This is the third installment of a three-part series on Kevin O’Connell. Check out parts one and two here and here.
Kevin O’Connell didn’t have the luxury of starting with a blank slate when it came to his roster. In his first year as the Minnesota Vikings’ head coach, he led a group of players who had gone 15-18 the previous two seasons under Mike Zimmer while dealing with salary cap restrictions that limited roster turnover. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah referred to it as a “competitive rebuild.”
However, O’Connell took it in stride, leading the Minnesota Vikings to a 13-4 record. The team that couldn’t get out of its way in close games the previous two seasons won an NFL-record 11 one-score games in 2022. They engineered a record-breaking 33-point comeback against the Indianapolis Colts, a game that clinched the NFC North crown.
He also won games with Kirk Cousins at quarterback. Despite displaying glitzy stats, Cousins was only 33-29 as a starter in Minnesota after going 26-30 in Washington from 2012 to 2017. But in 2022, O’Connell helped Cousins play with a “quieted mind,” meaning that Cousins needed to remain calm and trust his physical ability. Suddenly, Cousins was leading a game-winning drive almost every week.
That’s when O’Connell displayed his ability to adapt.
The following season presented a much more challenging task, but it also offered an opportunity to showcase what makes KOC special. Cousins went down with an Achilles injury in October, leading the Vikings to trade for Josh Dobbs. Five days later, the Vikings inserted Dobbs into the lineup when rookie Jaren Hall went down with a concussion in Atlanta.
That would typically be a knockout blow for a team that has just lost its starting quarterback. But O’Connell locked in, not only calling plays into Dobbs’ headset, but walking him through what to expect to see from the defense. He simplified terminology to accelerate the communication process. It culminated in a 75-yard touchdown drive, where Dobbs connected with receiver Brandon Powell for the game-winning pass.
O’Connell’s playing experience resonated with Dobbs, even though he had played for the coach for less than a week:
If you could hear the headset, there was a lot going on. It was great that Kevin played quarterback, so he obviously knows what I’m going through. He’s able to communicate effectively like, ‘“Hey, this what you’re looking at. This is what you have on this side of the page. This is what you have on that side of the page.”
He’s able to talk in lingos that I come from to be able to simplify it for me. Then from there, obviously, it was just about going out and playing. I thought the communication was awesome, starting with (quarterbacks coach) Chris (O’Hara) on the sideline, then with Kevin, then to me on the field. It put me in a position to succeed.
The Dobbs experiment went well for another week before his play plateaued, and the Vikings turned to Nick Mullens. Minnesota finished 7-10, but O’Connell’s work with Dobbs proved he had a unique way of connecting with various quarterbacks.
The Vikings had several questions to answer at the position when the 2024 offseason arrived. First, they said goodbye to Cousins, who had thrown for 23,265 yards and 171 touchdowns in six seasons in Minnesota. Set to be 36 in August and coming off an injured Achilles, the Vikings weren’t going to get into a bidding war to retain him. Cousins signed with the Atlanta Falcons, leaving a void at quarterback in Minnesota.
The Vikings then signed Sam Darnold, whom the New York Jets selected third overall in 2018. He had spent the 2023 season as Brock Purdy’s backup in San Francisco, and the Vikings staff believed he benefited from Kyle Shanahan’s coaching.
With a bridge quarterback in place, the Vikings turned their attention to the draft. Although their 7-10 finish was disappointing, Minnesota had the 11th pick in a deep quarterback class. If there was ever a time for O’Connell to get his quarterback of the future, it was now.
The Vikings would eventually trade up to pick 10 to secure Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy. Of the six quarterbacks drafted in the top 12, McCarthy offered the most uncertainty because he led a run-heavy Michigan offense that limited his sample size.
However, McCarthy possessed many of the intangible traits that O’Connell had. McCarthy was known as a fiery leader in Michigan. He didn’t run at the combine, but McCarthy claimed he could run a 4.4 40-yard-dash, which O’Connell joked doesn’t count because it isn’t official. Still, he has speed to get outside the pocket, much like O’Connell did at San Diego State.
What he has that O’Connell didn’t is a big arm. That arm completed 72.3% of his passes in 2023, well above O’Connell’s 57.7% career mark. McCarthy threw 49 touchdowns and only 11 interceptions, besting O’Connell’s 46 touchdowns and 34 interceptions.
So what happens if O’Connell can connect with a supremely talented player who connects and leads people the way he does? Instead of relaying his message to the quarterback in the huddle and hoping he can execute it, would a like-minded quarterback be the equivalent of having O’Connell physically on the field?
We saw what the coach could do with a quarterback who possessed high-level physical traits in 2024. Darnold shook the “bust” label, throwing for 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns en route to his first Pro Bowl appearance. His 97-yard touchdown pass to Justin Jefferson against the Niners was one of many instances where we got to see how explosive O’Connell’s offense can be when a strong-armed quarterback is behind center.
