Vikings Head Coach Kevin O'Connell Explains His Vision For Minnesota's Offense
INDIANAPOLIS — As Kevin O'Connell builds and implements his first offense as the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, there will be plenty of similarities to the Super Bowl-winning group he just coached with the Rams. But there will also be plenty of differences as he adapts to his new personnel and, along with assistant coaches from a variety of backgrounds, adds his own unique flavor to the broader McVay/Shanahan/Kubiak scheme both the Rams and Vikings have run in recent years.
For example, the Rams used 11 personnel (three wide receivers, a back, and a tight end) a league-high 86 percent of the time last season. Just because O'Connell is coming from that environment doesn't mean the Vikings will instantly become a team that relies heavily on those sets.
"I hope to be more multiple, just based on the fact that we have the personnel to do that — from the tight ends to C.J. [Ham]," he said on Wednesday at the NFL combine in Indianapolis. "The different variations to how you can attack people in the run game just forces them to have to defend a lot more offense that we can then marry with play-pass keepers, drop-back pass screens, to try to generate explosives. That’s really what we’ll do. There will be some things that will look new, there will be some things that will carry over [from previous Vikings offenses] based on comfort levels for the players, because that’s important, too, and the idea is just to build the best possible version of our offense."
The Vikings were a heavy 11 personnel team under John DeFilippo in 2018 — until he was fired because Mike Zimmer didn't think they were running the ball enough. That approach led to Kirk Cousins completing a ton of passes, but his efficiency numbers weren't great and the offense as a whole underperformed in a highly disappointing season. In 2019 and 2020, under Kevin Stefanski and Gary Kubiak, the Vikings adopted the wide zone, play action-heavy offense and thrived. They finished dead last by a wide margin in 11 personnel usage in both years, yet Cousins' efficiency numbers skyrocketed on offenses that finished in the top 10 in DVOA.
O'Connell's goal is to combine some of what the Vikings have done well in the past, some of what has worked so well for the Rams, and some things that are entirely new. Offensive coordinator Wes Phillips and quarterbacks coach Chris O'Hara both came with him from the Rams, but the Vikings' passing game coordinator (Brian Angelichio) and run game coordinator (Curtis Modkins) are from the Panthers and Broncos, respectively. Wide receivers coach Keenan McCardell is a holdover from the 2021 Vikings. They'll have a variety of perspectives in the room as they create their offense.
"Everybody uses the phrase ‘the marriage of the run and the pass,'" O'Connell said. "Really, what that means in my mind is an identity of doing a lot of things to make it hard on the defense. But, in all reality, they’re simple for us. We use the term ‘the illusion of complexity.’ And, what does that mean? It really means we do as many things, like I said, to make it start out looking the same, but they’re different to defend — personnel groupings, different formations, different motions, different shifts. It’s important that we play with great ball security. It’s important that we’re able to establish the run with physicality, toughness, kind of set the tone for everything that we want to do as an offense. And then I think you gotta be great situationally."
O'Connell is inheriting a roster that is flush with talent on the offensive side of the ball. Kirk Cousins' long-term future remains up in the air because of his contract, but it would be a surprise if he isn't the Vikings' quarterback in 2022. Cousins' arm talent, accuracy, and intelligence as a passer open up a lot of possibilities for O'Connell as a schemer and play caller. The skill positions include one of the game's truly elite receivers in Justin Jefferson, a star running back in Dalvin Cook, and a savvy veteran wideout in Adam Thielen. Tight end Irv Smith Jr. will be back from injury and is still 23 years old. The tackle position is solidified with the duo of Christian Darrisaw and Brian O'Neill, and the cupboard isn't bare on the interior. There's a great fullback in place and depth at both receiver and running back.
What O'Connell and his staff will try to do is build an offense that gets the most out of all of those pieces.
"I think just using all of the tools that you have to attack a defense," he said. "Tempo variations. Like I said, personnel formations are all one thing. Cadence. Just all of the things that I’ve learned over the course of being at a lot of great spots, around a lot of great coaches and teachers of this game, that you can now pull together and form an offense that fits our people, our players, to allow them to take off, ascend, and really, hopefully get better every single week. ... I see a lot of similar traits to what we did in Los Angeles, but this is our team, this is our opportunity to build something unique, different, but still keep some of the core principles that we feel very, very strongly about."
The Vikings have a ton of work to do this offseason. O'Connell and GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah are already deep in the process of evaluating their own roster ahead of free agency and the draft. They're having important conversations with teams, agents, and draft prospects in Indianapolis this week, and they've got big decisions coming on Cousins and several other players as they prepare to create some cap space. Defensively, a lot of work needs to be done to reload a unit that has struggled mightily over the past two years.
But the best-case scenario for the Vikings in 2022 and beyond involves O'Connell leading an efficient and explosive offense, and that doesn't feel too unrealistic at this point. The personnel is mostly there and the coaching staff looks impressive on paper. It's on O'Connell and company to put his words into action — to create this offense, teach it to the players this offseason, and figure out how to make it all click when the season rolls around in September.
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