Video: Kevin O’Connell Was Fired Up After Sunday’s Win
Josh Frey
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The Minnesota Vikings completed a very impressive 10-point comeback against the Detroit Lions on Sunday afternoon by scoring a pair of touchdowns in the final 10 minutes of the game. They won the game 28-24, maintaining their tiebreaker lead in the NFC North over the Bears and Packers.
This game was important in that it was a divisional win, and you want to win as many of those games as possible. It also feels much different going into this London game at 2-1 rather than 1-2. Just ask their opponents, the New Orleans Saints. The Saints have lost back-to-back divisional matchups, not only digging a hole in the standings, but losing the advantage of a tiebreaker if things get close down the stretch in the NFC South.
The Vikings not only kept pace with Chicago and Green Bay by winning, but they hold a tiebreaker over everyone by starting the 2022 season 2-0 in the NFC North. Head coach Kevin O’Connell recognized how big the moment was for his team, and he delivered a fiery postgame speech in the locker room. You can watch the entire video below.
The Vikings brought in O’Connell as the new head coach in an effort to inject youthful energy. This was something that the team had lost under Mike Zimmer, especially over his final few seasons. Heartfelt, passionate speeches like this are signs that the experiment is working so far.
Of course, O’Connell admitted that there are certainly things to work on going into the London game against the Saints. He went into greater detail during his postgame press conference, and in particular, he said that he must find ways to get Justin Jefferson open over the course of games. Jefferson has recorded just 62 receiving yards over the past two weeks, and per Pro-Football-Reference, he has just a 50% catch rate in those games.
In addition, the defense must find ways to pressure opposing quarterbacks. The Vikings recorded zero sacks of Jared Goff this week. The Lions offensive line consistently got the better of Minnesota’s defensive front, and that may continue to be a challenge against a strong Saints o-line this upcoming weekend.
The Vikings coach also described the feeling of winning “addicting”, and all Vikings fans certainly can relate to that. While there are certainly things that must get better throughout the season, everyone can wake up on Monday morning happy.
Though the Vikings may not have played their best game on Sunday, they did enough against an upstart Detroit Lions team to come away with a win. Great teams find ways to win on bad days, and the Vikings did that this weekend. The main message from O’Connell centered around the fact that things got ugly at points in this game, the Vikings showed resilience and grit in coming back from double-digit deficits on two separate occasions.
Now, the 2-1 Vikings travel across the pond to take on the Saints. This game is technically a “road” game for the Vikings, and a “home” game for the Saints. Minnesota stands as early 2.5-point favorites in that game.
Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho with a bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing as well as minors in History, Human Biology, and Journalism. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh can often be found training for a marathon, playing video games, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. For more of his takes, NFL and otherwise, check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken