Kevin O’Connell Gets Overlooked and It’s Awful
Coaching in 2022 for the Minnesota Vikings as a first-time head coach, Kevin O’Connell took his team to a 13-4 record. While Minnesota made a first-weekend exit in the playoffs, they hosted a game against the New York Giants, and O’Connell nearly saw a superstar wide receiver set a single-season record.
Apparently, that wasn’t enough for national consideration.
Coming into the season, online bookmaker Bovada had Kevin O’Connell as the odds-on favorite to win NFL Head Coach of the Year. He was joining a Vikings organization with elite skill position players, and an offensive-minded head coach looked to be the right way to unleash them. When the dust settled on the season, it’s hard to suggest he did anything but put his best foot forward. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough.
Kevin O’Connell Gets Overlooked and It’s Awful
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When the five finalists for NFL Head Coach of the Year were announced, O’Connell was shockingly not among them.
It’s not crazy to think that O’Connell wouldn’t win the award this season. What Kyle Shanahan has done in San Francisco with revolving quarterbacks has been impressive. Nick Sirianni in Philadelphia took Jalen Hurts to new heights and pushed the Eagles to an NFL-best record. Both Brian Daboll and Doug Pederson took previously down franchises to new heights, and Sean McDermott’s Bills did a great job holding serve as a Super Bowl contender.
None of those in consideration are unworthy, but it’s certainly difficult to see two teams with records worse than Minnesota’s be in the conversation.
While the Vikings had plenty of reason to question their overall abilities despite the record, none of that should come into play when looking at results. The reality is that O’Connell overcame a poor defense to put the Vikings in position still to win, win the division, and be near the top of the NFC.
From an evaluation standpoint, it’s certainly worth keeping tabs on how Minnesota fares in 2023. They’ll need to make changes that turn around a genuinely terrible defense. How O’Connell adjusts for expected regression and ultimately looks to avoid that will show plenty of his prowess as the man in charge. None of that takes away any of his team’s results this season.
Similarly to how Justin Jefferson was included among the five finalists in the MVP discussion, it’s unlikely that O’Connell would win even had he been included. That still doesn’t overcome the fact that his exclusion as a whole is hardly a good look. Maybe the snub is something bulletin board material for O’Connell to come out next season and make an even greater showing.
After leaving the Los Angeles Rams, O’Connell experienced the highest achievement in helping to win a Super Bowl. That’s the sport’s pinnacle and a feeling he doesn’t want to miss out on for too long. The Vikings are still looking for their first ring, and regardless of the playoffs being excluded from the voting, anything that lines them up to make noise in the postseason would have him in consideration again.
Ted Schwerzler is a blogger from the Twin Cities that is focused on all things Minnesota Twins and Minnesota Vikings. He’s active on Twitter and writes weekly for Twins Daily. As a former college athlete and avid sports fan, covering our pro teams with a passion has always seemed like such a natural outlet.
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