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Dane Mizutani: Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell is among the best in the NFL at what he does

dane mizutani, pioneer press
·4 min read

Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell always asks his players to be at their best when their best is required. It’s a turn of phrase he has leaned on ever since taking over in Minnesota. That specific sentence has been referenced by O’Connell so many times that it has become a cliche in and of itself.

He practiced what he preaches on Sunday in Atlanta as the Vikings earned a 31-28 victory over the Falcons.

Though journeyman quarterback Josh Dobbs emerged as the story of the game, and rightfully so, O’Connell was the mastermind behind everything that took place on the field. He kept the Vikings calm in the storm and continued to steer the ship forward regardless of circumstance.

“That is what coaching is,” O’Connell said. “Just doing what you can do to control the mindset of the players.”

There have been so many examples of that from O’Connell over the past couple of seasons with the Vikings. Whether it was the utterly nonsensical win over the Buffalo Bills, the historic comeback win over the Indianapolis Colts, the impressive primetime win over the San Francisco 49ers or any of the other 15 wins in between coaching the Vikings, he has consistently proven himself worthy of the position he currently holds.

His performance in guiding the Vikings to a seemingly impossible win over the Falcons, however, proved O’Connell is among the best in the NFL at what he does.

There was every reason to believe that the Vikings were eventually going to fall apart against the Falcons.

They entered the road game without franchise quarterback Kirk Cousins, star receiver Justin Jefferson and standout left tackle Christian Darrisaw. They lost rookie quarterback Jaren Hall to a concussion less than 15 minutes into the game. They were forced to go with Dobbs despite the fact that he had just been acquired at the trade deadline, and thus, had very limited knowledge of the playbook.

“It became the next man up and Josh is getting ready to go,” O’Connell said. “My job in that moment is to eliminate the chaos.”

That’s exactly what O’Connell did throughout the game while communicating with Dobbs via the headset in his helmet. The technology in place allowed O’Connell to talk to Dobbs between plays with the headset cutting out with 15 seconds left on the play clock. After giving as much instruction as he could, O’Connell watched the play unfold, then waited for the headset to go back online.

It was a balancing act for O’Connell not to inundate Dobbs with too much information.

“I started to get a pretty good feel with where he was at,” O’Connell said. “I always joke that it’s probably a good thing that they can’t talk back to me.”

Sometimes it meant walking Dobbs through certain play calls as he stood in the huddle with his teammates around him. Sometimes it meant alerting Dobbs as to what he might see from the defense once the ball was snapped. Sometimes it meant praising Dobbs for managing to make something out of nothing.

All the pieces mattered.

Those interactions ultimately defined the game for the Vikings. After getting the ball back with 2 minutes, 8 seconds left on the game clock, O’Connell was with Dobbs every step of the way as the final drive unfolded. It culminated with Dobbs making a perfect read on a touchdown pass to receiver Brandon Powell that proved to be the difference.

“Just watching him take some of the things I said, then put it into action, that was probably the best part about it,” O’Connell said. “There is a lot that goes into it, and quite frankly that is what made it such a special day for really Josh and our whole team.”

None of it would have been possible without O’Connell leading the way. He was at his best when his best was required.

“My job is to lead,” O’Connell said. “In those moments you’ve got to show up for the guys the way you ask them to show up.”

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