It’s Time to Put Kevin O’Connell on the Hot Seat
The 2025 version of the Minnesota Vikings is a disaster. They are 4-7 through the first 11 games, and the playoff percentages are dwindling by the hour. It should be noted that nobody wants to see an 18th game of this operation anyway.
It’s Time to Put Kevin O’Connell on the Hot Seat
The fingers can be pointed at various people. There are maybe a handful of players on the roster that have met expectations, and that’s on the coaches and the players. The front office that assembled the team deserves blame, too.
There’s no shortage of voices calling for Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s job — there hasn’t been in years. However, the case to make a change at the head coaching position is just as easy to make. Let’s dive in.
1. Disorganized and Undisciplined Football Team
The Vikings are one of the most undisciplined football teams in recent memory.
They rank both in the bottom ten in penalties against and in penalty yardage against. Only the Bears and the Giants have gotten called for pre-snap penalties more often, and having more than three per game of that is simply inexcusable.
Furthermore, the Vikings lead the league in fumbles by a wide margin, and a team that doesn’t take care of the most important item in the universe (in the context of football) isn’t getting it done.
In addition to all of that, everything is disorganized. Brian Flores keeps benching starters just to play other defenders out of position. Special teams coordinator Matt Daniels has overseen a unit that struggles to go a play without drawing a flag or fumbling. And the offense has been a disaster on all fronts.
On Sunday and in the game against the Los Angeles Chargers a few weeks back, the entire squad fell apart and just raised the white flag. That’s a disservice to Vikings fans.
As the head coach, O’Connell has to be held accountable.
2. Overrated Offenses
Speaking of the disastrous offense, given the talent he has been working with, his offensive output has been quite poor.
Since he was hired in 2022, the Vikings rank 17th in EPA/Play, and he has yet to lead a good offense in that metric.
- 2022: 18th
- 2023: 18th
- 2024: 14th
- 2025: 28th
They rank 12th in points per game since his arrival, and they are actually closer to the last-place Titans than to the top-ranked Lions in that category.
It might not be a bad offense as long as he has an NFL-level quarterback, but when he had a capable passer, it’s not like the offense suddenly fired from all cylinders.
And all of that is with big-time investments at the skill positions and along the offensive line.
3. The Handpicked QB Stinks
That brings us to the most obvious point: J.J. McCarthy has been one of the worst quarterbacks imaginable through his first six games.
It’s been widely reported that O’Connell had the final say on the QB plan, and he mentioned that he vetoed some QB options in past drafts. In 2024, he gave the green light to grab McCarthy with the 10th overall pick. Would Bo Nix have been better? Perhaps. Not drafting one at all was on the table, too.
Then, he had an offseason to work with McCarthy and training camp until the passer injured his knee. Nobody is to blame for that, of course. That gave O’Connell the chance to work with McCarthy behind the scenes. The work on his mechanics had to be put on pause, but he could still sharpen his understanding of the sport, learn the playbook, and understand how to prepare for a game while watching Sam Darnold do it.
In 2025, O’Connell had another chance to go in a different direction. Once again, he was reportedly the man in charge of the QB room, as the ownership “deferred to him,” and he opted to go with McCarthy over the list of Darnold, Daniel Jones, Aaron Rodgers, Joe Flacco, Jameis Winston, or any other available free agent.
Another full offseason and training camp, and McCarthy is statistically dreadful — the eye-test confirms it. O’Connell made the wrong pick and couldn’t coach his guy up.
4. QB Whisperer?
Perhaps the whole quarterback-whisperer theory is bogus?
O’Connell inherited Kirk Cousins in 2022. Cousins came fresh off a season with 33 touchdowns and seven interceptions, and in 2020, the four-time Pro Bowler had 35 touchdowns and 13 picks. He didn’t magically unlock the passer; the passer was good before him. Under O’Connell, Cousins generated 29 touchdowns and 14 picks. Statistically, he got worse.
Other metrics support that argument: Cousins’ output dipped in EPA+CPOE, and his PFF grade got worse. He also had a lower big-time throw rate and a higher turnover-worthy play rate. The closest thing the Vikings have had to a franchise QB in the last 20 years also had the lowest average depth of target under O’Connell’s watch. The one positive change was the record, but nobody can say with a straight face that the 2022 Vikings weren’t a fluky football team.
Once Cousins got hurt — granted, his first half of the 2023 season was excellent until that point — Dobbs-mania happened. That magic lasted four quarters, and Josh Dobbs got worse the longer he was coached. Nick Mullens kept turning the ball over. The fact that career backups Dobbs and Mullens didn’t look like Dan Marino out there shouldn’t raise any eyebrows.
However, we also got some glimpses of the Jaren Hall experience, and that wasn’t pretty either. He’s another draft project O’Connell failed to coach up. That’s not on the same level as the McCarthy disaster, though.
And then there’s Sam Darnold. It was the first time the league got to see Pro Bowl-caliber play out of the signal-caller, and O’Connell probably helped him grow as a quarterback. Yet, Darnold is just fine without O’Connell in his corner. He’s still balling in Seattle, likely even taking his game to a new level.
Bottom Line
Kevin O’Connell will likely survive another offseason, given his track record from his first three seasons (fluky or not) and the contract extension he signed. At the very least, though, he should be put on the hot seat. Unless there’s a clear path to fixing the glaring errors in all three phases, the QB position, or the football team in general, there’s no reason to keep him employed other than the Vikings’ ownership group’s fear of the buyout.
Editor’s Note: Information from PFF, Over The Cap, and Sports Reference helped with this article.