With the Minnesota Vikings planning to hire Kevin O’Connell the moment he walks out of the stadium after Super Bowl Sunday, it’s worth pondering what the Los Angeles Rams’ OC will be able to do with the Vikings’ roster.
O’Connell oversees the prolific Rams’ offense. Can the Vikings replicate what the Rams were able to do this season with their roster? Or are they going to look like a knock-off version of what Sean McVay has cultivated in LA?
There are two strong correlations between the Rams’ and the Vikings’ offenses. For one thing, they have what are probably the two best receiving duos in the NFL. That’s most notable, thanks to LA’s proclivity of running 11-personnel offensive packages.
At a base level, that means the offense uses only one tight end and running back, allowing room for three wide receivers. Assuming O’Connell brings over this predisposition, it could be an issue with the current state of the Vikings, given their lack of wide receiver depth. K.J. Osborn had a good season, but he hasn’t proven that he can be a full-time starter in lieu of Adam Thielen like Van Jefferson was able to do with Robert Woods.
Thielen is on the wrong side of 30, and the Vikings have no proven receivers behind him and Justin Jefferson. Therefore, Minnesota can’t do what the Rams did with their depth. LA functionally replicated Woods with Jefferson, and then they added Odell Beckham Jr.
However, the Vikings will get Irv Smith Jr. back, and Tyler Conklin had a great season last year, filling in as Minnesota’s No. 1 TE option. O’Connell will see that and surely include packages using two TEs more since the Vikings have more talent there than the Rams. O’Connell may just run 11-personnel with Smith as a WR.
The second biggest similarity between the two teams is quarterback play. Matthew Stafford is a better quarterback than Cousins, but it’s a marginal difference. They might as well be 1a and 1b in whatever order you like considering their rankings this season. PFF ranked Cousins as the sixth-best QB in the league and Stafford seventh. There’s more to it. But it’s possible to get to a Super Bowl with Cousins.
Stafford is one of the best pocket passers in the NFL and can step up in the pocket. Conversely, Cousins almost refuses to. The fact is, the Rams have an excellent offensive line and the Vikings have a terrible line. For Cousins to be as consistent of a QB as Stafford, he needs the support of a great line. Cousins hasn’t had a stable line his entire time with the Vikings, and that needs to change if the team has to rely on him.
And that’s where the Vikings’ offense starts looking more like the Cincinnati Bengals. They have comparable receivers, running backs, and offensive lines. I also believe that Cincinnati’s defense is overachieving, which is what championship teams do. That helps Joe Burrow and the offense let loose and play to their strengths. That’s something Cousins hasn’t had since 2019 when the Vikings fell to the San Francisco 49ers in the playoffs.
Expectations are changing with the hiring of O’Connell, though. Now Cousins needs to be the team’s centerpiece, and there are no excuses considering the direction the team looks to be heading. Cousins likely won’t have a defense to fall back on as he did in past seasons under Mike Zimmer. Cousins is the guy for the time being, and O’Connell seems to think he can get the job done.
The Tennessee Titans sacked Joe Burrow nine times, and the Bengals still won in Nashville. Imagine watching Cousins get sacked nine times and winning that game. I can’t. But if they can copy what Zac Taylor — another McVay guy — has done for the Bengals and round out their talent on offense, I see hope for O’Connell to emulate what his fellow McVay disciple has done.
Like Taylor, O’Connell is a young, offensive-minded head coach. Where the two differentiate is that Taylor hadn’t called plays at an NFL level and had not been an OC when Cincinnati hired him. At least O’Connell has been the offensive coordinator with the Rams for two (outstanding) seasons.
Burrow has been better than Stafford this year. But Stafford is a comparable QB to Cousins. He and Cousins are top-10ish QBs, and Stafford has proven that that’s enough. Stafford has done what I’ve dreamed of Cousins doing, and he still doesn’t have as good of numbers as Cousins did this year. It is feasible that the Vikings could be right back into the mix after a season or two because of how each team reached the Super Bowl.
The Vikings don’t have the amount of talent that the Rams do, and they don’t have Burrow. But that’s okay! The Vikings can take two very different teams and learn what took those teams to the Super Bowl. Especially Taylor, who looked to be a botched hire after two poor seasons at the helm of the Bengals but is a close comparison to the Vikings’ future HC.
