Aug 12, 2016; Cincinnati, OH, USA; A view of a Minnesota Vikings helmet at Paul Brown Stadium. The Vikings won 17-16. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports.
Because of an undefeated spurt to start the regular season, the Minnesota Vikings are turning heads rather unexpectedly.
So much so that individual players and coaches are garnering attention for individual awards.
One example is head coach Kevin O’Connell, whom ESPN named the frontrunner to win Coach of the Year through four games of the regular season. Bill Barnwell sized up races for every award, and if COTY could be handed out right now, O’Connell would be the recipient, says ESPN.
“While I’d also consider Brian Flores a candidate for Coordinator of the Year if I were handing out that award, O’Connell’s work in building an oft-dominant offense with Sam Darnold at quarterback has been excellent,” Barnwell wrote, advancing O’Connell for COTY. “The Vikings lead the league in EPA per play on offense in situations in which each team has at least a 5% chance of winning. In other words, stripping out garbage time, they’ve actually been a slightly better offense than the Commanders on a snap-by-snap basis. Their offense has been the second worst in the league in those long shot situations.”
O’Connell is also the odds-on favorite to win the award with a +200 moneyline, leading Mike Macdonald of the Seattle Seahawks (+650) and Dan Quinn from the Washington Commanders (+650).
“Watching Darnold play over these first four weeks, I don’t see a great quarterback,” Barnwell added. “What I do see is a physically gifted passer who has better answers to the questions that have flummoxed him in the past, partly because of his teammates and partly because of a scheme that routinely creates favorable looks and matchups for him. It’s the little things, such as moving linebackers with motion to create open spaces for Justin Jefferson near the goal line, increasing Darnold’s margin for error in the process.”
Barwell also named Darnold an honorable mention for Comeback Player of the Year and MVP.
O’Connell appears to have taken the next step as a head coach in 2024, entering virtually everyone’s unspoken power rankings as a Top 10 skipper. That’s the perk of defeating Super Bowl-contending teams like the San Francisco 49ers, Houston Texans, and Green Bay Pacers in back-to-back-to-back weeks.
Shockingly, Barnwell also named Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels as the league MVP through four weeks, in addition to Offensive Rookie of the Year.
Coach of the Year came into existence in 2021, and no Vikings coach has won it.
Since O’Connell and his boss, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, took over the Vikings in 2022, the pair has the NFL’s seventh-best record at 24-14 (.632).
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.