The enduring highlight of the season came after the Vikings defeated the Green Bay Packers 27-25 in Week 17. Darnold had one of his best games of the season, completing 33 of 43 passes for 377 yards and three touchdowns. In the locker room, his teammates sprayed him with water bottles, hoisting him on their shoulders as the team celebrated their quarterback’s greatest moment.
On the other side of the room, O’Connell stood and smiled, admiring the celebration. He shook his head, as if he had just seen his son ride his bike down the street for the first time without training wheels.
But Darnold came up short when it mattered most. He failed to throw a touchdown pass in Minnesota’s Week 18 loss to the Detroit Lions. A win would have secured home-field advantage. Instead, the Vikings would be traveling on the road to face the Los Angeles Rams. Again, Darnold appeared lost, flustered, and not confident in his play, and Minnesota’s season abruptly ended.
O’Connell’s motto, “Be at your best when your best is required,” wasn’t met. Darnold’s two worst games of the season came in the biggest moments. Although the Vikings extended an offer to Darnold to return for the 2025 season, he signed a three-year, $100 million deal with the Seattle Seahawks.
The Vikings are moving forward with McCarthy, who missed the 2024 season due to a torn meniscus. Many analysts and fans worry that McCarthy can’t replicate Darnold’s 2024 season in his first year as a starter. But those same fans were also questioning the viability of starting Darnold last season.
That sets the stage for the next part of O’Connell’s football journey: developing a franchise quarterback. He worked with Washington quarterback Dwayne Haskins when he was a rookie in 2019, but they inserted Haskins into the starting lineup too early. Combine that with organizational dysfunction, and Hoskins was destined to fail in Washington.
O’Connell believes it’s on the coaches and organization to set quarterbacks up for success, not the other way around.
“I believe that organizations fail young quarterbacks before young quarterbacks fail organizations,” he said last fall on The Rich Eisen Show.
That statement obviously referred to quarterbacks O’Connell encountered as a coach. But was it also his way of saying that he didn’t receive the type of coaching he believed was necessary to give him a legitimate shot as an NFL quarterback?
Regardless of where the ideology stems, O’Connell believes that it’s his job to set quarterbacks up for success. He elevated Cousins and Darnold’s games before they ultimately fell flat in the playoffs. He could only unlock so much of Dobbs’ game with the little time they had together and the quarterback’s shortcomings as a passer.
But now O’Connell can mold McCarthy into the franchise quarterback he envisions. O’Connell wants a quarterback who can help elevate the play of everyone else in the huddle. In his eyes, that’s what drives a quarterback.
“As a quarterback, the satisfaction is figuring out how you can play to help the other 10 guys in the huddle be better,” O’Connell recently told San Diego State magazine.
Even though he initially pushed against retiring to pursue his coaching career, O’Connell now finds greater satisfaction in his current role.
“Coaching is not that much different, but I sometimes think it’s more gratifying,” O’Connell continued. “It’s almost like being a dad and seeing your kids having success at something they care about.
“I’m able to form unique relationships with players at all different positions and guys doing totally different jobs – but with one goal. Accomplishing that unbelievable goal of winning a Super Bowl will be something that we’ll all remember for the rest of our lives. And it’s really cool to be in a position to help them do that.”
The next hurdle for O’Connell to clear in Minnesota is getting a playoff win. Although the Vikings exceeded expectations to make the playoffs in 2022 and 2024, they lost both games despite being favored to win. Getting that first win with McCarthy in his first year as a starter would provide twice the satisfaction.
The true satisfaction will come if O’Connell can get the Vikings to the Super Bowl. Minnesota hasn’t been to football’s biggest stage since January 1977. The Vikings haven’t even won two consecutive playoff games since the 1987 playoff run.
But if anyone can get the Vikings to where they want to go, it’s O’Connell. His high school coaches, like everyone else he’s come across during his football journey, aren’t surprised by his success. If anything, he’s the same guy now that he was when they coached him.
La Costa Canyon head football coach Darren Brown said that O’Connell’s ability to connect with people was on display even as a high schooler.
“He listened to you as a head coach,” Brown said in an interview two years ago. “He was everybody’s best friend, it seemed like, and he just has a lot of charisma and makes you feel important.”
“Here was a student I had in junior high, and now he’s the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings,” La Costa Canyon basketball coach David Cassaw said. “Of course, that’s a little surreal, but it doesn’t surprise me at all.”
O’Connell has helped the Vikings overachieve in three seasons as head coach. Now, with a roster full of players ready to win now, he has to get McCarthy up to speed to capitalize on the championship window.
That could be daunting for most coaches and force them to act irrationally and uncharacteristically. But O’Connell will lead McCarthy and the 2025 Vikings, just as he has at every other venture in his football journey – with authenticity.
