One of the most important, if tough to define, elements any NFL team needs to succeed is a distinct identity, and a team’s identity often mirrors the personality of its head coach.
Mike Tomlin’s Pittsburgh Steelers have players with big personalities and even bigger egos. You can’t have a practice in Pittsburgh without the music on or a TikTok dance afterward. Under Bill Belichick, the New England Patriots are silent drones whose mantra is “Do Your Job.” Even the Detroit Lions have found some mojo under Dan Campbell as a feisty, energetic group of guys who are always ready to run through a brick wall for each other.
The Minnesota Vikings and the Arizona Cardinals have also established their own unique identities. Unsurprisingly, both mimic the personalities of their respective head coaches.
Kevin O’Connell is a former backup QB who enjoys studying the Xs and Os of the game more than playing it. He reads books about positivity and self-help, has a receding hairline, and talks about how his wife is upset with him because he gave away one too many game balls. He’s not as geeky as Kirk Cousins, but they share similar traits.
O’Connell’s geeky nature is woven into the Vikings’ identity with his much-hyped “illusion of complexity.” What does that entail? It means running plays that are easy for the offense to execute but difficult for defenses to read. That doesn’t mean the offensive scheme is easy to learn, though. Ironically enough, the illusion of complexity is still extremely complex. It may be a complicated offense to learn, but the elaborate nature of the scheme pays off against opposing defenses.
Kliff Kingsbury is the flashy, overly-aggressive, multi-sport jock from high school who is a bit of a hypebeast. He’s the kind of guy who won’t settle for a field goal in the red zone on fourth-and-five. He spikes his hair, wears sunglasses, and likes showing off his swanky multi-million dollar Paradise Valley mansion. On draft night in 2020, we got a glimpse of the place. He has mountain views and plenty of fireplaces to keep him toasty during those frigid 61-degree Arizona nights.
Like Kliff Kingsbury’s penthouse, Arizona’s roster is chock full of unnecessary luxuries. Arizona has four wide receivers on their roster who would be the WR1 in Chicago. DeAndre Hopkins, Rondale Moore, Marquise Brown, and Robbie Anderson give Kyler Murray a full arsenal of weapons at his disposal. That’s not including A.J. Green and Greg Dortch, who are solid depth guys, along with Zach Ertz at the tight end spot.
The Cardinals operate like a major college football program, amassing big-name players on offense like Thanos collecting the infinity stones. The college influences extend on the field as well, with Arizona running an Air-Raid offense Kingsbury brought over from Texas Tech.
Kingsbury lives and dies by that Air-Raid offense, regardless of who might be Arizona’s opponent. It’s great for creating a clear identity. However, it becomes a problem when teams start to figure out how to defend it. It’s reminiscent of when Mike Zimmer was the Vikings’ head coach, and he insisted they needed to establish the run. It doesn’t matter if you’re run-first or pass-first. What truly matters is how well you can adapt.
This is where the Vikings’ identity under O’Connell starts to differ from Kingsbury and the Cardinals. While Kingsbury is pretty rigid in his schematic approach, O’Connell is much more flexible in terms of how his scheme is run on a weekly basis.
Sunday’s game will show how much more adaptable Minnesota’s coaching staff is compared to the Cardinals. Kingsbury will have Arizona be pass-happy all day simply because that’s the identity he has created. O’Connell’s offense has a bit more nuance, and I expect Minnesota to lean into that in Sunday’s matchup.
