Popular Vikings Twitter Account Suggests Kevin O’Connell Should Resign
The honeymoon is over — at least for some.
The Minnesota Vikings hired Kevin O’Connell as head coach after his Los Angeles Rams won a Super Bowl over the Cincinnati Bengals in February. O’Connell, his boss, and the Vikings ownership group promised a culture of collaboration, change, and progressivism. And that’s what they delivered.
Minnesota won the NFC North for the first time since 2017, and O’Connell has accounted for a mind-bending 11-0 record in games decided by eight or fewer points. Not bad, huh?
Well, all it took to dampen the O’Connell-themed enthusiasm was a crushing loss by Minnesota at Green Bay as the Packers took it to the Vikings in Week 17. Green Bay won 41-17 over Minnesota, and most of the Vikings points arrived in “garbage time.”
Popular Vikings Twitter Account Suggests Kevin O’Connell Should Resign
The decisive loss to a hated rival caused some fans and prominent Vikings personalities to totally reverse pro-O’Connell sentiment — yes, 16 games into his head coaching career with a 12-4 record to show for it.
A Twitter voice called VikeFans used a postgame breakdown of Packers-Vikings to suggest Kevin O’Connell’s resignation. The account, which has over 12,000 followers, tweeted Sunday night, “Once again, the Viking offense does not show up for half or more of the game. Only in Buffalo, did the MIN offense play a full 4 qtrs. That is on your OC, and Kevin needs to be a Head Coach, not an OC. Want to be OC? Resign as HC.”
Here’s the tweet in living color:
Of course, if confronted about the post, the account would likely pivot to “We never expressly said he should resign.” In fairness, VikeFans didn’t call for an all-out upheaval of the Vikings coach staff.
However, the sentence “Resign as HC” was indeed plopped into the tweet, and no one forced that. The words were chosen with purpose, and the tweet remains up as of Monday afternoon.
The Vikings are experiencing their best season per wins and losses since 2017, tabulating 12 wins in 16 games, a feat that would typically be championed for any first-year coach. Still, though, the painful nature of the Vikings loss in Green Bay evidently took folks to the brink — even for some otherwise considered rational and upstanding.
VikeFans is a stellar Vikings-themed social media entity, accessing rare footage of Vikings football from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. After each game, the account provides postgame commentary and analysis. It is not an anti-Vikings or anti-O’Connell account.
Moreover, the frustration by some is palpable because VikeFans is correct about the incomplete nature of most Vikings games. For some reason, the franchise falls asleep in the 3rd Quarter of games, setting the stage for a mammoth and quasi-legendary 4th Quarter in almost all 2022 contests. That’s how the Vikings have achieved the nifty 11-0 mark in one-score games.
On the whole, O’Connell won’t resign, nor will the Vikings management fire the 37-year-old. Such a transaction would be sillier than the Herschel Walker trade.
But make no mistake, the dreadful loss in Green Bay has some hinting about O’Connell’s job readiness.
Whoodathunkit in a 12-4 season with one game to go?
The Massive Vikings Debate Has Arrived
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 Sal Spice. 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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