Kevin O’Connell Calls Out Elephant in the Room
A few things have sullied the Minnesota Vikings’ start to 2025 — foremost, injuries — but the controllable demon is the penalties.
Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell wasn’t afraid to explain what’s plaguing his team after Week 4, speaking candidly this week.
That’s right, with the season less than a month old, Minnesota has a penalty problem, and the head coach is aware of it.
Kevin O’Connell Addresses Penalties as a Main Vikings Problem
Fix the mistakes and prosper.
Penalties Are Killer, Says Kevin O’Connell
Evidently frustrated by a mediocre 2-2 start, O’Connell mentioned the infractions this week. “You can’t allow any factors that might be contributing to those things to be an excuse… it’s some things that we clearly have to coach better, and get back to our standard of pre- and post-snap execution,” he told reporters.
O’Connell also made sure to call out the post-play altercations his team engaged in last weekend: “Some of the things post-snap wise, extracurricular wise on Sunday defensively, we knew it was going to be that kind of game, specifically with some of the players for them on the grass offensively.”
“It’s on tape, you see it, and that’s part of playing teams that are gonna try to bait you into some things when it’s that every yard kind of matters game. I did not like the way we handled some of that. The officials are always gonna catch the second guy before they catch the first guy, or vice versa.”
The skipper basically wants his team to eliminate the undisciplined behavior.
Such an Easy Fix, All Things Considered
Many facets of an NFL team are difficult to control or dictate, such as the general talent level of the depth chart in a given season, weather conditions during a game, and the frequency of injuries.
Penalties don’t fall in that category.
Mental mistakes are correctable, and in fact, Minnesota does not have a recent history of battling the penalty demon. The last few games have felt like an outlier, suggesting that perhaps a “back to basics” approach at practice and in the meeting rooms can be practical in repair.
In short, the penalty problem probably isn’t systemic.
The Penalty Numbers
Here’s the damage for penalties in the month of September:
Vikings Penalty Rankings,
thru 4 Weeks of 2025:
(higher number is bad)
- Yards per Penalty: 14th
- Total Penalty Yards: 26th
- Total Penalties: 31st
- Penalties per Play: 32nd
These numbers are killers, and there’s just no other way to spin it. In 2023, Minnesota began the season with a turnover problem, prompting fans to say, “Hey, if they just didn’t turn the ball over in the 1st Quarter, this team could be really good.”
Minnesota responded by stopping the turnovers in the 1st Quarter and immediately won five straight games. That situation feels adjacent to this one.
Every Week Is a Clean Slate
Listen, Minnesota can fix this badboy this Sunday — and then have the follies be a faint memory by mid-October. It has eked out a 2-2 record, the Browns, of all teams, are on the horizon, and the club’s young quarterback should return to the lineup before too long.
Because the penalty problem is fixable, a clean slate exists to get it right. The team must essentially return to its previous O’Connellian ways. Minnesota has habitually ranked in the Top 12 of fewest penalties since O’Connell arrived in 2022. During his first season, the franchise had the seventh-fewest.
Just go back to normal — is the request.
SI.com on the Penalties
Will Ragatz of SI.com opined on Minnesota’s penalty problem from Week 4: “The Vikings had an ineligible man downfield on an early red zone play that led to them setting for a field goal. They had a false start in the second quarter that made a third down even longer.”
“A shameless Steelers flop led to a Byron Murphy Jr. 15-yard flag. There were two special teams penalties, including a holding call that wiped out a 54-yard kickoff return. Dallas Turner picked up a blatant 15-yarder. And in the final minute, Wentz committed an intentional grounding call to avoid a seventh sack after the Vikings’ offensive line failed to pick up a stunt.”
This week’s opponent, the Browns, averages 6.8 penalties per game, also known as the 13th-fewest leaguewide.
Ragatz continued, “That was the critical play that ended realistic hopes of getting into field goal range to send the game to overtime. Then, following a spike, Wentz took a delay of game that set the Vikings back five yards in the final seconds.”
“It’s something that absolutely has to be cleaned up moving forward for Minnesota.”
Even with the penalty scourge, Minnesota is favored to defeat Cleveland by three or four points.
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