Among the many qualities that Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay gets praised for is his open-minded approach to dialing up creative plays for his offense and his willingness to think outside of the box. Matt LaFleur, a McVay disciple, came to Green Bay three years ago and modernized an offense with Aaron Rodgers under center. Now Kevin O’Connell can do the same with the Minnesota Vikings.
LaFleur entered a situation that could’ve gone south early. There was a growing belief that Rodgers had grown frustrated with Mike McCarthy in Green Bay. McCarthy had been a staple for the Packers as their head coach for a dozen years. As soon as the Packers hired LaFleur, people asked why things would be different with a young, hot-shot head coach pushing the buttons.
But it worked. LaFleur’s scheme, energy, and mindset added zest to a Packers offense that had grown stale with McCarthy.
Winning can indeed cure a lot, which also helped the Packers. But LaFleur had deployed two-back formations with Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams. He had Rodgers rolling out of the pocket on play-action far more, and he was helping to diagram plays behind the scenes to quickly get the ball out of Rodgers’ hands.
O’Connell is not entering a situation with an empty cupboard. The Vikings have Dalvin Cook, Justin Jefferson, and Adam Thielen at Kirk Cousins‘s disposal. Therefore, O’Connell can take a page from LaFleur’s book and help bring out the best the roster offers.
One recent development that onlookers noticed at OTAs was how much the Vikings lined Cook up on the outside as a wideout and not in the backfield. Perhaps it’s nothing. Maybe the Vikings are experimenting with different options. But even if it is the latter, at least they’re thinking outside the box.
Like LaFleur, O’Connell has enough weapons on offense to explore numerous options to produce better results. It differs in a significant way from most situations that first-year coaches inherit.
McVay built a high-powered offense led by Jared Goff, who has since sputtered a bit in his second life with the Detroit Lions. The Rams reached a Super Bowl, but their offense failed against the New England Patriots. Still, their appearance in the big game put McVay and the Rams’ offense on the map.
LA went all-in to acquire Matthew Stafford last offseason, and the results paid off with a Super Bowl victory. McVay reached the mountaintop with an offense that may not have been as flashy, but it was as productive and lethal. O’Connell comes from the McVay tree. He’s a big reason for the success the Rams had when he served as their offensive coordinator.
Nobody is asking O’Connell to directly mimic how McVay does things in LA or what LaFleur is doing in Green Bay. He’s his own man. Still, taking little slivers of how they could bring out the best in those offenses can only help O’Connell, especially because he was directly involved in LA before taking the Vikings job.
LaFleur has continued to peel back the layers of the onion in Green Bay, trying out new things with Rodgers. While Rodgers is great as a standalone, would he have won back-to-back MVPs under McCarthy?
LaFleur’s offense brought out the best in Rodgers. He has excelled at putting his players in advantageous spots on the field. While Mike Zimmer was a fine head coach, there were certainly questions about whether or not he was the guy to help on offense. Would he have enough input with the offense to put players in a position to succeed? O’Connell can enable his players the same way LaFleur did when he took over for McCarthy.
The unknown can be intimidating. The Vikings have a sprinkle of that with a first-time head coach. The unknown can also be filled with optimism and excitement that Minnesota hasn’t had for a while. That’s how it seems to be taking shape for the purple faithful.
If there’s one thing Kevin O’Connell can do to mirror fellow Sean McVay disciple Matt LaFleur, it’s taking this offense in Minnesota to new levels by not hesitating and not coming in too shy to try out new ideas. They have more than enough weapons on offense to climb the ladder and become one of the best units in the league.
