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Longtime MN Viking Goes Off on Kevin O’Connell via X
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- Longtime MN Viking Goes Off on Kevin O’Connell via X
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The Minnesota Vikings are going to finish no worse than 8-9 this season . It's entirely plausible they win up with a winning record as the Green Bay Packers will be resting everyone .
That doesn't exactly hide the fact that their season has been over for weeks. There has been noise about calls for change at the general manager position. There hasn't been talk about head coach Kevin O'Connell.
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Former MN Vikings linebacker Erin Henderson isn't having it though, and he went in on the current leader.
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Erin Henderson has a deep history with the Minnesota Vikings. His brother E.J. was a second round pick in 2003 and played all nine years of his career with the organization. Erin was undrafted, but played with Minnesota from 2008-2013. Although he finished with two seasons for the Jets, his interests have remained rooted with the Vikings.
On Monday, following the Vikings Christmas Day win against the Detroit Lions , he went in on head coach Kevin O'Connell.
Henderson quickly defended his stance as being rooted in a level of analysis rather than emotion. O'Connell did get a handful of hollow wins down the stretch for the Minnesota Vikings, and this has easily been his worst-coached season since joining the Vikings.
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While replacing O'Connell seems shortsighted, a true offensive coordinator that calls plays and can be situationally present seems like a must. His clock management has been problematic for years, and playcalling has taken a step backwards this season.
It's undeniable that the job DeMeco Ryans has done in Houston is impressive. Henderson wanting more for the Vikings is also valid. It seems there's a path to get there without firing the head coach.
KOC's MN Vikings tale of the tape
This is O'Connell's fourth season with the Minnesota Vikings. He has a 42-25 (.627) record , and has twice coached the team to the postseason. Unfortunately both of those games were losses, and O'Connell turned nearly $270 million of free agency spend this offseason into just average performance.
I'm not sure this analogy is fair, but it also doesn't entirely miss either. O'Connell has a plethora of offensive weapons at his disposal, but his results have paled in comparison to that of Brian Flores' defense .
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Since joining the Vikings staff, Flores has had DVOA ranks of 11th, 2nd, and 6th. O'Connell's offenses have been 28th, 23rd, 15th, and 19th during his tenure. Even last year's 14-3 record with Sam Darnold was somewhat predictable to end in disaster with just the 15th ranked offense in the league.
Again, moving on from O'Connell isn't going to happen this offseason, and nor should it. Adofo-Mensah probably needs to go, and there should be multiple coaches from the staff that are shown the door. Whether O'Connell is going to let Wes Phillips calls plays, or needs to bring someone else in, the offensive coordinator situation should be reviewed as well.
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