The Main Difference between Kevin O’Connell and Mike Zimmer
Dustin Baker
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Mike Zimmer was a magnificent coach for the Minnesota Vikings from 2014 to 2019. The Vikings won 59.9% of games in those six seasons, the seventh-best in the NFL.
A defense-first leader, Zimmer changed the dialogue of the Leslie Frazier days when the team ranked second-worst in the NFL per points allowed to opponents (from 2011 to 2013). From 2014 to 2019, Minnesota allowed the second-fewest points to opponents, trailing only the mighty New England Patriots defensively.
Beyond the shadow of a doubt, during Zimmer’s first six seasons, he singlehandedly transformed the Vikings from the NFL’s second-worst defensive team into the second-best. It’s easy to forget that.
However, beginning with the 2020 season, Zimmer’s defense expired. Plain and simple. A throng of defensive free agents left the team, and Zimmer’s baby — the defense — was never the same.
Meanwhile, the NFL was pivoting to an offense-first company as, it seemed, Zimmer clung to defense-or-else thinking. That’s fine and dandy if one’s defense is still upper-echelon, but Minnesota’s stunk in the most crucial spots of games in 2020 and 2021.
Accordingly, Minnesota dismissed Zimmer after the 2021 season because the defensive-minded coach no longer fostered a defense worthy of best-in-the-league acclaim. It simply wasn’t worth it anymore to employ a defensive coach in an offensive league if the team’s defense was trashy.
Insert Kevin O’Connell.
Not a defensive brain, O’Connell skedaddled from the Super Bowl-winning Los Angeles Rams to take over the reins of the Vikings in February.
And in early dealings with his team during May’s minicamp, the difference between Zimmer and O’Connell is evident. Zimmer was unabashedly a defense-first skipper, whereas O’Connell, who fully admits his offensive background, wants to embrace both sides of the ball. It’s as if he’s keenly aware of “the problem” before — narrowly-tracked emphasis on one side of the football operations.
O’Connell told the Pioneer Press’ Chris Tomasson on Wednesday, “[I want to] be visible to the defense, let them know that I’m learning their side of the ball just as much as they are. I can complement them on detailed things they can do within our coverages, within a pressure, how we stop the run, and they can look at me as not just an offensive head coach.”
Truth be told, this is what onlookers of the Vikings craved from Zimmer down the stretch of his tenure, a verbal acknowledgment of and involvement in offensive affairs rather than a nod and wink to a Kubiak with “you do your thing” energy.
Of course, O’Connell won’t be the defensive savant that Zimmer was, but his initial underscoring of “I’m here for defense, too” is what Zimmer lacked. Zimmer’s defense was mystical for a few seasons, and he got away with relinquishing offensive control to others. Plus, Zimmer had a new man in charge of the offense every season, which did not help continuity.
At least per O’Connell’s first few engagements with players, he’s signaling cognizance of how the Vikings tumbled into a one-sided enterprise under the former coaching staff.
O’Connell is taking corrective measures early on, whereas it was uncertain if Zimmer would ever evolve.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. 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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