Vikings May Have First Offseason without Upheaval in Years

Was Totally Snubbed
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The Minnesota Vikings host the welcome-to-the-show New York Giants on Sunday in the Wildcard Round of the postseason. The Giants haven’t reached the playoffs since 2016, and the Vikings drought dates back to 2019. 

Minnesota’s experiment with head coach Kevin O’Connell has emphatically worked, pulling off a 13-4 record in his opening salvo, an incredible feat for a team that finished a rudderless 8-9 last year. In fact, O’Connell’s first year is the best by a Vikings coach in team history, surpassing Dennis Green, who finished 11-5 in 1992.

Vikings May Have First
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And because The O’Connell Era began with a bang, Minnesota may experience an offseason without coaching upheaval in years. Of course, Mike Zimmer was in charge of the enterprise from 2014 to 2021 and never deviated from the team. 

But the coordinators sure did.

Via promotion to other teams, retirement, or “moving on,” Vikings offensive and defensive coordinators have always been on the move for about seven years. That may end in 2022, depending on O’Connell’s satisfaction with his staff.

Vikings May Have First Offseason without Upheaval in Years

O’Connell calls the shots on offense, so even if the offensive coordinator Wes Phillips or quarterback coach Chris O’Hara bolt, it won’t really matter. The Vikings hired O’Connell — an offense-first thinker — for a reason, to prevent the constant OC carousel. Gone, for now, are the days of Kirk Cousins receiving a new offensive coordinator every year. O’Connell is the supreme OC, and Cousins will have continuity for once in 2023.

Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports.

On the defensive side, well, things get a bit dicier. Ed Donatell’s defense has not impressed everybody and regrettably scrapes the bottom of the barrel via volume stats. The Vikings ranked 28th in points allowed and 31st in yards allowed in 2022, unsavory numbers that assuredly cannot be wholly embraced by O’Connell. Donatell’s defense stiffened in the 4th Quarter, but why not implement that philosophy, you know, before that?

It is unclear if O’Connell will terminate Donatell at the end of the season. The working pro-Donatell theory goes like this — why are we firing folks after a 13-win season?

The fire-Donatell crowd only needs to pound the pavement for numbers — whether efficiency or volume — to illustrate the new scheme didn’t thrive in 2022. There’s gotta be a better way than bend-but-don’t-break-but-actually-just-break. Teams should improve during the offseason, and canning Donatell may be addition through subtraction. 

The Strange Odyssey of
Kevin O’Connell

Still, scheme shifts from 4-3 to 3-4 can take more than a few months. In that vein, O’Connell may grant Donatell a pass, with sights set on 2023 for mandatory improvement. 

And if O’Connell doesn’t terminate Donatell, it’ll be the first Vikings offseason since 2016 without the major uprooting of a coordinator. Before 2023, Kubiaks, Pat Shurmur, Kevin Stefanski, John DeFilippo, Norv Turner, and Zimmer personally all participated in the annual round-robin. 

If Donatell survives the ax, Minnesota will have continuity — which will feel really, really weird and perhaps refreshing for fans.


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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