The Minnesota Vikings are in the thick of a playoff race in the middle of December again. While they’re in a markedly different position than last year, the 2023 Vikings currently hold the NFC’s No. 6 seed and have an outside chance to win the NFC North. The Vikings are 20-11 overall in the last two seasons, with games against the Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, and Detroit again ahead to finish out Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Kevin O’Connell‘s second campaign.
Given the circumstances when the overhaul occurred, the first two years for Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell have been a resounding success. Thanks to their guidance, Minnesota is poised for more success in the years ahead.
That isn’t to say the Vikings were in horrendous shape when Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell took over in 2022. Former general manager Rick Spielman hit a couple of bullseyes with back-to-back first-round picks in Justin Jefferson and Christian Darrisaw, providing Adofo-Mensah with an excellent starting point for building the offense.
However, a tricky cap situation prevented Adofo-Mensah from fully executing the overhaul he wanted before his first season. The cap forced him to keep several larger, uncomfortable contracts in a transition year.
Instead, the Vikings won. A lot. Seeing that his team may not be as far away as he initially thought, Adofo-Mensah made his first big move just before the 2022 trade deadline, acquiring tight end T.J. Hockenson from Detroit for a 2023 second-round pick and a 2024 third-round pick. The Vikings also gained a couple of fourth-rounders in the deal.
Since arriving in Minnesota, Hockenson has performed as consistently as any tight end in the NFL. He leads the league among tight ends with 91 catches, which is good enough for eighth among all players. Thanks to the contract extension he signed before the 2023 season, Hockenson, 26, will remain in Minnesota for the foreseeable future.
After the 2022 season, Adofo-Mensah started shedding more contracts that no longer provided positive value. He moved on from franchise players who had been in Minnesota for years, like Dalvin Cook, Adam Thielen, and Eric Kendricks, to create cap salary cap space. He also continued to build a near-ideal environment for a quarterback of the future to grow in by drafting receiver Jordan Addison in the first round.
The Vikings have Darrisaw and Brian O’Neill, two of the best tackles in the NFL. They have a superstar receiver in Jefferson, a Pro Bowl tight end in Hockenson, and another first-round receiver talent in Addison. Therefore, Adofo-Mensah has laid the groundwork for a franchise quarterback to thrive, and it appears all signs point toward the Vikings going in that direction in the 2024 draft. They decided not to extend Kirk Cousins before the 2023 season, the first time Cousins has played in a contract year in Minnesota. With his recent Achilles injury, it remains to be seen if the Vikings will re-sign Cousins. But Adofo-Mensah could bring him back if both sides are amenable to a return.
After Adofo-Mensah’s flurry of moves last offseason, the Vikings are now in the middle of the league in terms of salary cap space available in 2024, ranking 14th with over $38 million available. Of course, that will change if they can extend Jefferson. But Adofo-Mensah’s strategic decisions have created wiggle room.
While Adofo-Mensah has managed things well from the front office, O’Connell has been checking all the boxes as a head coach. In 2022, he showed tremendous trust in his players in crunch time, which paid big dividends. His pass-first offensive approach was the opposite of the previous regime’s philosophy. Nonetheless, it resulted in one of the best seasons of Cousins’ career. Minnesota’s 13-4 season created a winning culture that the players seem to have bought into.
In 2023, O’Connell’s coaching job might be even more impressive. Despite several crucial injuries, the Vikings remain steadily in the playoff hunt at 7-7. Jefferson and Cousins have missed most of the season, and Minnesota has started four quarterbacks. Most teams would throw in the towel; O’Connell has ensured that isn’t the case.
Perhaps the most important move O’Connell has made was moving on from Ed Donatell after last season and hiring Brian Flores to replace him. While Donatell’s defense was statistically poor, many head coaches would give a veteran coordinator like Donatell another chance after a 13-win season. But Flores has completely flipped the defensive performance with his radical defensive schemes and playcalling.
Regardless of how the next three games play out, the Vikings have a promising future under Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell’s leadership. They have laid the groundwork for success and instilled a winning culture despite facing adversity.
The dirty work of turning around a franchise is not glamorous. Often, it happens while the team itself is losing games. But Minnesota has managed to win games and rebuild for the future simultaneously. Just think what can happen when the team isn’t rebuilding.
Now is a great time for the Vikings faithful to buy back in because the stock price is about to soar.
