On Thursday, a Current and a Former Viking Won Big.
It was a fun season ‒ for the first 16 games ‒ for Skol Nation, watching a team that wasn’t expected to play meaningful football in January exceed expectations and compete for the division and the top seed in the NFC until the final whistle of the final game.
On Thursday, a Current and a Former Viking Won Big.
That, of course, led to players and coaches earning nominations for the annual NFL honors. Three guys were nominated: Kevin O’Connell for Coach of the Year, Sam Darnold for Comeback Player of the Year, and Brian Flores for Assistant Coach of the Year.
The day didn’t start well for the purple team, as Flores lost his trophy to former Lions offensive coordinator and the new head coach of the Chicago Bears, Ben Johnson.
Then, the controversial Comeback Player of the Year went to Joe Burrow, who missed significant parts of last season with a thumb injury. Darnold, meanwhile, was third behind Burrow and J.K. Dobbins, primarily because the award is supposed to go to someone who has overcome adversity like injury or illness.
Then, host Snoop Dog finally proceeded. Bill Belichick and Deion Sanders, probably the two most polarizing coaches at the college level, announced the winner of Coach of the Year. Kevin O’Connell was viewed as the favorite, and he won the award.
O’Connell is the second Viking to be named Coach of the Year. The other? Vikings legend Bud Grant, whose 12-2 season in 1969 helped him get the honors.
The Vikings hired O’Connell in 2022 to change the culture in the building. His players love to compete for and with him, and his 34-17 record speaks for itself. The one blemish on his resume is the lack of postseason success, being 0-2 in the tournament.
Still, his way of running the team, combined with his ability to get the best out of his quarterbacks and being a phenomenal play-caller, got him a well-earned contract extension earlier this offseason. The Vikings shut down the foolish trade rumors.
Later in the event, the Hall of Fame class was announced, and another longtime Viking was honored. Jared Allen finally made the cut and will go to Canton, Ohio.
The next four inductees are:
- Jared Allen
- Eric Allen
- Antonio Gates
- Sterling Sharpe
“It’s a nod to doing it the right way,” Allen told Vikings.com’s Tatum Everett. “It’s a reassurance you played it right, so I can look back and say, ‘I played this game my way.’ I tried to honor those before [me], and I did it the right way, and this is the payoff. From a legacy standpoint, it’s great. You’re cemented in football immortality, which is great. Once I get to Canton, it will probably sink in.”
Allen spent six of his 12 playing years in the Twin Cities, recording 85.5 sacks in 96 games. He was a four-time Pro Bowler with the Vikings and led the league in sacks with 22 in 2011.
Other notable events from a Vikings’ lens included a Justin Jefferson teleprompter malfunction and a dance-off led by Vikings safeties Joshua Metellus and Cam Bynum. Generally, the more Vikings are involved in the annual NFL honors, the better the team is, and this time, they had plenty of on-air moments.
Janik Eckardt is a football fan who likes numbers and stats. The Vikings became his favorite team despite their quarterback at the time, Christian Ponder. He is a walking soccer encyclopedia, loves watching sitcoms, and prefers Classic rock over other genres. Follow him on Twitter if you like the Vikings: @JanikEckardt