NFL Coach of the Year? Vikings' Kevin O'Connell among a dozen candidates in deep field

Ballots belonging to the 50 voters who select the Associated Press' NFL All-Pro teams and other honors are due at 11 a.m. Wednesday. While each of us would love to reveal our picks now so y'all could take to Twitter and get a head start on demanding that we be tarred, feathered and fired, we have a double-pinky-swear promise with AP that we won't spill the beans before the All-Pro announcement on Friday and then the NFL Honors show the night of Feb. 9.

Since we're the only 50 people following the NFL who can't force-feed you our opinions ahead of time, this AP voter will offer a glimpse inside the dusty mind of one fella trying to figure out one of the more significant votes — NFL Coach of the Year.

In studying 32 teams, there are 12 guys who could make a decent to strong case for coach of the year. Let's take a peek at them in alphabetical order:

Dan Campbell, Lions: Finished 7-2, crushing the Packers' playoff dreams at Lambeau Field in Week 18, to go 9-8 and signal that the perpetually moribund Lions are doormats no more. They will indeed bite your kneecaps.

Pete Carroll, Seahawks: Goes 9-8 and reaches the playoffs with Geno Smith replacing Russell Wilson, who misses the playoffs in an utterly disastrous year that got Nathaniel Hackett fired after only 15 games in Denver.

Brian Daboll, Giants: Rookie head coach goes 9-7-1 and takes New York to its first postseason since 2016 as Daniel Jones matches his combined win total from the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

Mike McCarthy, Cowboys: As the rest of us were assuming he'd be fired and replaced by Sean Payton, McCarthy was winning 14 games with Cooper Rush going 4-1 and Dak Prescott throwing 15 picks.

Sean McDermott, Bills: Reaches 13 wins for the second time in three years while challenging the 49ers as the league's most complete team.

Kevin O'Connell, Vikings: Rookie head coach goes 11-0 in one-score games, becomes the first Kicker Whisperer in franchise history and posts a five-win improvement by teaching Kirk Cousins the difference between being a statistically good passer and a 13-win quarterback.

Doug Pederson, Jaguars: Urban Meyer gets an assist for being so gosh-awful last year, but Pederson did make the playoffs in Year 1 with a team that was the NFL's worst in 2020 and 2021.

Andy Reid, Chiefs: Traded Tyreek Hill, the game's most electric non-quarterback, and still led the league in wins while his offense went from fourth to first in points and third to first in yards. Believe it or not, Reid has won coach of the year only once, in 2002 with the Eagles. He's been with the Chiefs 10 years. He's won 117 regular-season games for a franchise that won 68 in the 10 years before he arrived. He's won nine playoff games for a franchise that hadn't won one in 21 years. He won a Super Bowl for a team that hadn't won one in 50 years. He's won seven straight division titles for a team that had never won two straight before he arrived. He's hosted four straight AFC title games for a team that had never hosted one before he arrived. The best coach in the league today deserves coach of the year, but probably has no shot since he's just expected to repeatedly reach his lofty standards while guys like Matt Nagy (2018 winner with Chicago and since fired and back working under Reid) get rewarded for one-year turnarounds.

Kyle Shanahan, 49ers: Lost starting quarterbacks Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo and kept right on winning with Brock Purdy, the reigning Mr. Irrelevant as the last pick in the 2022 draft. The most complete team in the league closed with 10 straight wins, five by Purdy.

Nick Sirianni, Eagles: Matched Reid's 14 wins and No. 1 seed while making Jalen Hurts the franchise quarterback few if any of the rest of us thought possible just five months ago.

Zac Taylor, Bengals: A lot of teams would have fired him after starting out with six wins in two seasons. The Bengals don't like to pay former coaches, so they stayed the course. Taylor rebounded with 10 wins last year, but didn't get credit for a Super Bowl run since votes are cast before the playoffs begin. He's quietly won 12 more games this year.

Mike Tomlin, Steelers: He started 2-6 and somehow won nine games with rookie Kenny Pickett and Mitch Trubisky at quarterback and reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year T.J. Watt missing seven games. Tomlin has been with the Steelers 16 years. He's never had a losing season thanks to some of his best coaching this season.

So who will win? Probably Shanahan or Pederson. Maybe Sirianni. Who'd this guy vote for? You'll find out Feb. 9.