In the early months of 2022, the Minnesota Vikings permitted Kwesi Adofo-Mensah to cook. As a former Wall Street trader who promised to bring his analytical background to the NFL, Adofo-Mensah was expected to take the opposite approach to Rick Spielman’s old-school scouting foundation.
Four years later, the Wilfs may have returned home to find out the kitchen was on fire. The relationship between Adofo-Mensah and head coach Kevin O’Connell had deteriorated, and the hammer dropped when the Vikings fired Adofo-Mensah on Friday.
It was an all-in bet on O’Connell, whose 43-25 record as head coach likely secured his future. But while his general manager appears to be the scapegoat for a lost season, O’Connell is now the one in the chef’s apron, forced to cook what Adofo-Mensah couldn’t.
Let’s trace back to the reasons Adofo-Mensah got fired. The 72 hours following his dismissal have been filled with anonymous sources and debates about paternity leave in the NFL. But, like many things in this league, it comes back to the quarterback position.
The quarterback situation was a big storyline from the moment Adofo-Mensah received his metaphorical spatula. Kirk Cousins was the comfort food a starving franchise needed at quarterback, but the Vikings needed a succession plan as he entered his mid-30s. Cousins tore his Achilles to make the decision easier, but there wasn’t less stress because Minnesota needed to get this right.
Adofo-Mensah had plenty of authority over the roster, but when it came to the quarterback, he may have been Kevin O’Connell’s DoorDash driver. Weeks before the 2025 draft, O’Connell stood in a church and declared himself the “quarterback killer.” It also became apparent that the Vikings were targeting Drake Maye, and O’Connell couldn’t have tipped his hand worse if he shouted “Wow, pocket aces!?” at the World Series of Poker.
The New England Patriots were not interested in passing on Maye with the third-overall pick, so the Vikings traded up a spot to take McCarthy at 10th overall. A few months later, when McCarthy tore his meniscus before his rookie season began, O’Connell continued to praise his young quarterback.
“As excited as I was to draft him, he’s confirmed everything that I hoped to see,” O’Connell said in August 2024. “…Our fanbase and everyone should just be excited about the fact that we’ve got our young franchise quarterback, I believe, in the building.”
However, Sam Darnold revived his career that fall, while the Vikings continued to hype McCarthy as he recovered from his injury. The hype was so strong that Daniel Jones never thought he had a chance to compete for the starting job. Instead, he took less guaranteed and total money for a more legitimate opportunity to start for the Indianapolis Colts.
When Darnold left for the Seattle Seahawks in free agency, Kevin O’Connell continued to fuel the hype train, telling reporters McCarthy had “a phenomenal offseason” while his teammates worked with him to build chemistry with a series of workouts. Even when The Athletic’s Dianna Russini interviewed him for an episode of Scoop City, O’Connell pumped the tires of his young quarterback.
“I expect there to be reactions, positive, negative,” O’Connell said. “Our goal is to win football games, and J.J. is going to play a role in that. Our team is going to play a role in that.”
But, according to reports, that’s not what was happening behind the scenes, per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.
“The indications were and are, and the outcome supports the idea that O’Connell wanted something more behind J.J. McCarthy, that O’Connell possibly wanted McCarthy to sit another year,” Florio said on Friday. “The tension came from the fact that McCarthy was drafted 10th overall.”
While Adofo-Mensah was ready to use McCarthy’s rookie contract window to spend like a drunken sailor to dress up his young quarterback, O’Connell had a different opinion, which paints the entire 2025 season in a different light.
The vertical passing attack, which O’Connell has already noted he wants to return to in 2026, didn’t suit McCarthy well. The issues around him, including numerous injuries and a receiver room without Jordan Addison for the first three games, began to pile up. It took they fed Max Brosmer to the Seahawks in late November for O’Connell to adjust his offense. By the time he did, it was too late to compete for a playoff spot but just in time to post another winning record.
That gave him the equity to outlast Adofo-Mensah, who the Vikings fired after a season that went wrong. But it would be bizarre if O’Connell acted like he didn’t want to draft McCarthy. On the one hand, it would have been strange if O’Connell lamented to the media that he had to start McCarthy in 2025. Still, it also didn’t excuse the way he projected confidence about McCarthy’s progress, effectively stiff-arming Jones from returning last season.
That puts the fork in O’Connell’s hands. Other factors led to Adofo-Mensah’s termination, but he probably would still be the general manager if the Vikings found the right quarterback. While O’Connell did his best to coax a winning season out of poor quarterback play last year, finding the right signal-caller will determine if he lasts past 2026.
Whether that’s J.J. McCarthy developing into a starter next year or finding a new quarterback this offseason, the ball is now in Kevin O’Connell’s court, even with Rob Brzezinski as the interim GM. If it turns into another burnt supper, he could wind up next to Adofo-Mensah in the unemployment line.
