Adam Schefter Tweet Grants Vikings Fans Much Needed Solace
Dustin Baker
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It was taking too long.
Kevin O’Connell and his Rams offense won a Super Bowl on Sunday night, surviving the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 in Super Bowl LVI. Next stop for O’Connell? Eagan, Minnesota.
Not so fast.
Predictably, O’Connell stayed in California to commemorate the Rams accomplishment, culminating in a Tinseltown parade on Wednesday. O’Connell will be there for that, indeed not catching a flight from LAX to MSP in the immediacy of the Super Bowl win.
And for O’Connell – good for him. His job is waiting for him, free agency starts in four weeks, and business will pick up when he arrives in the Twin Cities. He should relish the championship – because that’s what fans want from him in Minnesota. An elusive Super Bowl.
Yet, because Vikings fans are a cynical, familiar-with-heartbreak breed, some expected O’Connell to screw the team altogether, sticking in Los Angeles with a Hollywood plot twist. Some folks even speculated Sean McVay, O’Connell’s boss, would retire — thus shoving O’Connell into the Rams HC gig.
A radio personality associated with the Vikings fanbase allegedly said Minnesota’s Thursday event, scheduled to unveil O’Connell to the masses, was postponed or something of the ilk.
This was perceived as a segue to O’Connell backing out.
But the panic was short-lived. ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweeted O’Connell’s inevitability for the Vikings soon after, slated for a Thursday introduction.
It was Thursday after all. While the Vikings have been hosed by dealings in the past – usually missed field goals or mind-boggling gridiron atrocities – this isn’t one of them.
The Vikings got their man, starting the O’Connell era of football – one defined by offense, youth, and new beginnings.
Doomsdayism was misguided.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sally from Minneapolis. His Viking fandom dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).
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