ESPN Welcomes the 2025 Vikings with a Bang
Coming off a shockingly good season with a 14-3 record, the Minnesota Vikings want to replicate that level of success in the upcoming campaign, but this time, without the blown chance to advance in the playoffs. Currently, the operation is in training camp to prepare for this year’s 17-game slate.
ESPN Welcomes the 2025 Vikings with a Bang
In charge of that is head coach Kevin O’Connell, who is one of the brightest coaching talents in the business, so good that even trade rumors surfaced in January.
ESPN’s Ben Solak ranked the league’s coaching staffs from one to 32, and guess where Minnesota’s skippers landed. According to the analyst, the Vikings have the best coaching staff in the league.
He wrote: “When I ranked the Vikings in this exercise last season, I sang the praises of Flores, the defensive coordinator who had done the most with the least in 2023. But I wondered if O’Connell, another branch off the Shanahan-McVay tree, could innovate and evolve beyond the tried-and-true system he had run with Kirk Cousins to that point. What could he offer a younger quarterback in need of development?”
Indeed, it was a fair question to ask. Kirk Cousins, an experienced passer with multiple Pro Bowls on his resume, is easy to coach. Could the coach adapt? He had some magical games with Josh Dobbs, and even Nick Mullens was explosive, but building an entire offense for a new quarterback is a different animal.
“The answer: a whole lot! Not necessarily to the quarterback we expected, as Sam Darnold started the entire season in J.J. McCarthy’s absence — but what a season it was,” Solak added. “O’Connell’s mastery is in opening intermediate and downfield passing windows. Darnold had more passing attempts at least 10 yards downfield than any other quarterback, and NFL Next Gen Stats charted those targets with an average separation of 2.7 yards — fifth highest in the league.”
Sam Darnold, a bust in the NFL, was hired to be the bridge quarterback between Cousins and McCarthy. The results were phenomenal, as Darnold accumulated 35 passing touchdowns and 4,319 passing yards, resulting in a Pro Bowl nomination. That revival earned O’Connell the Coach of the Year award. The Vikings shredded their projected preseason win total of 8.5, entering the final week of the season with a 14-2 record.
“O’Connell has easily leaped into that utmost echelon of offensive designers, and Flores remains the cream of the defensive crop. There are always little things to wonder about — scheming for a rookie is different from scheming for a veteran, even if that veteran had never been successful elsewhere — but there is no doubt that O’Connell & Co. elevate players more than any other coaching staff in football,” Solak concluded.
O’Connell has shown that he can get the best out of any quarterback. Cousins was balling prior to his Achilles tear in 2023, and Darnold had a career year. His next task will be to build an offense with McCarthy under center.
Sure, the offensive line should be vastly improved, and he still has weapons all over the place with the ability to bail out the quarterback and play-caller if things go south.
Still, it’s far from guaranteed that the offense remains as explosive. The good news is that Brian Flores is still in control of the defense, and in the first week of training camp, his unit was dominating. He’s one of the elite defensive minds in football, and there are zero football reasons (the criticism of Tua Tagovailoa and the legal case against the league don’t help) why the man shouldn’t be a head coach in the league.
Wes Phillips is O’Connell’s right-hand man on offense. The head coach always stresses how important he is, but he has yet to draw any head coaching buzz. Another good season could change that.
In addition to building a strong roster, the Vikings have some magical coaches working with that talent, which is why the sky will always be the limit as long as those three are calling the shots. The next goal should be to get over the hump in the postseason.