brought in a new general manager in Nolan Teasley this offseason after parting ways with Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, the man who hired O’Connell to run the sideline four years ago. A big factor in the Vikings’ decision to let Adofo-Mensah go was his call to part ways with Sam Darnold following a Pro Bowl campaign in 2025 so that the team could replace him with McCarthy.
That choice proved disastrous, as Darnold won a Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks and McCarthy battled multiple injuries, littering mostly below-average play across the 2025 campaign when he was able to make it onto the field.
Bill Simmons of The Ringer appeared on “The Mina Kimes Show featuring Lenny” on Monday, July 27 and posited that the upcoming season could be it for O’Connell in Minnesota if the Murray experiment does not work out and/or the coach can’t get McCarthy on track.
“Honestly [Kevin O’Connell], is this it for him in Minnesota?” Simmons said.
“I saw him on, I don’t know if it was [Rich] Eisen or something, or Dan Patrick, where he was like, ‘Well, every time I’ve had average quarterback play, we’ve won 10 games,’” Kimes responded. “And it felt, like, pretty defensive.”
Kevin O’Connell Has Eluded Some Responsibility for Dumping Sam Darnold in Favor of JJ McCarthy
GettyMinnesota Vikings quarterback JJ McCarthy.
Simmons continued, putting some of the blame for the Darnold and McCarthy gaffes on O’Connell.
Kimes noted that O’Connell has eluded responsibility for those decisions, at least to some degree, over the last several months in the wake of the team’s choice to fire Adofo-Mensah.
“First of all, Sam Darnold was better than average and then proved it in Seattle the next year, and they completely screwed that up,” Simmons said. “Second, [O’Connell] touted JJ McCarthy to us all last year, and talked about his Zoom calls he did with JJ every day and all this stuff, and then JJ couldn’t have been worse.”
Kyler Murray Could Spell End for Kevin O’Connell With Vikings if QB Struggles in Upcoming Season
GettyMinnesota Vikings quarterback Kyler Murray.
Simmons went on to predict a strong start for Murray prior to an epic flame out.
“Kyler will look good for three weeks. [O’Connell] will scheme some different things for him to run around and do stuff. And then the [other] teams will figure them out, and [the Vikings] will go 1-8 to finish the season, and we won’t hear from them again,” Simmons continued. “I love the Minnesota fans, I feel bad, but that team is not gonna be good.”
If Simmons is right on all fronts, then both O’Connell and Murray will be free agents by next offseason and hunting new opportunities around the NFL.
Meanwhile, McCarthy will be headed into the fourth and final year of his rookie contract, while Teasley will face a choice on whether to pick up the QB’s fifth-year option by May 1.
If that all plays out the way Simmons predicted, it is unlikely the Vikings invest further in McCarthy. Thus, Teasley will then be looking to start over from scratch at both head coach and the quarterback position.
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