Every broken heart heals with the realization that a love lost was an experience of love. For Minnesota Vikings fans, every year since 1961 has ended in soul-crushing fashion, and yet, every autumn, that love is renewed. In 2025, the Vikings went from Super Bowl aspirations to talking about a top-five pick in a matter of weeks. And while much of October and November left fans begging for relief, the team never faltered in their own belief.
After Sunday’s win against the Dallas Cowboys, the Vikings revealed that Jonathan Greenard and Josh Metellus suffered season-ending shoulder injuries. However, the surgery isn’t the most important thing to take away from the announcement. It’s that both players had been battling the injuries for weeks, slugging through the Vikings’ 6-8 season, refusing to opt for the surgery until deemed absolutely necessary.
“It was something he was playing through,” O’Connell said of Greenard. “He knew he would not be able to put this behind him until probably he got it fixed, whenever that was going to be.”
O’Connell made a similar comment about Metellus, who reportedly played through a torn labrum for much of the year.
“Along the same lines as J.G. [Greenard], one of our captains and a guy that I could not respect more for the toughness he’s shown playing with that injury as we’ve approached the tail end of the season,” O’Connell said of Metellus. “And just pushed through a lot this year, continuing to lead at such a high standard.”
Despite the ugly losses, the calls for O’Connell to be fired, and the overall disappointment of the season, the Vikings’ captains weren’t packing it in. There were several instances throughout the year in which each player had to come off the field. Still, Metellus always came back strong, and Greenard always re-entered to get his 87th near-sack of the season. It’s always easier to play hurt when you’re winning, but to continue to play amidst a flurry of losses is something else entirely.
It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that these two gutted it out for the love of the game, but it wasn’t long ago that some media heads called for O’Connell’s departure. The claims that O’Connell’s lenient approach and culture had somehow begun to show some cracks in 2025 were always ridiculous, but some fans genuinely thought his message had started to fall on deaf ears.
As the losses piled up early in the season, the idea to fire O’Connell made its rounds online. Every reason, from his inability to fix J.J. McCarthy to his ineptitude in managing games, was thrown out as grounds to move on. As the media talked and fans vented, it’s clear that the players never wavered. Before Greenard and Metellus, the Vikings had another player putting the team above himself, and it shouldn’t have been surprising then, either.
When Carson Wentz took an absolute pummeling with a shoulder hanging by a thread, people were quick to jump on the Vikings for subjecting him to such a beating. And while the coaching staff obviously never wants to put their players in harm’s way, Wentz made it abundantly clear that he always had the final call, and he chose to play just like Greenard and Metellus did. Every single one of them had the chance to opt for surgery early. I’m sensing a theme here.
There’s talk every year of some NFL coach losing the locker room. That probably could’ve even been said a time or two in the Mike Zimmer era, but under O’Connell, it’s strange to think that there was ever a doubt. The injuries to Greenard, Metellus, and Wentz told us what we already knew about the Vikings. The players love this team, and despite the lost season, there was always that mentality of being there for your teammates.
It’s easy to say we would’ve done the same thing from our couch, but the fact that all three guys, and maybe more, opted to play as long as possible is admirable. Vikings players very publicly backed McCarthy during his struggles, and they’ve also been very vocal about their love for Brian Flores and KOC. It’s hard not to look at the sullen faces of Joe Burrow, Cam Ward, or any number of players on struggling teams and think Minnesota could just as easily have fallen to those depths.
The love of the game for both fans and players runs deep. But if there was any question at all about the dedication of this year’s squad despite the regrettable record, it’s now been put swiftly to bed. The Vikings are who we thought they were. Let’s let them off the hook.
